Instructor: Melanie Sigman attended Tusculum University and earned her bachelor’s degree in Museum Studies. She then went on to earn her master’s in History at the University of West Georgia and her master’s in Library Science from the University of Alabama. Formerly the Conservation Archivist for the S.C. Department of Archives and History, she joined the staff of the Aiken County Historical Museum as their Collections Manager in November of 2023. Description: It is often said, “My kids will just get a giant dumpster and throw everything away when I’m gone.” This attitude stems from the fact that family collections are frequently disorganized and not preserved for the next generation. But what if these treasured items were organized and preserved–perhaps even digitized? Would families be more inclined to keep them for future generations? In this course, I will share with you items you may never have seen at the museum. Interested in donating to the museum? We will cover how to do that. This course will also aim to teach participants how to organize, care for, and preserve family photographs, documents, bibles and the like for generations to come.