What can you do to preserve yellowing photographs, dimming home movies, slides, tape recordings, family-created books, and other memorabilia?
All these items tend to gather in closets, basements, cupboards, and attics. They can contain important and valuable family memories, but it is hard to know what to do with them and how to share them with others—particularly since outdated equipment may be needed to view and enjoy them. Whether you want to watch those fun family reels again or just aren't sure what to do with the pile of papers and photos you have inherited, digitizing is a helpful solution to your problem. Did you know you can do that for free?
Rather than setting those boxes of memorabilia out on the curb for garbage pickup, gather them up. Convert them to a digital format at no charge at the new Family Memories Preservation Center, also known as "Memory Lane." Located on the second floor of the FamilySearch Library in Salt Lake City, Utah, Memory Lane has equipment to digitize and preserve all sorts of formats—including VHS tapes, photos, slides, scrapbooks, and even 8mm film.
The preservation center is available to the public anytime during regular library hours. Helpers are usually on hand to assist with getting started on the equipment, and detailed written instructions are also available. It is best to make an appointment to ensure that the proper equipment is available when you come, but walk-ins are also welcome.
FamilySearch is a nonprofit organization seeking to help people connect to their families, past and present. Library services truly are offered for free, thanks to many who donate their time and resources.
How Long Does It Take?
The process is surprisingly fast! “I brought a box of photos down and did about 150 photos in an hour and a half or so," said Debbie Gurtler, assistant director of the FamilySearch Library. "You can put them all into a stack, place them on the photo scanner, and they just automatically feed through. It is hard to process just how quick it can be with the high-speed scanners.” (Note: The high speed scanners at the library work with certain photo sizes. Flat bed scanners are available at the station for large photos.)
Many guests who have already taken advantage of this service have found it both efficient and highly rewarding. One visitor, for example, was transferring her grandfather’s self-recorded life story from 12 tapes to a digital file. Time had rendered 4 of the tapes unusable, but she was able to digitize the rest. She knew that her family members were waiting eagerly for the files, as the recordings showed her grandfather's distinctive Cockney accent. He was born in London, and even after moving to the United States, he retained his accent.
Another guest at the library was planning to digitize multiple home movies and said that she was very glad she brought her granddaughter along. Despite the granddaughter's young age, she caught on to the process right away, and they were both able to work on saving the contents of the films. In the process, they enjoyed watching the events recorded in the films—including Grandma’s 16th birthday party, long in the past. Grandma enjoyed laughing at the memories of her younger self and was reminded of parts of the special birthday party that she had forgotten through the years. Since 8mm film is digitized an image at a time, they got to watch the film in slow motion, which was also interesting. (Video tapes are different than 8mm film and transfer in real time.)
What Can Be Digitized?
Equipment is available at the library for various preservation purposes. For specific details on the equipment and how to use it, visit this webpage for the Family Memories Preservation Center.
Photos, Slides, and Negatives
High speed photo and flatbed scanners can digitize photographs and slides ranging from the old tintypes and glass slides, to negatives and photographs from various types of cameras.
Learn more about digitizing and preserving photos and documents here.
Note: The FamilySearch Library also has places in the research areas (outside Memory Lane) where fiche and microfilm can be copied.
Film and Video
Home movies and videos, popular during the latter half of the 20th century, were produced in a variety of formats. The lifespan of film and tape depends on the condition of the storage area, the time of storage, and the emulsion used by the manufacturer. Setting up equipment to watch these movies and videos—if available—is cumbersome, so the films are often tucked away and perhaps forgotten. Memory Lane has equipment to allow people to watch and convert many types of video formats, such as VHS, 8mm and Super8 film, Hi8, and Betamax.
Learn more about converting VHS and other movie formats to digital.
Audiotapes
People make audio recordings for various purposes: to share voices and news from home with someone far away, to tell stories to future generations, to preserve ideas for transcription, and so on. These recordings hold not just the stories, but the sounds of the voices of the people who told the stories. Family stories are valuable in any format, but hearing them in the actual voice of an ancestor helps the hearers forge a closer connection to a speaker who later generations may not have met. Digitizing the recordings makes them readily accessible and shareable and preserves them for future generations.
Learn more about converting audio to mp3 format.
Books
Many families have preserved their stories in various book formats, such as handwritten journals, memory books, family histories, scrapbooks, and loose documents. Scanning can help you preserve and share these family books. It is inspiring to see the actual handwriting of ancestors in journals, letters, and other documents. Scrapbooks may contain newspaper clippings, programs, photos, and other kinds of memories. Typewritten pages can also be preserved and cherished.
Learn more about how the high-tech scanners at the library can help you digitize scrapbooks, yearbooks, and family books of all shapes and sizes.
Preserve Heirloom Memories
The facilities in Memory Lane are fast and free, and staff can help you to use the equipment. Consider gathering the family artifacts you want preserved and bringing them to the FamilySearch Library. Convert them to a digital format to preserve them and share them with future generations. Then these others can also know and remember those who came before. You may also want to put some of those memories online in the Memories section of FamilySearch.org so more distant relatives can find the memories. Library staff can help you with that too!
Remember, walk-ins are welcomed at the Family Memories Preservation Center, but making a reservation helps ensure that the equipment you will need is available when you come. Being prepared will maximize what you can accomplish during your visit. Don’t forget to bring a thumb drive, external hard drive, or the password to your cloud storage so you can save your digitized media.
At FamilySearch, we care about connecting you with your family, and we provide fun discovery experiences and family history services for free. Why? Because we cherish families and believe that connecting generations can improve our lives now and forever. We are a nonprofit organization sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. To learn more about our beliefs, click here.
