ACOT Message Board

HELP!  I have 3-4 cardboard boxes (yes, I know they're full of acid!) and 1 suitcase of old family photos.  They're from maternal, paternal, and in-laws families.  Some are large 8x10 and some are small almost mini.  I need to sort, catagorize, clean, scan, and name/label everything.  Does anyone have a good SYSTEM for doing this?  It seems if I sort by size, then I can't sort by family/subject.  If I sort by family/subject, then I can't sort by size.Once cleaned and scanned, how do you store each grouping until ready to truly deal with them whether it's framing, cropping it, storing it, whatever.  They're all a hodge-podge and I don't even know what I have.  I don't want to crop them until the whole scanning and sorting part is done.  Then I'll know what I have to work with, purge any duplicates, prioritize, etc.  It's so overwhelming I'm paralyzed.Thanks everyone.jalh3

WOW--that sounds like a huge undertaking! I have no idea how to help you, but I hope you know how lucky you are to have that much of your heritage! I wish I did!

How about if you sort by family and year.  Then do 2 places, a certain size and smaller and then another of that is bigger.  Then when you go to use them, they can be side by side.  That is the only thing i could think of.  If not, then i would do by family/subject.  

I always start by seperating FamiliesThen I Seperate by yearI found it is easier to stop there & pull out what I need at the time I do the project.As far as seperating on the computer. i have done it lots of ways over the years & the best solution I have found is to keep all my folder in Windows. I put them in their own hard drive. The reason I have gone back to this is everytime I upgrade my computer any other method turns into a great big mess. Windows folders go right into the new system no problem. So organize your Folder like you would a filing cabnet and that way you don't have to redo it again. Most important Back Up Back UP Back Up.I have lost poictures because the disks fail over time So I make a new copy of all my pictures once a year at least.

I have a friend who is in the same boat.   She ended up sorting them into THREE CM power sort boxes.      They hold tons of pictures. 

For her larger pictures she scanned them and resized them and put the small version in the powersort box and the larger original photo in a storage bag (Actually, a page protector) that has an index on the outside)