Have you inherited bins of photos and family artifacts over the years?
“I have 8 bins of photos, slides and artifacts in my basement that I inherited when my mom passed away. Now both of my parents are gone and I’ve got all this stuff, which I know my siblings (and I) would love to have access to, but it’s overwhelming. How do I organize it all”?
This is the situation my client came to me with. She was looking for help, her idea was to have a service scan and store everything digitally on a CD that she could copy for each of her 5 siblings. Then the bins would be out of her basement and everyone would have access to their childhood photos.
It sounds so simple and like a fairly solid plan, but one that really just transfers the volume of stuff from bins to digital, which may or may not make the photos and artifacts more accessible to her family members. While they might have them digitally, would they go through them and how would they know who is who in some of the pictures? Wouldn’t she have to go back through them and put names or tags on each of them?
After hearing about her goals I suggested that she take her decluttering project to another level by creating a photobook for her and her siblings. A photobook that organizes their photos, that honors her parents lives and captures their childhood memories. After all, wasn’t she really looking to preserve one-of-a-kind family photos and artifacts and her family’s legacy for future generations to enjoy?
She loved the idea of accomplishing both goals — decluttering while also celebrating the history and memories the photos represented.
We began with the end in mind, brainstorming a Story Board for how to tell her family’s story, defining the chapters and themes that she wanted to depict so as she goes through the bins she knows what she is looking for.
We are now devising a plan for tackling her 8 bins. A plan that:
- maximizes her effort while minimizing the number of times she has to touch the physical & digital photos/artifacts,
- creates a digital naming and organization structure enabling her to find the right photos at the right time,
- segregates the photos to be included in her family legacy book,
- allows her to share the photos with her siblings,
- identifies which photos can be thrown away, and…
- saves her time in the long run.
Whether you have 8 bins of photos or just 2, I suggest you start your decluttering project by defining what you really want to accomplish so you don’t just digitize your clutter. Which could turn into a bigger problem than you expected – keep in mind that your bins have more organization context to them than you realize.
You might be tempted to outsource the scanning using a service that advertises scanning ~2,000 pictures for $200 — you dump your photos into their box (the size of a shoe-box) and you get the box back along with a CD of your scanned photos. Sounds like magic and an easy way to get your pictures scanned quickly. But keep in mind there is no information on the back of a digital picture. And they may not be in any particular order!
When you have your pictures in bins, at least you know which bin had all of your mom’s photos and artifacts and which bins contained your dad’s. But once all of your photos are digital, labeled with scanned image # 1,2,3…201…520…1543, etc. you no longer have the bin for context. Some faces you might recognize, but many will start to look alike, especially if you have boxes of distant relatives.
Don’t let your anxiousness to declutter end up causing you more angst in the future. Resist the urge to turn them into megabytes of digital images to be dealt with later, out of sight (for now) and out of mind.
Spend some time thinking about how to preserve these photos, how to share them with your family members, how to arrange them in a way that tells your family’s story for future generations to enjoy. Then devise your plan for scanning, organizing, sharing and ultimately decluttering.
If you would like help devising a plan to preserve your family’s history, then book a Complimentary Curator Consultation and tap into my expertise.
Click here to BOOK your Complimentary Curator Consultation
Life Story Curator
Let the story telling begin!
Great article Kathy. Lots to think about as my family begins to de-clutter. I hate to loose the memories not only in my boxes of photos, but also my siblings’ boxes of photos and my cousins’ boxes. Its a good thought to think about bringing together the most precious memories into one story.
It can certainly be overwhelmingly when you start thinking about the volume of boxes you (and family members) have, let alone all the digital pictures in each of your phones and computers. It doesn’t happen over night, but getting started with my Story Board session (that begins with the end in mind!) can help move those memories from the boxes, phones and computers to the coffee table — giving you and your loved ones access to them!