Your Challenge
If you are downsizing, or moving a cherished family member into assisted living, you already have enough on your plate.
But what should you do with all the paper, photos, videos and ephemera that’s accumulated over the years and is now sitting in boxes and albums in your basement or garage? Is there anything worth keeping?
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The answer is, yes there is. In fact, there’s a veritable treasure trove of information in your home or your parent's home that genealogists and family historians dream of finding. Those overflowing bins, shoe boxes and desk drawers are filled with information that can be used to uncover the smallest details about our ancestors.
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Let us help you identify the important items from the past and preserve them for future generations.
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What We Do
Everyone has a story, but first you need to know which box it's in!
Whether you want us to review a few documents and let you know if they are genealogically significant,
or would like us to partner with the professional organizer or estate agent you've hired to downsize your family home, or following the death of a loved one, Family Ties can help.
Below you will find descriptions of a few of our key services.
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By appointment only.
Evaluate
We'll go through your loved one's boxes, bins, filing cabinets and more, and identify items with genealogical significance to preserve. While photos, letters and albums are easy to spot, other items such as employment and academic records, changes of address, medical information, home video or audio tapes and newspaper clippings, can really help the future genealogist in your family learn more about you and your loved ones.
Organize
What may look like a jumbled mess of old papers, letters, photos and other items, could in fact already have an order to it. Before we take a deep dive into your boxes, we evaluate whether there is an original order to the collection. Original order can help us better understand the thought process and the way in which your family member developed the collection. It can also cut down on the time it takes to process and digitize the records. When it's apparent, we always prefer to maintain original order and build your archives from there.
Digitize
It's not just vital records, letters, photos and newspapers you want a digital copy of, it's older media like slides, negatives, videotapes, CDs and more. Depending on the scope of the collection, we can digitize records in-house, or through one of our expert partners. The more you digitize, the better your descendants will know their ancestors.
Preserve
Once you've digitized the originals in your collection, it's time to preserve them in a way that slows down deterioration. We offer a full range of preservation services and supplies, including archival quality boxes and folders that are acid-free and lignin-free, as well storage enclosures for photographs that pass the Photographic Activity Test (PAT).
Archive
We'll pare down your records and create an exciting genealogical collection for future family historians or genealogical researchers. Once that is complete, it's time to decide what to do with the well-protected originals you now have on hand. If you are going to hold on to them at home, we'll help you identify a safe storage space that limits the risk of damage through exposure to light or moisture. Or if you would like to see if the local library or historical society would be interested in acquiring the works, we'd be delighted to make enquiries on your behalf.
Index
Once your collection is digitized, a searchable index is needed to allow future researchers to easily access the files. We will create an index of your digital archives and your original collections that make finding items a simpler process.
Nicole Lascelle
Genealogical Archivist
A genealogist with well over a decade of experience working on personal and client files, Nicole discovered her passion for helping families organize and mine their personal records for genealogically significant materials after both her parents had passed away. Thanks to her training and experience, Nicole was able to identify and preserve important genealogical records and items from their home, and create a comprehensive family archive that can be passed down for generations.
The experience made her worry that vast amounts of genealogically significant material is being lost forever simply because family members, professional organizers, and estate agents aren't trained to identify items that provide genealogical clues. Thinking of all the information that could be archived for future genealogists and family historians, Nicole created Family Ties Genealogical Archivists to primarily serve the Greater Montreal Area.
Currently pursuing dual Professional Learning Certificates (postnominal PLCGS) in Librarianship and Canadian Records from the National Institute for Genealogical Studies, Nicole is also completing a comprehensive portfolio for submission to the Board for Certification of Genealogists and le Bureau québécois d'attestation de compétence en généalogie (BQACG). She lives in a Montreal suburb with her husband Frank, a tennis teaching professional.
The couple have two adult daughters.
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