Guides
Family Photo Archive: Recording Place Clues
A family photo archive records place clues by preserving original captions, separating standardized place names, and noting dates, sources, and uncertainty.
Reviews
Bench setups compared for family archive work, from paper to textiles
A mixed family collection needs one bench that changes shape, not three. Here is how each setup is laid out for paper, photographs and textiles.
Guides
A family document scanning workflow overview
This family document scanning workflow overview follows a home archive from sorting and pilot scans through file naming, quality checks, metadata, and backups.
Maintenance
Family archive mold: it starts with humidity, not with bad luck
Mold needs humidity above 65 percent, warmth and still air. What to do in the hour you find it, and the four things people do instead that make it worse.
Reviews
Cellulose nitrate in family collections: recognize it before you store it
How to spot cellulose nitrate in old family objects by date, look, smell, and trade names, and how to store it ventilated, cool and labeled.
Reviews
Building a family archive emergency kit: before the crisis, not during it
Kit for the emergency you have not had yet: emergencies become disasters when nobody prepared. The short household kit, the one-page plan, and who to call.
Industry
What the published project accounts agree on as of 2027
What the published project accounts agree on: across film, tape and digital preservation guidance, the same four conclusions recur. What they.
Industry
Family archive case studies are rare: what to use instead
Family archive case studies are rare, so this looks at what published evidence from the NIST disc study, LOCKSS and NDIIPP can and cannot show you.
Features
Home archive supplies get tested through two contained practice projects
Testing a fabric for colorfastness and preparing a mount board: two contained projects that teach you to test materials before trusting them with anything.
Reviews
Storing home archive supplies: where board, tissue and foam go, and what the grab bag holds
How to store mat board, tissue, folders, foam and sleeves so they stay usable, plus what to keep in a grab bag for records you cannot replace.
Guides
Home archive supplies learning plan: practice a double box
A home archive supplies learning plan for a weekend: practice building a reusable double cardboard box, place hand holes, cushion it, and test it.
Reviews
Home setup for digitizing family cassettes: deck, cleaning, and audio routing to a computer
Set up a playback deck, clean the tape path, route audio into a computer, set safe levels, and store family cassettes and captured files at home.
Reviews
Digitizing Family Oral Histories: A Workflow from Interview to Digital File
A step-by-step workflow for digitizing family oral histories, from recorder setup and consent notes to file naming, transcription, and safe storage.
Reviews
Measuring tools for a home archive, compared for a first-time buyer
A first-time buyer's comparison of hygrometers, light meters and moisture meters, and which measuring tools a home archive should actually own.
Reviews
Oral history recording gear for family archives: what to buy first in 2027
Which recorder, microphone, and room setup to buy first for family oral history interviews in 2027, from XLR handhelds to dynamic mics and soft-room treatment.
Guides
4 points on home archive lighting that matter
Lighting a collection: lamp choice is a preservation decision as well as a photographic one. Why some LED lamps fade material faster than the lamps they replaced.
Reviews
Home archive shelving: line the wood or replace the unit
Home archive shelving decides what the boxes sit on. How to choose between lining bare wood and buying steel, and what upkeep each choice asks of you.
Guides
Former homes map, one decision at a time
Former homes map research: use Sanborn atlases, USGS topographic maps, aerial photos, and lidar to compare a building across editions.
Industry
Which questions actually separate a restoration specialist from a reseller?
A reseller quotes a rate and sends the work out. A restoration specialist names the formats they run in house and the equipment that reads them.
Guides
Packing a photograph for restoration takes five careful steps
Preparing an original to leave the house: sending a family item to a studio is the riskiest hour of its life. What to check before it travels, how to pack it.
Costs
Specifying a restoration job well is what makes quotes comparable
Commissioning restoration work, and what to ask before the price: how to specify a job so quotes are comparable, the questions professionals ask vendors.
Reviews
4 things to check in photo restoration services
What to specify when you have new prints made from family photographs, and how to identify a glass plate before anybody scans, cleans or handles it.
