Family History Tips and Hints

The Family Memory Box: Keep one in the kitchen, living room, or family room and every now and then toss in everyday keepsakes: notes, photos, and kids' drawings. Whatever captures your fancy is fair game. Invite the kids to do the same. When the box is full, have a family gathering and decide which items to add to the permanent family collection—make it a sharing time and involve the kids.

Keep History Accessible: In our home, we've set aside an entire bookcase for family and history stuff. Books on local history are stored along with the working scrapbooks and today's photo albums. Several shelves are devoted to a collection of videotapes and CDs in addition to scrapbooks with family photos dating back several generations.

Make Copies: For especially valuable or irreplaceable documents and photos of historical interest, consider displaying copies while the original is kept secure in a safe-deposit box. Almost every community has at least one photo shop or office supply store, which can scan and color reproduce a 10x12 document or photograph for less than $10.

More Scrapbooking Tips

Unfold and flatten papers before you store them. Folded documents can be "ironed" between heavy books for a week or two to fully flatten. Use paper corners to mount photos in albums and scrapbooks. For true archival-quality storage, interleave scrapbooks and photo albums with acid-free or alkaline-buffered pape, or purchase a high-quality, archival scrapbook. Use a photo-safe pencil instead of an ink pen to label and identify materials. Inks contain sulfur and dyes that can discolor, bleed through, and otherwise harm paper and photographic materials.

Do not use tape, labels, rubber bands, metal fasteners, and liquid glues to mount or bind documents and photographs. Each of these items will, over time, stain and tear your records, and speed their deterioration.

Most scrapbooks and photo albums sold in stores are not designed for the long-term preservation of materials. If you have any questions about the long-term suitability of a product, ask the store clerk for assistance or go online and search for "archive-quality scrapbooks."

Good luck and happy scrapbooking!