Best Foot Forward: Preserving Ancestors' Photos

Tracking down our ancestors’ photos, documents and stories can be a treasure hunt with huge rewards. The images and details we create during our lifetime will be equally impactful to generations down the road. Taking the time to document these precious mementos now is just as important as capturing the family history of yesteryears.

This two-part series gives you tips and best practices for creating a digital archive that will keep your photo memories alive.

Part 1: Gathering and Digitizing
What materials you should digitize, how to properly handle physical artifacts like photos and documents, options and tips for digitizing materials, smart ways to name files, and how/where to store the materials to ensure long-term preservation.

Part 2: Organizing and Tagging
Options and tips for storing digitized files, best practices for structuring folders, how to tag details as portable metadata and why that matters, and options for sharing digital images now and in the future.