Reviews
St. John's and Halifax storage compared for wet Atlantic family collections
Atlantic Canada archive storage compared: how damp, salt air and heating shape family papers in St. John's, Halifax, Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia.
Maintenance
How Calgary dryness and chinooks affect paper, tape and static in storage
Calgary dryness and paper storage: how chinook humidity swings, static and adhesive failure affect documents, with humidity targets and handling changes.
Costs
What CBSA and Canada Post charge when you order archival supplies from the US
CBSA duty on archival supplies from the US adds GST, possible tariff, brokerage and Canada Post handling, so compare landed costs before ordering.
Industry
Digitizing immigration and residential-school records under Canadian access rules
Digitizing residential-school and immigration records in Canada means two access systems: IRPA for immigration files, community control for school records.
Industry
Photo restoration first steps when something is water damaged: the parts worth your time
Water damage develops over minutes to hours, and simple air drying is often wrong. The emergency sequence, and how to get a wet item out of its frame safely.
Guides
Library and Archives Canada genealogy records: what you can request and what stays closed
Library and Archives Canada genealogy records cover censuses, military files and civil records, but privacy law keeps some files closed and fees apply.
Guides
Does PIPEDA apply when you share records from your Canadian family archive?
PIPEDA reaches your Canadian family archive only when you handle personal records for payment. Here is where private keeping ends and the law begins.
Reviews
Archives of Ontario, BC Archives and seven more compared for family record requests
Provincial archives compared for family records: holdings, search fees, copying charges and request forms across Ontario and British Columbia.
Guides
Quebec parish, notarial and civil registers for bilingual family research
Quebec parish, notarial and civil registers record the same family three ways, and reading all three is how a bilingual line goes back further.
Maintenance
Storing a family archive through a Canadian winter: pick the room
Storing a family archive through a Canadian winter starts with the room, not the box. Compare spare rooms, closets, basements and garages before October.
Maintenance
What coastal damp does to a Vancouver home archive and how to counter it
Vancouver home archive and coastal damp: how mould, humidity and ventilation threaten paper, plus storage, monitoring and dehumidifier steps that work.
Industry
Restoration is actually three different jobs wearing one name
Three different jobs go by the name restoration. Knowing which one you want, and learning the vocabulary for damage, decides everything that follows.
Guides
Where to Buy Archival Supplies in Canada Without US Shipping?
Archival supplies in Canada come from Canadian vendors billing in CAD, which avoids duty, brokerage and cross-border shipping. Here is how to judge them.
Reviews
Work surfaces compared: where archive handling mistakes actually happen
Four work surfaces compared for archive handling, showing which mistakes happen on each and what to check before you lay fragile material down.
Guides
Digitize audio cassette tapes: how to check each file
Digitize audio cassette tapes, then test the file: peaks, length against the side, hiss and pitch, plus what each fault means and how to fix it.
Guides
Fireproof Safe for Documents: UL Ratings That Actually Matter
A fireproof safe for documents is only as good as its UL 72 class. Compare paper and media safes, endurance times and the one limit they all share.
Guides
Hurricane Photo Storage in Florida: A Pre-Season Prep Checklist
Hurricane photo storage in Florida starts with a waterproof document bag, an evacuation photo archive kit, and a 75°F heat limit before June 1.
Guides
Library Photo Scanning Canada: Free Options at Public Branches
Library photo scanning in Canada varies by city: which branches lend scanners, what to ask before you book, and how to store prints afterwards.
Guides
How to Preserve a Military Uniform: Padded Hangers and Acid-Free Storage
To preserve military uniform pieces, pad the shoulders, remove metal, and box the wool flat in acid-free storage. Here is the order that works.
Costs
Videotape Digitization Cost in the US: Per Tape and Per Hour Ranges
Videotape digitization cost in the US runs $10 to $35 per VHS tape or $40 to $120 per hour of running time. Compare pricing units before choosing a service.
