Tips + Tricks For Preserving The Family History

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Tips + Tricks for preserving the family history. Why should I protect my photos + home movies? Peace of mind. Aging photos and memorabilia are at risk for deterioration, misplacement, and destruction in their current state. Digitizing these treasures is like insurance in case of loss, theft, water damage, fire, and other environmental hazards.

Collect + Sort

  • Locate, gather and collect the photos you want to work with. Search in the obvious places, but also drawers, inside frames, or with other family members.
  • Sort your prints into piles based on the event, person/subject or whatever method makes sense to you.
  • Temporarily store each pile in a plastic bin or durable envelope. Label the container with the contents so you know exactly what is inside.
  • If you need professional assistance, let us know!

Digitize

  • Drop off your printed memorabilia to be scanned and digitized at our store.
  • A little while later – return to pick up your digital storage device (DVD, USB drive, external drive, etc.), which will contain each scanned/digitized image as a .jpg file. We can also digitally deliver your files.
  • Store a backup copy of the files in your preferred cloud storage platform.
  • Your memorabilia is cared for by our trained archiving experts, who will treat your materials with the utmost care.
  • Your items never leave our property or get shipped away.
  • All original items are returned to you after the process is complete.

Share + Enjoy

  • Order multiple copies of the new digital files for family members. Consider grandparents, parents, siblings, children, and extended family or friends.
  • Post images on social media and share through email!
  • Order prints, creative gifts, and photo books with your new images.
  • Use them in slideshows, family Zoom calls, and other digital formats.
  • If you’re de-cluttering or downsizing, pass on the physical memorabilia so you no longer need to store it.

 

Once your memorabilia is digitized, each family member can have their very own digital copy of the files – no matter where they live.

4 Quick Tips for protecting your photo legacy!

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STEP 1: SORT
Take pictures out of albums, frames and boxes so you are working with only loose prints. Choose the photos you want to keep. Remove duplicates and poor-quality shots. Keep only the most meaningful images and toss the rest if you are working to downsize or eliminate clutter. At this point, you could stop and move on to Step #3.

STEP 2: ORGANIZE
If you want to get your photo collection truly organized, then continue sorting. Separate pictures into piles by subject, people, theme or year. Whatever makes most sense to you. Then, label those piles in chronological order. This will pay off when you move on to Step #4 and eventually share copies of your images with family members. Advanced sorting will make specific photos easy to locate on a computer or device later on.

STEP 3: DIGITIZE

Box up your printed memorabilia and bring them to a trusted local photo preservation expert (like us!) for scanning. The keyword here is “local”. We never recommend shipping your most precious possessions across the country! Each print will be professionally digitized and saved as high-resolution JPG files. We can even create labeled folders to keep your sorting efforts intact.

 

 

 

STEP 4: COPY + SHARE
At this stage, you’ll have various options for what to do with your digital image files – including how many copies to share. This is the fun part! Think about who would like a set of the scanned images – even if they may not completely appreciate them today. (IE: children and teens.) Once the images are scanned, duplicate media copies are extremely affordable – so be generous and share freely!
Your story is meant to be shared – and now is the perfect time to do it! Don’t wait until it’s too late to protect those photos of your grandparents, your high school prom and that family vacation to the Grand Canyon.