Step by Step Guide on How to Organize Your Old Photographs

When you find a pile of old photographs, the initial reaction is one of excitement – you get to rediscover the precious moments that you or your family had in the past.
But after that, the excitement might turn into anxiety once you realize what a tall task it will be to sort all of the photographs in a way that makes sense and is easy to store.

There’s no getting around the process – you just need to accept that you’ll need to spend hours going through each and every photo until all of them have been identified and sorted accordingly.

But although the process isn’t easy, there are steps that you can take to ensure that it at least goes as smoothly as possible. To help you get started, here are a few tips for organizing your old photographs that should get you on the right track.

Take Some Time to Sort Your Collection

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Before you can organize your old photographs, you will need to go through all of them to get a clear big-picture view of what exactly you have on your hands. Set up a clean and spacious working area where you can put all of the photographs and start separating them according to your criteria.

Remember to wear gloves when you handle your photographs and especially negatives – they stain very quickly and are difficult to clean, so it’s better to be safe and ensure that the pictures don’t get damaged.

Once you’ve set up your area and have prepared to handle the photos, you need to figure out what sorting method will you use to separate them into groups. While there are many sorting methods available, the truth is that when handling personal photos, you are the best judge in deciding what criteria to use to sort the images.

You could sort them according to date, family members, occasions, or many other factors, so consider which system makes more sense for you. If you’re not sure of what’s happening in the pictures, you can sort them by the people that are in them, even if you don’t know some of them.

Look for clues in the pictures if you want to determine when they were taken – anything from the style of the clothing, historic buildings, to household items can help you determine when it was made.

Decide on the Best Method for Packaging

Choosing the right method for packaging is essential not only for your convenience but also for protecting the photographs from environmental factors and hazards that could damage them.

There are, however, many possibilities for storing pictures – you could use a box with a lid, a cabinet, or just put the photographs in individual albums and then store them.

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The choices that you make will depend on how often will you want to see the images – if they are stored without use for prolonged periods of time, it might be wise to store them more safely, in boxes and a closet, because that will protect them from the environment.

Don’t stuff the photos too tightly and make sure they’re not bent or folded before you close the box. The boxes should be made from cardboard or other materials that don’t contain anything that might damage the photographs over time.

If you want to protect your older photographs but still want to view them often, you can use a polyester sleeve that can protect it from environmental factors while still allowing you to see it in full.

A good mix between the two is using albums, especially those with a hardcover. They not only help protect the photographs using polyester sleeves but also allow you to go through them conveniently by simply turning pages in your album.

Find a Secure Storage Space

Your storage plays a vital role in how quickly your photographs age, so you should make sure that you take the time to find a space that meets the requirements.

Ideally, storage space for photographs should be a cool and dry place that has a consistent temperature and lower humidity levels.

Lower temperatures delay the chemical decomposition processes and allow your pictures to stay in good condition for longer, while lower humidity levels help to prevent mold growth and ensure stable conditions that are better for preserving fragile older photographs as well.

Consider the likelihood of accidents as well – keeping your photos in a basement might seem like a good choice, but they could get destroyed in the case of flooding or if there was an insect or rodent infestation.

If you have to store your photos in a garage or basement, make sure you put them on a sturdy shelf that would be able to protect it in case of flooding.

Digitize Your Photographs

Even if you take all of the steps for organizing and preserving your photographs, they will not protect them forever. Over time, all pictures will inevitably succumb to environmental factors and start decaying, so the only permanent solution is to digitize them.

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If you have them, it’s always best to digitize negatives as that can provide you with the best quality. But a professional picture scanning service should be able to scan even older images and restore them to good shape using advanced photo editing software.

Since digitizing your photographs yourself is very difficult because of the time it would take and the equipment required, your best bet is finding professionals who can take over the entire process.

Some companies even offer on-premise services, meaning that they can come into your home or office with their equipment and digitize all the photographs there.