GENEALOGY MENU
**********************
**********************
**********************
|
GENEALOGY MENU |
********************** ********************** |
The American History & Genealogy Preservation Program
A timely answer to your preservation needsPreservation of "at risk" material is of increasing interest for all libraries. Today librarians find themselves in a quandary: as older acidic materials deteriorate ever faster, their budgets aren't keeping up with their growing preservation needs.
For libraries seeking to preserve genealogical and local history material through reprinting, however, there is now a no-cost answer to your budget concerns: The American History & Genealogy Preservation Program. Through this program we are replacing fragile books with our high-quality archival reprints - at no cost to libraries supplying the material!
The American History & Genealogy Preservation Program
Many institutions from around the county have already participated in this program by sending their disintegrating local and family histories to us for replacement. In exchange, they have received two archival-quality copies of each book - for absolutely no charge.
Higginson Books has been reprinting scarce old genealogies and local histories for over thirty years. We use only acid-free paper and all reprints furnished through this program are hardbound in Class A archival bindings.
How this Program Developed
We began our American Genealogy and Local History Programs (described in our catalogs) because of our interest in history and in antiquarian books. Our mission was to provide quality reprints of scarce old books for the growing number of genealogical and local history researchers. Soon we were also hearing from librarians who wanted to replace disintegrating copies of family and local histories, many of which we had not yet reprinted.
The Preservation Program evolved to fill our mutual needs: the libraries, of course, wanted to replace their crumbling books at no cost; we wanted to include their material in our catalogs, since our goal as a reprinted is to have as complete a collection as possible. We are able to furnish the free reprints to the participating libraries because the titles will be listed in our catalogs of reprints and paid for by customer purchases.
Why Preservation through Reprinting?
We strongly believe that preservation through reprinting has many advantages over other strategies:
vs. rebinding: A stop-gap method that may make a book temporarily easier to use, but can actually hasten it disintegration.
vs. microfilming & digital storage: Microfilm & digital media have the advantage of needing little storage space. However, many library patrons find them inconvenient and unpleasant to use, and prefer to use books. In addition, microfilm can deteriorate and digital storage media can become obsolete, whereas books do not! Many libraries microfilm or digitize their books and then send them to us for reprinting.
vs. photocopying: Copying is expensive, time-consuming and produces an inferior replacement. Our quality equipment, acid-free paper and Class A archival bindings leave you with a book you'll be proud to have on your shelves.
vs. conservation: Conservation methods are expensive! For inherently valuable, very rare material it can be worth the cost, but for books - such as genealogies - that are desired for their contents, replacement with archival-quality copies is the answer.
Other advantages: You'll be helping to make valuable information available to the wider research community. And since your titles are added to our reprint collection, they'll be available for additional copies, or interested patrons - our titles never go out of print!
Of course, all these methods cost the library time and money. The handsome, durable books supplied through our Preservation Program cost your library nothing!
Expand Your Institution's Historical Collection
You'll receive two copies of each book reprinted through The Preservation Program. However, instead of your second copy, you have the option of choosing another book of comparable length from our catalogs, described below. This is great way of expanding your local history and genealogy collections - without cutting into your budget.
Family History Catalog / The Source Catalog
Our Family History Catalog lists more than 12,000 facsimile reprints of scarce old American genealogies, as well as selected original publications - all done on acid-free paper, and available in archival hardcover bindings.
The Source Catalog is an excellent resource for a wide range of historical and genealogical materials, including vital records and censuses, how-to books, and thousands of archival-quality local & county history reprints.
Many of the reprints in both of our catalogs were made available by libraries through The American History & Genealogy Preservation Program. If you need copies of our catalogs, or extras for your reading rooms, let us know!
To Participate in this Program
It's easy - simply send a list of genealogies & histories that you are interested in having replaced at no cost. Please include pre-1962 titles only. We'll let you know which books to send to us for participation in The American History and Genealogy Preservation Program.
Regarding copyright: if there is a possibility that any book is still copyrighted, we will verify its status with the Library of Congress Copyright Office.
Send your list or correspondence to:
Higginson Book Company
Acquisitions Director
148 Washington St., P.O. Box 778
Salem, Massachusetts 01970
Phone: 978/745-7170
Fax: 978/745-8025
E-mail: acquisitions@higginsonbooks.comWhen shipping the books, use United Parcel Service or insured mail. Be sure to enclose a letter stating whether the library would prefer two copies of the book(s) being sent for reprinting, or one copy and another book of comparable length from our catalogs. In 8 to 12 weeks we'll ship your new archival-quality replacements.
For additional information, please write, call or e-mail.