The boxes from the attic

The community archive received twelve boxes from a house clearance. Most photographs had no dates. Several different people shared the same surname on the few envelopes that were labelled. Some pictures were stuck together, so separating them immediately might have damaged them. The donor could remember the family but not identify every face. Two boxes also contained newspaper cuttings with the page headings trimmed away. We had a great deal of material, but very little information that could safely be attached to a particular place or occasion.

Describe the difficulties of identifying and organising the donated material. You may support your points with brief quotations.