Taking Care: Managing Your Heritage Environment
Taking Care: Managing Your Heritage Environment is a practical guide to preserving records, books and historical materials in Anglican parishes, dioceses and ministries. It explains how environmental conditions, handling practices and storage methods can affect paper, photographs and other archival materials, and offers clear steps to protect them for future generations.
Originally developed to support custodians, clergy, volunteers and parish administrators responsible for church records, the resource is designed for anyone caring for a heritage environment. It provides accessible guidance on topics such as temperature and humidity control, light exposure, air quality, safe storage and security. Its two main sections — “Products of the Environment” and “Protective Custody” — outline the most common risks and how to reduce them.
The full PDF can be downloaded for study, reference and parish training sessions.
Suggested uses
- Orientation tool for parish administrators, wardens and volunteers responsible for records
- Training resource for diocesan archives and heritage committees
- Reference document when planning or updating storage rooms and archival practices
- Guide for assessing risks to books, paper files and historical objects in parish spaces
Key themes
- Environmental factors affecting the preservation of paper and records
- Safe storage, handling and custodial practices in church settings
- Preventive conservation approaches that reduce damage over time
- Awareness of risk factors such as humidity, light, pests, pollutants and security gaps
Best suited for: parish administrators, wardens, clergy, archival volunteers, diocesan archives staff, property committees and anyone caring for Anglican records or historical materials.
