Want to digitalize and organize all your old family photos? These tips can help
I set a goal a year ago to get a handle on organizing the tote full of family photographs from my childhood. My mom did a fantastic job of putting these in chronological order in albums. She even replaced many old pages with acid free plastic sheets in the early 2000s. I wanted to get those physical photos into digital form.
When it comes to organization, I rate myself as average. I have some quirks. My closet is organized by clothing type – dresses, then pants, then work tops (long then short), then causal tops (long then short). Each of these is in rainbow color order from left to right. I even have my spices alphabetized in my cupboard.
But then there are other parts of my life that are in complete chaos. Don’t look in my garage right now. Or in the bottom drawer of my bathroom vanity. And don’t look at how many photos are on my phone.
I’ve been dragging my feet on this photo project. It feels like a giant task to complete. I have thousands of photos. I didn’t want to start scanning photos only to find out there was a better way. I wanted to start with practical how-to information.
I eventually figured out I needed to clearly state my overarching goal before I could locate the resources that could help me. My first goal is to have all my childhood family photos in digital form with access for my brother’s and my families. The second is to have all digital photos organized with access for my children.
I found two helpful books available at the library. The best is “Declutter Your Photo Life: Curating Preserving, Organizing and Sharing Your Photos” by Adam Pratt (2022). The other is “Photo Organizing Made Easy: Going from Overwhelmed to Overjoyed” by Cathi Nelson (2021). There are some older books out there, but because technology changes so much, I really appreciate the up-to-date options that are given in these books. The principles of organization are similar in both their approaches.
● Gather: Locate your print photos and physically gather them together in one location. Next locate digital photos from all sources.●Reduce: Deduplicate digital photos and curate print photos. Just because we take a picture doesn’t mean it is worthy of keeping.●Organize and store: This is where a consistent system is important. Cloud-based options are helpful for sharing photos. Backups are still recommended on external hard drives.●Maintain: Once you have a good system in place, it is easier to create good habits.
After reading these books, I was able to identify specific tasks. My priority task is currently scanning photos from 1977 through 2005 to digital form. Next I will focus on scanning older photos from my mom and dad’s childhoods. Then I will explore the best way to provide these to my brother. Finally, I am simultaneously working to reduce my number of digital photos from 2006 to 2024. Once I have a more manageable number, I will organize and store these in a way that will ensure better preservation and access for my children as they get older.
If this is a project you’d like to tackle as well, please join me at 1 p.m. March 16 at the Coshocton County District Library for a free workshop on organizing digital and physical photos. I’ll discuss how to digitize physical photos, where to store digital photos and how to share photos with your family and friends. Registration is required by visiting coshoctonlibrary.org/events.
Today, I’ll leave you with this quote from Dorothea Lange: “Photography takes an instant out of time, altering life by holding it still.”
Emily Marrison is an OSU Extension Family & Consumer Sciences Educator and may be reached at 740-622-2265.
This article originally appeared on Coshocton Tribune: Want to digitalize and organize all your old family photos? Four tips
