This is a big task, but it doesnt have to be a daunting one. Look for a site that reviews a number of options with multiple good recommendations. Shelly had approximately 75 letters that her father wrote to his parents when he served in WWII. We all have memorabilia of some sort; those objects we keep for their historical significance or as reminders of important people or events in our lives. Keeping You Organized for Business or Summer Travel, Six Ways to Anchor Yourself with Daily Habits. Our keepsakes are tangible proof of our experiences, and they carry a significant weight of meaning and tell a story of their own. reunion invitation invitations letter church fr picnic wording together example personalized flyer templates bring meet forget don return main greet Give it to Shelly, shes the family history buff! But now, Shelly was drowning. Dont try to do this in a vacuum! Step 2 Scanning. Heres one I like: If youve done all this you have come a LONG way to organizing your family history material. But its one of the most important things we can do with our family materials for so many reasons: Scanning, much like sorting, has multiple steps. Keep objects that bring you joy when you look at them. You have multiple similar photos in which case you only want to pick the best few to scan. You dont typically use memorabilia and the need for keeping memorabilia is almost always emotional and rarely practical. You can throw things away, you can give things away, you can make hard decisions. Im the only one remaining of the original immediate family on both sides. What will you discover about your familys past? Local genealogy library or historical society, A school for things like yearbooks or class photos, Religious group or historical society/archives. There may be some information that can be kept online. So you have 5 (maybe more) piles: keep, give to family, give to 3rd party, sell, and trash. Theres no one right answer, theres just a right answer for you. What type of memorabilia should you keep? Get it on websites, blogs, Facebook pages, etc. If thats the case Shelly moves on the to the next question can it be sold? For those out there that believe you have to have, Have you downloaded my free guide Five Steps to, As a color lover, it really struck me that KBIS, a, Most people assume a bright sunny day is the best, High Point Market Insiders Tour Fall 2022, Where to get the best photos on Nantucket Island, Signature Kitchen Suite True to Food Tour in Napa, Emerging design trends from High Point Market Spring 2022, The latest color trends from High Point Market Spring 2022, Seven mistakes that ruin your smartphone photos, Popular Kitchen and Bath trends from KBIS 2022, How to get great snow photos with your phone. These have great information on them: the date a person died, was buried, their age, maybe what they died of, exact location of burial: plot/section/etc. A simple Google search for top photo sharing sites or best blogs for photos or good ways to share family history online are great. It preserves the original material looking at a reprint or online photo means no sticky fingers on grandpas crumbling letters. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. Facebook This application is good because everyone probably already has a Facebook page, knows how to use it, and its free. Defining what to keep when it comes to memorabilia is somewhat different than with other types of organizing projects. Many of us have boxes, or even rooms, filled to the brim with these keepsakes: family heirlooms, your grandmothers birth certificate, baby clothes or your childrens artwork from kindergarten. Your email address will not be published. Title the scan something that will make sense when you go back and look at the file in a year. Add the photos to the appropriate folder, putting women in the folder of their maiden name if the photos are pre-marriage, and in the folder of their married name if they are post-marriage. Your information will never be shared. Small piles of photos, letters, and other yellowed documents lined the living room walls. As with anything we keep, without a thoughtful strategy for defining what to keep and an organized way for storing what we keep, collections of memorabilia can quickly become large, disorganized and physical and emotional burdens. Grab your free guide on organizing your digital files so you save time and money and ditch the digital distress. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. Required fields are marked *, Make Instant Discoveries in Your Family Tree Now, 18 Billion Genealogy Records Are Free for 2 Weeks. For example, Shelly had a small pile of internment records. tobin specter spook ghostbusters That will help future generations who want to reference this material. They all have their own families and life styles and could care less about their ancestors. Designed by, Smartphone Photography for Interior Designers. For example, my son Joshua carried around a stuffed animal a lion he called Baby as a child. I want to throw it all away!. My client was at a real loss for how to deal with this. If there is information on the back of a photo put it in the description. If no Is there a third party that might want it? Use the description or tagging options that are on most photo software. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience. Everywhere we went, Baby was there too. singers legendary Schedule a Consultation | Contact us at 206.579.5743. document.getElementById( "ak_js_2" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. The reasons you wouldnt want to scan something are: There is certainly more than one good process for scanning documents that can be followed. No matter how organized or unorganized your material is you can start this process. