Should I keep my original family photos after they’re scanned?
After we scan a family’s photo archive, many clients ask us what they should do with their original family photos. That answer is ultimately up to the family, but below are your options and the most important factors to consider before you decide what to do.
Option 1: Discard Them
I’m a minimalist and a big fan of downsizing and simplifying your possessions, but I feel like family photos are different and special. If you want to discard your photos after they’re scanned that’s your choice, but it’s not our recommendation.
Option 2: Donate Them
Many people feel like their photos are historically significant and believe that donating them to a local museum, archive, or historical society is a good option. Occasionally we encounter photos or videos that are historically significant, but most family photos are personally significant but not valuable to the general public. If you attempt to donate your photos to a local museum or archive, don’t be surprised or take it personally if your offer is rejected.
Option 3: Disperse Them
After a collection of photos has been scanned at archival quality, it might make sense to share the originals with family members or friends who are in the photos or otherwise interested. Sharing photos can be a very thoughtful gift, but make sure you’re not just delegating decisions you don’t want to make to the next generation.
Option 4: Keep Only Favorites
Our average client has about 10,000 physical photos in their collection, so one option to consider is keeping only your favorites. This might include photos from major events (birth, graduation, wedding, etc.), professional portraits, or older heritage photos. One challenge to this approach is that different members of one family might have different favorites, making it hard to decide what to keep
Option 5: Keep Them
Even after your photos are scanned, we recommend keeping the originals in a safe place in archival photo storage boxes. There’s something intangible about handling tangible photos from your childhood, or heritage photos from previous generations. Rehousing your original photos in archival storage boxes usually reduces the physical volume by more than 50%, so if you decide to keep your originals they will probably take a lot less space.
If you do decide to discard some or all of your original photos, we strongly recommend two things:
- Ensure your photos have been scanned at archival resolution (600 PPI for prints and 4,000 PPI for slides and negatives), at high quality, in file formats that are safe for the future, and that all important details (names, places, events, dates, notes, captions, etc.) are saved as permanently embedded metadata in your digital files.
- Confirm that your digital files are safely backed up using the 3-2-1 plan. If you discard your photos and lose your digital files, then all your photo memories and work will be lost forever.
If you’d like to discuss your project with an expert, please reach out. We’d love to help!
Interested in working with Chaos to Memories?
If you’re near Chicago and ready to get started, come visit our Wheaton Studio Monday – Friday, 10-5. Please bring your memories with you.
If you live outside the Chicagoland area, we’re happy to send you a Project Form and Contract, along with shipping instructions, so you can get started on your project.
Contact us for more information.