American Family Archives | Finding Family Artifacts
- American Family Archives | Overall Philosophy
- American Family Archives | Finding Family Artifacts
- American Family Archives | Setting Up a Great Work Space
- American Family Archives | Sorting Through Family History
- American Family Archives | Dating Photos & Media
- American Family Archives | 8mm Home Movies & Films
- American Family Archives | Preserving 35mm Slides
- American Family Archives | Preserving Photo Albums
- American Family Archives | Postcards | Family History & Archival Care
- American Family Archives | Preserving Snapshots | Chapter 1
- American Family Archives | Preserving Wedding Dresses & Heirloom Fabrics
- American Family Archives | Preserving Toys – Old & New
- American Family Archives | Your HOME as Family History & Genealogy Resource!
Part 2:
Finding My Family Archives, Photographs
and Artifacts
Why I Gotta Do This:
A Journey into Ancestry, Genealogy, Family History, Antique Photographs, Disorganization, Dysfunction, Chaos, and One Man’s Search for Archival Salvation

A.) busted fan (why, just WHY do I save this crap???)
B.) cheap roll of dollar store birthday wrapping paper
C.) box full of irreplaceable family photograph albums
D. carry-on suitcase that stinks of the sappy cologne
that leaked in it while traveling
What is actually “good” about this arrangement is that this box of family photograph albums is:
1. in a single location, and was therefore relatively easy to find
2. the photo albums themselves are in a box, offering at least
some organization and protection
What is “bad” about this arrangement is:
1. the albums are being stored in the attic, with its harmful
temperature and humidity fluctuations
2. the box, while offering some protection and organization,
does not meet any requirements for true archival storage

A. its ALL good stuff
B. see answer A
The same pros and cons mentioned above apply to this photograph: while stored in the wrong place (my attic) and in the wrong enclosures (non-archival storage enclosures, shoeboxes, plastic containers, office storage boxes, etc.), at least these absolutely irreplaceable photographs, films, framed works and family artifacts are in one place, and while junked together they were at least somewhat protected.
Hey, we should all take what we can get!
The task now is to convert all this fossilized crap…er… wonderful and irreplaceable family photos, home movies, genealogy records, and heirlooms…
…into THIS! The correct archival storage solutions across the board.
(Please click on images for more details)

A.) just plain hard
B.) hand-wringing / very hard
C.) root canal hard
D.) Winter of 1941 on the Russian Steppe hard
E.) impossibly / staggeringly / infinitely hard
E.) actually, not that hard at all, even a surprise-filled(!!!) pleasure
Now then, my fellow adventurers and time-travelers, let’s make our start, beginning with…
Part 3 – Setting Up a Work Space
(BTW – got a question thus far? Got a particularly challenging archival storage / preservation / presentation / organizational nut that just won’t crack? Don’t know what’s what re: your personal archive or collection? Post a comment or contact us. We’ll get ya through it!)