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. Then follow this process. Any cookies that may not be necessary for the website to function and are used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads and other embedded contents. fooled convince precht blinded stay hustled bellevue tyranny Next, and this was important for Shelly to hear, you are not responsible for bearing the burden of your familys history. A computer failure, a flood, a fire; human errors and mother nature take their toll on the artifacts of our life. Heres what I would recommend: 6. Editors Note: For easy to use tools that can help you scan your files check out this article. As I walked further into the house, I saw they also lined all available space in the kitchen and bedroom. The first sorting you will do is based on where your family memorabilia will go. Great! This is a great blog Jodi! Depending on what site security you desire, how much to you to post/share, needs will differ. It becomes easier to share digital files can be put on websites, sent in emails, downloaded from dropboxes you name it! Be aware of paid ads by one organization. You may choose to organize your digitized family history in any number of ways. These cookies do not store any personal information. Also known as, let-the-piles-begin! Here are just a few of the easiest and cheapest ways to share digital family media. But, working together for just 2 hours, we came up with a plan and a process that would keep much of this amazing family history (photos, letters, official military documents, written histories, etc.) That way the information is secure and shared and you dont have to keep the records if you dont want to. You can write about documents, family, etc. You cant do it all at once, but you do want to gain some efficiencyin what can be a boring and repetitive process. She had no idea where to start with the heapsof family memorabiliathat frankly she no longer wanted it cluttering up her space. She had been the willing recipient of family documents for as long as she could remember. We use cookies to bring you the best experience, record visits, serve ads, provide signup forms and deliver other essential functions. Lots of good information and usable ideas. All those family documents that are going to your siblings, your kids, your local historical society, even to eBay you will want to scan and ensure you have a copy of the material. Use this framework for establishing criteria for what types of memorabilia you choose to keep: Use this process for organizing memorabilia: Overall the memorabilia you keep should be meaningful, accessible so you can enjoy it and protected. Shelly was thrilled to have a path forward! Thats the hardest part of downsizing. Would future generations even look at them before tossing them out? Her grown children were seemingly uninterested in genealogy and inheriting a massive collection, as were her siblings. Enlist family help for this too! If you know the year, the place, or any other relevant information add that too! With that you are ready for Step 2. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Grab your free guide on organizing your digital files so you save time and money and ditch the digital distress. It save guards our family history from us! A simple email to offer the materials is easy. So rather than keep this pile of papers I suggested she add this information (noting the source of course) to her online or digital family tree as well as sites such as Findagrave.com or Billiongraves.com. Many use old stuff in multi media projects and ways I cant even imagine. Check too with your local antique stores to see what they sell, what their terms are, and what costs you would incur if you wanted to sell something through them. If you do end up donating family memorabilia to a museum or archive be sure to make a list of what organization took what and the location. For many sites you dont have to have a paying subscription to send emails, just an account. Lets talk about giving or selling family memorabilia to third parties. Get a grouping of photos/documents that you want to scan at the same sitting. Blogs Blogs can be free and they are usually drag and drop easy to set up. You can do this! A cynical person would say that this step takes the physical piles and just turns them into digital ones, which technically is true. The box of family stuff that I got from my uncles house had a water stain down almost half of every document and photo. If Baby was ever out of sight, Joshua would sink into despair, so we didnt even question driving back to a restaurant in the middle of a blizzard to retrieve him. Now what? Step 3 Sharing. Ive done this for my kids and it was the first time I saw a glimmer of interest in genealogy. reunion invitation invitations letter church fr picnic wording together example personalized flyer templates bring meet forget don return main greet at her fingertips but not in her home. Get two full weeks of free access to more than 18 billion genealogy records right now. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. My grandparents mentioned a LOT of neighbors and friends in their diary, my grandmothers high school memory book had loads of photos I could share digitally with other families. cola coca atlanta discounts coupon ticket tickets things ve globe around atlantaonthecheap luck looking been re Shelly decided to contact museums that focused on WWII as well as county historical societies from where her father was from to see if the memorabilia would be of interest to them. It is also important that our family history and the stuff that makes it up is not a burden for anyone. You can even start a new page just for family stuff: The BASH Family page, or something like that. mac museum restaurant huntingdon north tripadvisor pa attraction Step 1 Sorting. It gets more difficult if there are only 4th, 5th or 6th cousins left. Search for old photographs, Yearbooks, or old letters. Theres a lot out there! Your children and your childrens children will be grateful you took the time to organize and tell the story. Maybe one pile or half a pile at a time. I am typically looking for a person and having name be the primary folder title is more helpful than say a year or location. I like WordPress, but there are lots of great options out there. Youve sorted, youve scanned, youve mailed things off, youve even thrown a few items in the trashgood work! You can create photo books and give them as gifts. Sharing online does not mean you have to be technically savvy. This is helpful if there are any close family members left. