Suggestions for dealing with boxes of photos. Practical suggestions come from my experiences. I have several times faced what seemed like daunting tasks yet it became a meaningful and productive activity that I was glad I had done. I have made albums for family members with images that they had no idea existed or had forgotten about. These albums are particularly valued following the death of a loved one.

GETTING STARTED

Get four file boxes and a large carton. Mark file boxes:

• Album
• Sort later or research required
• Cut up for a collage
• Story photos

The large carton is for those to be ditched.

 If you are intending to distribute photos between family members, have a named file box for each.

Find a work space that you can spread out
You may want to find a space where you can leave the task and come back to – a spare room out of the way may be best.

Be gentle and consider wearing cotton gloves to handle your photos, especially older photos that may be brittle and delicate. All photos are susceptible to acid on fingers.

Be disciplined! Hold a photo just long to decide which box. Resist the urge to reminisce and linger at this stage. Make time for that later.
 

Album box: These are the photos that belong in an album. They are the best images or they may be significant for a family history album.

These are the photos that should be to digitised, backed up, shared and possibly display.  I put together a flip display collection when an elderly relative was moving into a much smaller living space. There was pleasure in having a photo on display and could be flipped through and changed easily.

Sort later box: These photos may be archived for safekeeping but not necessarily for an album.

Collate box: these photos can be repurposed. I have made several collages of photos.

Story photos box: Does the photo tell a story? These pictures play a significant role because there is something significant about the picture. I found a photo of my mother with her golf clubs and discovered she had won a club championship. This discovery made the photo more significant.

Ditch –Your collection may well be filled with doubles, triples and really bad photos. If your photo doesn’t fall into one of the above categories, throw it out. If you want you can go back through the carton when all else is finished.

A word of caution! How many of us find photos of ourselves not so pleasing on the eye. I suggest you let someone else help with the decision whether to ditch or not. Remember “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder”! It may not be the most attractive photo but it may be of a significant event. For example I am not so delighted with how I look in photos of me holding my new-born baby.

Start with the Album box. Make time to make notes and record stories:

Make this a relaxed time for recollections – ask family members, especially elderly members about the people or events in the images. A voice recorder as well as written information may help when the time comes to put photos in the album. This information is invaluable for recording family histories. Holding onto family stories is no longer possible once the keepers of the story pass on. I would strongly recommend you see this as an opportunity to become guardian of rich family stories.  To make your own album use acid free paper and special photo adhesives

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Sort later box. Decide how you will sort these.

Sort by date Create a timeline - you may consider year book or decade albums.

Sort by theme. These may be easier to sort if dates are unknown.

Decide themes such as birthdays, holidays, weddings, graduations, babies, sports and so on.  You can then decide if you want to make an album for each or some themes. I made a small album of war time photos and included photos of medals, copies of letters etc. Old farming photos can be made into a collection that to our children would look like museum images but with their family members featured.

Those photos that require research you may know what to do with once you have some information. For example, amongst old photos I was sorting I had some that I thought probably were significant but they had no more than a name. Once I researched the name I found that the person was respected for their contribution to their profession, so I gifted them to the national organisation.
 

Collage of photos. This can be a fun activity to involve children in – telling stories as you do it. You can do this by theme or years. I made a collage of my student days photos. I saved a few for my album but all the others that I didn’t want to throw out I cut and glued to A4 cardboard. I have also made a collage of family photos and I have put that page at the back of the album.

 

Make digital copies, share and back up. Consider a backup on a cloud so allow others access to them.

For digital copies create files for themes such as weddings, Christmases, birthdays. Be sure to add details for each photo – you can use the “properties” option when saving as a digital image, to add as much detail as you have.

Now that your photos are no longer stashed in a box, they can be shared with family and friends. Your children, your children’s children and many more generations to come will be able to piece together the history of your family because of your time and energy.

Let me know how you get on, or if you want some motivation to get started.