What's the best way of storing old photographs? I have a couple of large ring-binders with acid-free pockets holding my really old family photos. However, in replacing an old storage divan bed for a metal-framed one, I now have to find a way of storing thousands of old snaps that were shoved in boxes and albums underneath. A great shame that in the 80s I'd bought loads of expensive embossed albums to keep my favourite pictures in, and the adhesive has already damaged some of them. They seemed a good idea back then. I'm sure in time they will be binned with the rest of my clutter, but for now I'm looking for the best, and tidiest, storage solution.
If, like me, you have loads of near identical pictures I think a cull is the way to go and then scan the selected ones onto a computer and store in various forms and locations.
That's what I've done. I hated the cull, but there seemed no point in keeping duplicates or near identical pictures which no-one would want after I have left this mortal coil. All the best ones are now scanned, and they, along with those which I haven't a clue as to who or where they are, are in boxes. I do have quite a lot of the best ones in those multi-picture frames you can buy and they are on various walls. I came to the conclusion that if no-one else was likely to want them, I may as well enjoy them while I'm here
I'm not lucky enough to have very many old photos But I do agree with Spanner and Ann. I especially like Ann's idea of the multi-picture frames and have now put it on my oh so long to do list that I have made for my up and coming retirement
Okay, I am old-fashioned when it comes to photographs. I need to have them in my hand to look over. Also, I am not convinced that one day the world wide web isn't going to go down spectacularly and lose all my stuff. That's why I'm reverting all my family history stuff back to paper records as well as on hard-drive. Most of my storage cupboards are taken up with old artwork so space is at a premium. I don't want to bin that either. Do I need a bigger house? At my time of life, I should be thinking about downsizing now. I think I am going to be ruthless, and go through the lot if I have a spare weekend.
Have a multi photo frame still waiting for ful-filment since we moved house. It's the printing off that's the holdup...Marks on the wall for safe holdups.. Just haven't gotten to it yet. Won't really be oldies- more likely those I've come to know & love.
I face a similar situation, with 1000's of paper photographs and colour transparencies stashed away. The collection is also a constant reminder of the saying, "I'll never forget wotsisname." There are many far more pressing priorities for me so I'm bequeathing my collection to my daughter, so she can do the sorting out etc.
With the love affair I have with technology (not) there is no way I would scan and store electronically. I have numerous multi frames and the few very old large photos that I have, have been reduced, then framed and the originals are just stored in a cabinet. We recently visited the Bega Pioneer Museum in the Bega Valley, NSW. It was originally an old pub but now houses the most fantastic collection of local history I have ever seen. The hallways are jammed packed from floor to ceiling of framed portraits and family snaps of the locals through the years from settlement. I wondered, when I was looking at the photos why the descendants of these people didn't hang on to the photos but realistically it is a great way to cull what you don't need or want and it keeps the history of the town alive for others to see.
Do the newlyweds have spare room? Keep copies of a few cherished ones for yourself, then put the rest (after a cull and sort) into decorative photo-safe boxes. Then gift them to daughter so she can pass them down to future generations... or is it too soon?
I like all of these suggestions. Sadly, Barb, theirs is a tiny 'two-up-two-down' by the sea... most of their stuff is still in my house.
Same here, together with daughter, son in law, 4 grandchildren, plus numerous cats. Sent from the refuge of my man cave.
Become accustomed or 'MOVE' So wish I could 'see' this from the Male perspective, other than having full time 'nurse/carer' , not gonna happen here me thinks. Oh hey!!! suppose I go first?
Yes, there was some suggestion that they move back home and save on rent while they work to afford their own house. Oh no no no. I'll just put up with the clutter... Right. The rain forecast for this afternoon has arrived three hours ahead of schedule, so I shall be ruthlessly - ha, we'll see - going through prints while hubby does the same with vinyl records. Did I mention that we are moving our rooms around? - and one large study/studio going into a tiny box room, hence having to get rid of/find proper storage solutions for everything. I may be some time.
I asked my mother, all too late, if I could have my things, a few years after I got married. They'd all been donated to the church fête.
I have a large collection of photos and slides: ours; my father's; and my grandfather's and others as well. Many of the printed photos are in old albums that are disintegrating. The intention is to scan and store the originals in archive quality photo boxes, but trying to find them to purchase is almost impossible. I am using soft leaded pencils to record the scanned image number and other information on the back of the original photos and then place them in my archive photo boxes. With some albums we have discovered it is better to scan a whole page rather than remove the individual photos and destroy the album. You can still separate the individual digital images later. The biggest challenge is a big album of my grandfather's full of postcards and photos from his World War 1 years. Some of the images have his notes on the back but if you try and take them out to look you destroy the pages of the album! One photo was a group of soldiers in his company which he had sent as a postcard to his mother, in it he identified a number of the men as particular friends and one who was a cousin. I researched the cousin and found he was killed later that year. I have not decided what to do about this album. I do know why some postcards are missing from my grandfather's war years album though: when I was doing a school project he gave me some postcards of Rouen and its cathedral to use. Where they went afterwards I have no idea!
I have a precious album like that, Peregrine. Sadly I have no idea who many of the people are that appear within its pages - probably villagers and family friends from the 20's and 30's. I have made digital copies of those. Well, I have reduced the number of photographs to approximately half over the weekend. I have been ruthless. The plan now, once we've finished moving the rooms around, is to copy and upload all the images to a photo-hosting site, and then have another sort through. The remainder will go into photo storage boxes, properly indexed - and then, in years to come, my daughter can decide what to do with them. Quite a worthwhile exercise - I'm glad I didn't just put them all in the loft in a plastic crate. I've found so many other items of worth hidden amongst them... envelopes with newspaper clippings (old obituaries, etc) and, unbelievably, some really old family pictures. I can only think that my mum entrusted them to me about twenty five years ago and I just threw them into a shoebox, having no interest in family history at all back then. I don't recall ever having seen them before, but of course I must've done.