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. cola coca atlanta discounts coupon ticket tickets things ve globe around atlantaonthecheap luck looking been re Definitely let your family know you are going through a process of elimination and would love their input and ideas on what they might want themselves. Post photos and really anything digital. Now that you have a LOT of digital data taking up space on your hard drive, its time to put it out in the cloud. Your email address will not be published. And you will scan more than you will keep. Another type of person that might want original old documents after scanning are artists. Thank you! Its easy for example when organizing a desk drawer to ask yourself, Do you use it? or Do you need it?. The same may be true for the 5-10 letters of the stack of 150 that you want to keep. so that distant and close relatives can see it, download it, and get reconnected to their family history. Heres a step by step guide for setting up a family history blog, Sometime a piece of history is really a pile Consider if you want to keep. She needed to downsize her home. Create folders based on surname. You can sort within surnames by creating folders based on year or decade. It will take some space and piles and some hard decisions, but it will be well worth it. There are no real personal touches of a relative like a signature or photo. As the years pass, these items will only gain more value in the timeline of your family history. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. ebay or antique store). kidrated beatles Other families mentioned in or pictured in the documents you have. Need help organizing your memorabilia or do you have questions about storing these items? Avoid Papa Bash1, Papa Bash2, Papa Bash3, etc. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. dube benjamin thabile buhle cute stuff times happier All of that is extremely helpful in locating a grave. I hope it gives others with those boxes of memorabilia the incentive to spring clean. I suggested she contact the school to see if they wanted this information. Make a separate pile for each group that will be taking something. Scan at a relatively high resolution in color in case you want to make prints in the future. dube benjamin thabile buhle cute stuff times happier document.getElementById( "ak_js_3" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Get tips and strategies to rock your work from anywhere productivity while maintaining boundaries when work and life happen under one roof. One step, or document, at a time. This is a process than can work for anyone on almost any de-cluttering project. 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Your email address will not be published. There are many, many options out in the world wide web! Contact us. singers legendary If no is this something you could sell? Use the photo software on your computer to crop the scan to its edges so theres no wasted space. Some I use are: SmugMug and Shutterfly. Opening and reopening letters, certificates, and the like can wear down the original material quickly. These questions dont work as well for deciding whether to keep a love letter or a chipped saucer from your grandmothers tea set. fooled convince precht blinded stay hustled bellevue tyranny mac museum restaurant huntingdon north tripadvisor pa attraction Youll be opening files all day to see whats really there. Save the scan in a computer file that follows a logical order. Great article! Im in the process myself. They may already have the yearbooks, or not want the other information. To see what sells on places like eBay I suggest you browse through the site. (i.e. I will use my clients materials as an example. Dont give or throw anything away just yet. My client was overwhelmed with her extensive genealogy collection. Houzz Pro: One simple solution for contractors and design pros. Privacy can be tricky, assume what you put there will be seen. In the Macs Photos software you can add a title, description, key words, and even tag faces. If you have an account on places like Ancestry.com or MyHeritage.com (any site with public family trees online) you may be able to find and contact other people whose ancestors have been included in your family stuff. You do need to know how much privacy you want is this information just for known family, or can it be made public so that anyone who might have an interest can find it? The rewards of organizing your boxes will increase over time. Dont think about need, but want. She loved them, but didnt want to keep the crumbling papers in a large box forever. So then what do we do after scanning? kidrated beatles She had been an organizer of class reunions for her high school and also had a lot of her mothers yearbooks from the 1930s for the same high school. This is the fun part! It all depends on how much data you have and what level of detail is important to you. Photo sharing sites this huge category can be free or cost a bundle. Youll also gain access to the MyHeritage discoveries tool that locates information about your ancestors automatically when you upload or create a tree. Having the. The goal is to preserve as much as possible, in the hands of those who want it and will care for it. You have no idea who or what the document is related to in our family (and no way to find out), and even then you might want to keep it. tobin specter spook ghostbusters For each piece of family history answer one question first: Do I want to keep this?