This weeks challenge is to label old photos so that they can later be easily identified when handed down. If you're like me, you have photos dating back many decades! Being a housewife, mother and working full time this challenge I found was not as simple as I first thought so I have decided instead to split it up by decades and topics and make this an ongoing project - one week is just not enough time to do this all.
First thing I did was make sure I threw out all those old photo albums (you know the ones where your pictures stick to the backing making it impossible to remove them). I purchased new matching photos albums with archival sleeves and some scrapbooks. I cut the pictures out of the old albums with the backing if they were stuck to the glue so that I didn't risk ruining them. Then I began organizing them by time period which is very time consuming but well worth it. I labeled the photo albums accordingly. I also made special albums for each of my children, each in their favourite colour, which not only include copies of any family pictures, but also all their school pictures, report cards and any awards, -all in chronological order and labeled. The kids really enjoyed looking through them and I've heard them talking to their friends about this. I think I will do the same for my nieces and nephews as Christmas gifts this year.
I will be working on the rest of the photos over the next several months. I have started scanning them as well and labeling them this way. I plan to make CD's for everyone and keep a master copy in my Safety Deposit Box along with copies of my Family Tree Files. I created an Gmail account as well in which I have been emailing copies of pictures and files.
Lastly, I put everything up high on a bookshelf with doors to cover them all away from humidity and sunlight.
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