After writing a post about the most beautiful archive found so far, here is a selection of the WORST ARCHIVES I had the chance to work in.
It is just for a laugh, not to criticize. For this reason, I made the places not recognizable (I hope) with a strong post-processing and effects-addition on the original pictures, so that nobody would feel bad about it.
These three parish archives are in Piedmont.
THE REGISTERS ON THE FLOOR
I swear it was not my idea, it was the parish cooperator who pulled them out of the furniture and laid them on the carpet, because all other surfaces were covered with a variety of different stuff.
So, I mostly worked on my knees on the floor.
I can confirm that the carpet was very soft and the registers did not suffer any mishandling or damage!
THE BEDROOM
When you are in a very small town with a very small parish and a very small priest’s house that hosts a parish archive, where is the archive?
In the kitchen? In the bathroom? Of course, neither of them is suitable.
It’s in the bedroom!
Fancy a nap?
WORKING WITH A VIEW
OK, this was another archive without a table, without a chair, without a bed, without a surface to put the registers on. No carpet this time, and the floor was filthy.
The best solution was to use the windowsill, after having roughly cleaned it from dust, pieces of concrete, spider webs and dead stink bugs (and I was lucky that it had just stopped raining).
E. G. ANCESTRY RESEARCH 