1. Document the place
Start with the Venue Documentation Packet, Photograph and Archive Inventory, and Venue Timeline Builder.
Selective preservation toolkit
Ten practical records for protecting the room, the memory, and the context.
Use only the form that matches the work in front of you. Every tool autosaves locally, prints cleanly, and exports a polished completed record.
How to use this toolkit
Document first. Interpret carefully. Preserve responsibly.
- Choose one real preservation job. Do not open every form at once.
- Record sources and uncertainty. Separate observation, documentary evidence, memory, estimate, and inference.
- Protect people and rights. Obtain permission, respect privacy and restrictions, and use qualified professionals where legal, safety, property, conservation, insurance, or tax questions arise.
- Create redundant copies. Keep originals, useful metadata, and backups in more than one place.
- Return to the community. Share corrections, credit contributors, and preserve access when appropriate.
Ten focused resources
Open only the record you need.
The existing oral-history tool anchors the set. Nine new forms add documentation, archive, digital, emergency, succession, rights, campaign, and timeline depth.
Oral-History Preservation Capture TemplatePlan an interview, record context and permission, and preserve the original file.Existing field tool →Venue Documentation PacketRecord a venue’s identity, current use, physical spaces, materials, alterations, condition, and cultural context in one preservation packet.20–30 min →Photograph and Archive InventoryCatalog photographs, posters, menus, contracts, recordings, clippings, and memorabilia while preserving ownership, context, condition, and rights information.15–30 min →Digital Preservation PlanCreate a sustainable file-naming, format, backup, access, rights, and review system for photographs, audio, video, documents, and research records.20–30 min →Community Collection Day KitPlan a respectful event where community members can share photographs, stories, documents, recordings, and memorabilia without losing ownership or context.25–40 min →Preservation Emergency PlanPrepare practical first actions for fire, flood, storm, mold, theft, utility failure, or sudden closure while protecting people before collections or property.25–40 min →Succession and Stewardship WorkbookCapture the relationships, routines, records, stories, decision rights, and transition steps that must survive a change in ownership, management, or family stewardship.30–45 min →Story Rights and Consent RecordDocument what a contributor knowingly permits, how they should be credited, what is restricted, and how corrections or future questions will be handled.10–20 min →Preservation Campaign PlannerDefine exactly what a preservation campaign will protect, who controls the work, what it costs, what donors are promised, and how progress will be reported.25–40 min →Venue Timeline BuilderTurn deeds, directories, newspapers, photographs, oral histories, permits, advertisements, and community memory into a sourced venue chronology.20–35 min →
Recommended sequence
A complete field packet without unnecessary paperwork.
2. Preserve stories and files
Use the oral-history tool, Story Rights and Consent Record, Digital Preservation Plan, and Community Collection Day Kit.
3. Prepare for continuity
Complete the Emergency Plan, Succession and Stewardship Workbook, and Campaign Planner when those needs are real.
Preservation is shared stewardship
The forms support the work; they do not replace the people.
Involve venue owners, workers, families, regulars, artists, dancers, community historians, archivists, preservation professionals, attorneys, insurers, emergency officials, and other qualified advisers when their knowledge or authority is needed.