Archives - what to keep

My really old ones are ink & mylar -- got them indexed & rolled up and stored in a relatively hospitable place and I can usually find what I need. My blueprint machine went out to bulky pickup about 4 years ago so I have no way to print from a mylar in-house. I'm slowly getting them scanned & stored on my PC & in the cloud. When some one calls and wants a plan copy from that era if I've already had it scanned I email it to them for free. Otherwise there's a fee that has to be prepaid. Though no fee if it's a fellow land surveyor. Maine does not require recording, so many of my (and my colleagues') old plans are getting hard to come by.

In Virginia (does not require recording) we need to be careful what copies we send out as surveys are deemed to be current?ÿ unless otherwise denoted.?ÿ Looks like GIS will take the place of these old surveys.

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What to do with old records? Scan them into a database, make them searchable by multiple fields including address, make them available to the public and sell them while recouping your costs.

Store the files in such a way that you can find the hard copies in their storage boxes. I included a storage location in the database field so that I could pull the hard copy if I needed to. I put the hard copies in acid free archives boxes, sealed them in packing wrap and put them in a warehouse.

I have peddled the original 100 year drawings at art shows and sold a few. It was not worth the trouble. ?ÿ

Scan all the plats, and deeds associated with the survey and of course any coordinate files.

I am conflicted on the idea of selling the old surveys to the general public and I do not think that is a wise idea. Maybe to the person who the survey was originally done for but not the general public and damned sure not real estate agents, bankers or title companies.

I would sell to other surveyors.

You have to recoup your costs but you don't need to loose work or money doing it and your not a charity.