Accounts from families and institutions

The situation

A family of four preparing to relocate abroad had accumulated thirty years of documents and significant objects across two properties. They wanted a complete written and photographic record before anything was moved or disposed of. No existing system was in place.

What was done

The household completed the six-week programme, working through both properties in parallel. By week four, they had a full inventory with photographs and provenance notes. The digitisation session covered naming conventions for both the documents and the photographs, and the backup approach was tailored to their planned living situation abroad.

The outcome

The family moved with a complete digital inventory and the physical originals organised by the accession system they had built. Eighteen months later they contacted us to say the inventory had been used three times — twice to locate a specific document and once to settle a question about an object's origin.

"We did not expect to use it as often as we have. It turned out to be practical as well as sentimental." — Household participant

The situation

A family office managing records across three generations had never formally catalogued its holdings. Documents, photographs and objects were stored in labelled boxes, but the labelling was inconsistent and some material had deteriorated from humidity. The office wanted a catalogue built to a standard that would remain legible to future administrators.

What was done

The engagement ran over seven months. The survey identified approximately 1,400 items. A catalogue schema was built and tested on a representative sample before being applied to the full collection. Storage was reorganised to address the humidity concern. Three staff members were trained across five days and could carry out new accessions independently by the end of the training period.

The outcome

All 1,400 items are catalogued and accessible through the schema. Deterioration of the affected material has been stabilised. Staff confidence in the accessioning process was described as high by the office manager at the closing review. The phased implementation plan in the closing report sets out the next steps for a further tranche of material identified during the survey.

The situation

Five adult siblings in different parts of Malaysia had inherited their parents' home and its contents. The estate process was being handled by a solicitor; what they needed separately was a way to describe and record the contents before decisions about the house were made.

What was done

All five attended the same workshop, which we offered as a private group session. The workshop was adapted slightly to address the specific context — the provenance note section focused on the kinds of objects typically found in a family home of that generation, and the referral sheet was expanded to include the specific categories of professional relevant to estate settlement.

The outcome

The siblings left with a shared system and individual copies of the materials. Two of them went on to complete the Household Programme for their own homes. The group described the workshop as having given them a way to work through the contents together that did not require any of them to make decisions they were not ready to make.