How to Organize Photos: Warning! This Advice May Shock You

Contrary to popular belief,

archivists do not keep everything.

Whaaat? An archivist?

Throwing things out?!

Yep.

Ya heard me.

I spent more time learning the art of archival appraisal than any other skill while in grad school. And by appraisal, I mean deciding what to keep and what to toss -- based on what items have enduring value.

But aren't archivists the keepers of our shared history?


Yes, but...


CLICK HERE to read the rest of How to Organize Photos: Warning! This Advice May Shock You That link will take you to the rest of this article at the NEW Practical Archivist website. (I can't bring myself to delete this old Blogspot one. Sentimental fool that I am.)

What to keep? What to toss?

There's an interesting article in the Ft. Wayne News-Sentinel called: "What to Keep, What to Throw Away? Think Carefully About What’s Really Important Before You Make a Decision."

Read it soon while it's still free:

http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/17374145.htm

Here's an excerpt from author Cindy Larson:

Like many other baby boomers, I suspect, my house is overflowing with boxes of papers, photos and mementos from my parents, who are both deceased. Add to that the stuff I’ve saved from my own marriage and children, and the result is an unorganized mess of boxes in our spare room.

I didn’t have a clue as to what to keep and what to pitch. What was truly a memento, and what was just clutter? What would be valuable or meaningful to my children and possibly, some day, their children?

Here are my comments on the article...

Purging. There is no magic formula for deciding what to keep. At least not one that works for everyone. You have to make some hard decisions, it's true. But making no decisions at all and keeping everything instead is just delaying the problem. Please don't leave the mess for your kids. The bigger the mess, the more tempted future generations will be to just toss it all.

The News-Sentinel article described an interesting sorting system just for sentimental items. Harriet Schechter advises clients to create 4 piles: Happy/Sad/Good/Bad. Seems like it could be super helpful. If you've used this method, please let me know by leaving a comment. Good or bad, I wanna hear it.

Preservation. As for the archival advice, it's not too bad. The article emphasizes the importance of stable temperature and humidity for long term survival of paper memorabilia. That's dead accurate. It also says that paper storage containers are better than plastic, which doesn't "breathe." I agree with that advice. Plus you have no idea how safe that plastic is, unless it's passed the Photographic Activity Test or PAT. But...

Boxes. I would add that the type of box you choose is important. Don't forget the sniff test -- if it stinks, don't put anything valuable in it. Unfortunately, that rules out most of the pretty looking shoebox-style boxes. Between the paper and the glue used to adhere it, you're looking at some awfully scary chemicals. Your best bet is to stick with an archival supplier like Metal Edge or Gaylord or Light Impressions. Thos metal edges are not just for strength -- they also make it possible to construct the box without using any adhesives.

Email. The article claims that letters are slowly being replaced by e-mail, and you should "consider saving at least some of your newsier e-mails." I would argue that this shift occurred years ago. And let's not forget that digital is more permanent than a sand painting, but not much else. The easiest solution is to just print out your most important correspondence. Not everything, of course. Then you end up with the same problem of too much paper.

Best advice in the article. I'm all for purging, but remember that there might be someone in your family who wants what you're about to toss. The older the stuff, the more important this becomes. Family historians are often the family archivist as well, so why not call up the genealogists in your family?

Related posts from The Practical Archivist:

Photo Organizing Tips: What to Keep?

[Double tip of the hat to Randy at GeneaMusings and Meagan at RootsTV]

Questions about my radio call-in show

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I've received several questions about my upcoming radio call-in show, but first the basic info...

Date: Monday, March 5, 2007
Time: 7 - 8 PM Central Time (a.k.a. Chicago Time)
Web: www.wort-fm.org
Local: 256-2001
Toll-free: 866-899-WORT (9678)

Now for the questions...

1. How exactly do I listen to the show? If you're lucky enough to live in Madison just tune in to 89.9 FM. If not, you'll need software on your computer that can play the live streaming audio. Personally, I prefer Realplayer. It's free. When the show is live, go to WORT's web page. In the header there are several menu choices.
   

   You want the Listen Live button, which is #1 in my handy visual aid, above.
   

2. Will there be a recording available? Yes! Visit WORT's Audio Archive, #2 in the illustration above. Shows are usually uploaded within 24 hours after broadcast and remain available for eight weeks.


3. How do I ask The Practical Archivist a question? You'll need to call in during the live broadcast. If you're in Madison, call 256-2001. Outside the area, you can call in using WORT's toll-free number: 1-866-899-WORT (9678).


4. Can I send my questions via email? Sure! Hostess anxiety has left me terrified that no one will call in or that the equipment will die a horribly death at precisely 7:02 pm... so it would be a relief to show up with questions ready to go. sally (at) jacobsarchival (dot) com. Assuming everything goes as planned and we have some live calls, those will take take precedence for obvious reasons. If I can't get to your question on the air, I'll try to answer it here on this blog.


5. I'm overseas and that's never a toll-free call. Can I call in using Skype? Sorry, no. But you're welcome to email me your question!
   
