AES in the Wall Street Journal: You Inherited a Bunch of Papers. Now What?

Archives may hold historical and other value even if the deceased wasn’t famous

Originally published by the Wall Street Journal

At the end of our lives, we leave behind memories—and lots of paper.

Not just diaries, letters and photographs, but rough drafts, notes, sketchbooks, date books, check books and receipts.

Clearly, the doodles, random jottings and other ephemera that most people leave behind are of no interest to anybody. But that isn’t always the case.

The archives of singer-songwriter Woody Guthrie, for one, were purchased in 2011 for $6 million by the George Kaiser Family Foundation. The archive features rare recordings, journals and handwritten lyrics, but also includes contracts, royalty statements, employment and military records, and rent receipts.

That was an exceptional case, of course. But more common are archives of people who, though relatively unknown, made important contributions in a particular field, were important to an institution, or had connections with famous people.

Jason Andrew, founding partner of Artist Estate Studio in New York City, a service offering archive management to artists and estates of artists, poses the example of a painter who never sold any works but who was friends with well-known artists. In such a case, Mr. Andrew says, an archivist or collector focused on those other artists may wish to acquire that person’s papers.

So for people who inherit those kinds of archives, it is worth doing a little investigation to see if they have any commercial value.

---