Reliable Ways to Organize and Store Old Photos

It’s the beginning of another year and I’m thinking of organization once again. It happens every year that I naturally want to organize at the beginning of the year. I usually end up just decluttering my space to get it ready for new research projects or business goals that I have. But I recently received a USB drive full of photos of my mother and her parents that I’ve never seen before. So I immediately wanted to organize them. I admit I’m not that knowledgeable in the genealogy photo department, but this just makes me more curious to see what’s out there. So I’m going to be talking about ways to organize and store old photos that I’ve seen.

First, I need a goal with these photos. They’re already digital so I don’t need to scan them onto my computer. But they are out of chronological order. Some are black and white and some are color. And I may want to add stories to these pictures, which means trying to talk with my aunt who sent them or my sister since she’s been researching my mother’s line recently. But I definitely need to label these photos with the who, what, where, and when info for future family members.

Get a Game plan

I need to first come up with the end goal of what I want to do with these pictures. I do want to store them properly on my computer and maybe on the cloud. But I also want a physical product that I can share with my family. I can also share them digitally with my family. Also, how do I want to organize them?

The Reliable Methods for Storing Physical Photos

Do you have a relative that keeps all of their photos in a basic cardboard box? Or maybe that’s you? Or maybe you have all of your photos these days on your phone and you just keep adding more. But in this part of the blog I want to focus on the physical photo. How do you properly store them so they last forever?

Acid-free archive boxes is the best way to store physical photos. They’re usually paper boxes and will say on the label archival quality or archive safe. This means there’s no acid or other known chemical that would break down your photos over long term.

Plastic boxes are still not known if they are completely safe over long term storage. But it’s better than a cardboard box! Also, remember to label the box and put labels within to keep your photos organized. Archival Methods Short Top Boxes is a great way to store your photos, but they can be pricey so keep the ones you really want to save in those.  Archival Methods has tons of other products that I would recommend for your photos as well.

A Temperature Controlled Area– Photos are just as important to keep away from extreme heat, sunlight, cold, and flood-prone areas as your food storage. So find an area within your home to store them. A closet is perfect for that.

High Quality Scanner is necessary if you plan on scanning your physical photos onto your computer. I personally don’t do this just because of the work involved, but I do believe it is worth it to store your photos long term. Make sure the photos are scanned at a minimum of 600 dpi.

The Reliable Ways to Organize and Store Digital Photos

Do you also have a relative that keeps every photo on their phone? So how do you organize them digitally?

Labels are so important even on your computer or phone. I know many of us skip this step, but pay for it later when we’re searching for that one photo we need. So take the time to label it with the who, what, where, when of that photo.

External Hard Drive is a must for storing your digital photos off of your computer. You never know when your computer will crash and there goes all of your photos. Also, make sure to label it so you know what’s on there.

Cloud Service is also important since the photos are stored at another location away from your computer. You can access them wherever you have internet.

Last Thoughts on Reliable Methods to Organize and Store Your Photos

So what I’ve learned from this is that I’m already doing many of these things. So I can pat myself on the back! I’ve also learned that both methods of organizing and storing photos are good. Both digital and physical photos are needed and that as long as I keep doing what I’m doing, then I’m good.

So what are your takeaways from this blog post? Does it spark your interest to focus on your photos for this month? How are your photos doing? Do they need some care or are they archived properly?

I think we’ve all learned over the years what’s best and what’s not best to archive photos. We now just need the motivation to DO it.

So I’m cheering you on if you decide to focus on your photos this month!

And as always…good luck and happy hunting!

Tiffany

P.S. Related Reads…

• How to Organize Your Genealogy The Home Edit Way
• How I Organize My Genealogy and Save Time