   

Photo Organizing Tips: Presentation is Only the Icing

Scrapbooking is a very popular hobby here in the United States. Surely you've seen stunning examples in your own family or group of friends. And who wouldn't appreciate a personalized scrapbook made for them by someone they love? What a beautiful, thoughtful gift! Scrapbookers are creative artists who have collectively raised the bar on what we consider a quality photo album.

But there's a dark side to this -- and it doesn't have anything to do with preservation...

I consulted with a client late last year who was sort of beating herself up about scrapbooking. She had made a vow to herself to deal with her photographs before the end of 2006. Here's what she said to me: "I feel like I'll be judged a bad mom if I don't transform all these photos into beautiful scrapbooks."

How on earth did this happen?

Please understand: I've got nothing against scrapbooking. For many people, it's a beloved hobby. For me, it's a nightmare. If there's such a thing as a"crafty gene" I can assure you that mine is damaged or missing entirely. And while I can recognize and appreciate good design, I can't seem to create it, much to my dismay. Add to that the fact that I can't seem to trim a photo correctly or set one down on a page without it coming out crooked, and you can see why I don't go on weekend-long scrapbooking retreats.

We owe scrapbookers a huge dept of gratitude for making so many presentation options available. Especially photo-safe options. The scrapbooking industry has literally held manufacturer's feet to the fire and demanded acid free materials. But no one should feel guilty if they prefer to use slip-in pages and plain 3-ring binders rather than a 12 color layout with embossed letters and a lovely translucent overlay. Presentation matters, yes. But don't let other people's elaborate designs prevent you from organizing, archiving and sharing your photos. At the end of the day it's the photos and the stories behind them that matter.

The Practical Archivists's Suggestions for NON-Scrapbookers:

• Remind yourself before you start that the presentation is the icing, not the cake itself.
  
• Choose the photos you love the most. The ones that stop you in your tracks. That make you grin, or cry. Whatever. The ones that really MEAN something to you.
• Write down the stories behind your photos - the stories that will disappear after you are no longer here to tell them. I use Denis LeDoux's Photo Scribe method, which is designed specifically for people who are intimidated by writing. It's one of the 3 books I recommend to every family historian, see column on the left.
• Regardless of your personal style, be sure to use only PAT-passed materials. See this article for details about what is and what is not safe to use.
• Start with one album that chronicles you and your partner's lives together. If you have kids, start with an album about your lives together before kids.
  
• Next, you can create one for each of your kids. Skip the baby pictures if you already have an elaborate baby book with pictures.
• After that's done, make the "extra" scrapbooks for individual vacations, etc.

Two final thoughts:

PRESENTATION IS THE ICING, NOT THE CAKE.

Perfection Is the Enemy of the Good

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Procrastination: U=ExV/(G)xD

Professor Piers Steel has found a way to explain procrastination as a mathematical formula, and it only took him (wait for it....) 10 years to do it! I don't know about you, but I find that number funnier every time I think about it.

Anyhoo. According to this article on news.com, procrastination rates have been climbing in this country, and college students are the biggest procrastinators. Probably no surprise there.

New technologies only increase the number of distractions. The author refers to the Blackberry as "crackberry" and talks about "motivationally toxic environments." Hmm. So much for computers and technology making our lives easier, eh?

Here's what Steel says about trying to get anything done in this environment:

"Imagine trying to diet with a magic floating spoon of ice cream following you around."

Whoa.


For those of you tackling a photo organizing project, here are some tips to fix your procrastination habit:

• Know yourself. You have to know your procrastination style in order to change your habits. If your problem is being easily distracted by other tasks, see the next few tips.
  
• Turn off the TV. Unplug it if you have to. Sometimes if you're stuck the best option is to take your work somewhere else like a library or coffee shop.
  
• Turn off your cell phone. Stash it in a locked drawer for the hour or so you plan to get work done.
  
• If playtime interferes with your work, remove games from your PC. Stash game cartridges out of reach whenever you're working. If they still beckon to you, ask a neighbor to hold them for a while.
  
• A tip for all of us. Turn off your automatic email notification. Lose the ding!
• If you have no problem getting started but tend to get bogged down by large projects, break everything down into smaller tasks.
  
• Perfection is the enemy of the good. Don't let perfectionism prevent you from making real progress. Better is bettter -- even if it's not perfect.
  
• If a deadline is the only thing that motivates you, create your own and make yourself publicly accountable. (That's my own tip, fyi.) A deadline you set for yourself won't have any power if no one else knows you've missed it. Tell someone you admire and respect that you've set a deadline for yourself and you'd like their help to keep you on track. Ideally, this person would also be kind and supportive. Another option is to post to an online forum and update folks about your progress. Heck, you can even post your goals in the comments section here on The Practical Archivist blog.
• Reward yourself. When you make progress, give yourself a nice treat. How you define treat is, of course, up to you. :)
  

Read the full article here, including an explanation of the formula itself: A Formula for Procrastination, by Stefanie Olsen

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Photo Organizing Tips: What to Keep?

