I came across this a while back and often thought about taking it to a museum to get some information about it, but never got round to it. Maybe you guys can offer me some insight!
For something that's over 300 years old, I reckon it's in pretty good knick. The paper is rough, so maybe it's sheep skin or something similar? All the writing and 'art' (for lack of a better word?) is hand drawn in ink and it has been done rather beautifully. Very pleasing to the eye! However I can't really understand much of the content as it's written in a much older variation of english than what I'm used to haha.
So r/AskHistorians, is this anything special? Anything of value? Should I even have it??
Some answers would be greatly appreciated :-)
This document would likely be of interest to a variety of types of historical organizations:
Your local college or university - ask for the department of history.
A state, city, or county historical organization, preferably from the region or area the document originated.
A local history museum.
A private historical foundation.
Documents are more valuable when they come with a provenance. Can you provide information on where the document was found, who owned it, and when? It helps historians authenticate the document, and understand it's import.
Finally, the document would benefit from the proper storage and care conditions, to insure it doesn't get damaged or deteriorate. The preservation of old artifacts is quite a science in itself, and any of the above organizations should have resources and knowledge in that area.
If your relatives are named in this document, I suggest you also consider taking to an attorney. My old law firm had a client that found an old land grant. It yielded her a significant amount of money after proving the land (actually an area extending from land into water) is legally hers.