Contrary to popular belief, archivists do not keep everything. In fact, one of my archival professors used this memorable rhyme: "When in doubt, throw it out!"

When I tell people this I usually get a surprised look.

An archivist? Throwing things out?

Yep. I'd be willing to bet I spent more time learning the art of archival appraisal than any other skill while in grad school. But aren't archivists the keepers of our shared history? Yes, but...

Here is the undeniable reality: If historical societies kept every single item that landed on their doorstep....every cancelled check... every unidentified photograph... every duplicate map… there simply wouldn't be any room left for new collections. And that won’t work in the long run, will it? Hardly.

The same holds true for your family archive, but it's a little different. When a collection stays in the family, the sentimental value is extremely important. I’m a mom myself, so I understand how difficult it can be to part with sentimental treasures like baby pictures, finger paintings, pinch pots and teeny tiny little clothes.

If you keep everything you'll have an uncontrollable mess on your hands. Your grandkids are not going to want to keep all of your vacation slides. On the other hand, they would probably love to have a handful of photographs of you having fun on vacation. You can choose to leave them everything or you can make some careful selections now.

When teaching folks how to purge a large chaotic photo collection, I like to use a fine wine analogy. You can read the article I wrote on this exact topic on my website.

P.S. If you're thinking about joining us for our half day photo organizing workshop in Madison later this month, you'll want to check out two special offers that are good only through Friday, January 12th. Cheers!

Photo Organizing Tips: Set Realistic Goals

Large projects are often dead in the water before they are ever begun. They seem so daunting that just thinking about them is an energy drain. Not good. The key, of course, is to break the project down into smaller (read: do-able) steps.

A goal like "I will organize all of my family photographs by the end of 2007 or die trying" is dramatic but not specific enough. Create goals that are small steps you can accomplish every month or week or day.

Here's what I mean by concrete goals:

1. I will complete an initial inventory of the photo collection by January 31st.
   
2. I will scan the most vulnerable images by March 1st.
   
3. I will set aside 6 hours each month to work on this project.
4. I will find a buddy (or a group of buddies) so we can work on our projects together.
   

Even your "Big Picture" goal can be worded in more concrete terms:

1. By the end of 2007, all the damaged and vulnerable photos will be stored in a safe environment (starting with a rescue of all photos in those horrible sticky magnetic albums).
   
2. All the remaining prints will be sorted into groups in rough chronological order.
   
3. I will complete at least one photo album or tribute book by the end of 2007.

As you complete each goal, relish the satisfaction of crossing it off your list once and for all. If you tend to obsess over the big picture, ask yourself this brief but Very Important Question:

"Is it better?"

If you can say yes, then for goodness sake take a moment to celebrate your accomplishments. Big projects are completed in small steps, and it's important to stay motivated and on track. So go ahead and pat yourself on the back. Write a letter to a dear old friend telling them how lucky you are to have them in your life. You can even enclose a photo of the two of you (I'll talk about extra photos in the next Photo Organizing Tip).

Photo Organizing Tips: Finding Expert Advice

In honor of New Year's and the resolutions we make, I'm going to share some of my all-time favorite photo organizing tips with you this month.

Before You Start: Find Expert Advice

The best place to start is to attend a workshop or get your hands on a decent how-to book. Since these are your family treasures and not just any old paper, I strongly recommend you get your advice from someone familiar with photo preservation rather than a professional clutter buster. There are some basic no-no's you need to avoid -- most notably using poor quality boxes and albums. I don't care how adorable the design is, if it smells awful you would be crazy to use it for storing photographs. Although this simple sniff test might not seem scientific, it can keep your photos away from PVCs which will damage them over time. (In other words: If it smells like a cheap shower curtain, run!)

Find Expert Advice Online.

Here are two general articles written specifically for non-archivists:

The Library of Congress: Caring for your Photographic Collections

Northeast Document Conservation Center: Care of Photographs

You can also use my Preservation Answer Machine to find information about caring for specific types of photographs (cased images, tintypes, etc.) or for advice on how to safely label your photos.

Find a How-To Manual.

The book I recommend more often than any other is Maureen Taylor's Preserving Your Family Photographs. Amazon.com has new and used copies for sale. Your public library may also have a copy you can borrow.

I noticed that there's one reviewer on Amazon.com who complains that it's not a good book for beginners. I whole-heartedly disagree, but by the time I discovered this book I had already finished grad school and worked as a professional archivist.

Of course, if I hear from other beginners out there that they also found this book too advanced, I will change my tune. Please feel free to email me or leave a comment here on the blog.


Upcoming Workshop in Madison, Wisconsin.
On Saturday, January 2oth, 2007 I'll be hosting my first-ever Photo Savers / Story Keepers half day workshop in Madison, Wisconsin. The class will start with the "what to keep" and continue on to "how to keep." You'll also learn a wrtiting technique so painless that you will truly enjoy recording the stories behind your photographs. Visit the official website for more details, including how to order a recording if you can't make it in person.