Maintenance
Cleaning: the archive mistake that does the most damage at home
Why cleaning is the most damaging thing a beginner does, what liquids actually do inside a layered object, and what to do instead when something is wet.
Reviews
Archive materials fail quietly: plastics and rubber damage from the inside
Materials that quietly cause the damage: some of the worst things in a family collection are the storage materials themselves, degrading plastics and rubber.
Reviews
A detection and containment checklist for archive mistakes before they spread
Kit for finding problems before they spread: the monitoring and containment kit for a home archive, what to buy for detection, what isolation actually requires.
Industry
Archive risk starts with inspecting the building, not just the boxes
Inspection routine that catches problems early: active and passive detection explained, how often to inspect a home collection, what to look at in a building.
Maintenance
Why do the same archive mistakes keep happening to careful people?
What actually damages a home archive: damage in family collections comes from a short list, pests, damp, light, handling and one hopeful repair.
Features
4 things about family history organization worth your time
Family history organization options: displaying an open book safely, and burying a time capsule that survives, two appealing family history projects.
Reviews
Family history organization storage: what to keep apart
Family history organization storage: keep incompatible materials apart, support books upright, and give textiles and objects their own boxes and labels.
Guides
A beginner project: free family archive reading
A beginner project in family archive care: free institutional guides, journals, blogs and library resources for organizing and preserving family history.
Reviews
Family Collection Numbering: Schemes Compared and File Naming Rules
It compares five numbering schemes for a family collection, names software tied to some, and gives file naming rules plus answers to common questions.
Guides
Condition reports for family history collections: what to photograph and write down
A condition report for family collections: what to photograph, what to write down, what to check before handling, and why a dated record tracks change over time.
Guides
How to organize a family collection: select first, then label, copy and record what exists
A beginner's order for organizing a family collection: select what to keep, group it, label boxes and files, copy the fragile and the digital; check twice a year.
Reviews
A first kit for a family archive, and what it leaves out in 2027
The short list of supplies that earns its place on a family archive first pass, in buying order, plus the equipment worth delaying until you know the size.
Reviews
Photo digitization at home: resolution and consistency
How the National Archives frames resolution, why consistent settings matter, and what to record when preparing a home photo-scanning workflow.
Guides
How to sequence a family photograph project from triage to storage
A working sequence for family photographs: identify the processes, set the conditions, copy what is fragile, then house the originals and leave them alone.
Guides
Book lice in a document cupboard: what the insects tell you about damp
Psocids in a cupboard as a humidity warning: the 58 percent threshold, what a sealed box can and cannot do, and storing papers in a small flat.
Guides
Cupboard versus closet for a small photo archive, ranked by risk
Running a photograph archive without a spare room: choosing the least bad cupboard, monitoring it properly, and using an upright freezer as cold storage.
Guides
Memory display practice for a weekend: reversible paste and mat windows
Weekend spent learning to mount and support: a two-day practice plan done entirely on scrap and copies, cooking a reversible paste, cutting mat windows.
Reviews
Work surfaces for sorting a family archive: the 2027 view
Choosing a table for archive work: size, height, light and the rules about food, drink and pens that make a household surface behave like a reading room.
Reviews
Photo digitization at home: setting up a scanning station, and what it costs for 2027
A home scanning station costs between a few hundred and a few thousand dollars in 2027, depending on the scanner, the bench and the supplies you choose.
Reviews
Document Preservation Comparison: Household Storage Risks
This document preservation comparison covers household risks from water, light, folding and access, plus separating working papers from historic records.
Industry
When to hand framing or mounting work to a professional, and five questions to ask
When framing or mounting should go to document preservation companies instead of your own hands, five questions for a shop, and where conservators are listed.
Guides
Starting a family archive: count the collection and fix storage before buying anything
How to begin a family archive: count before you buy, fix the storage location first, keep original order, and do only reversible work in the first pass.
Maintenance
Family Archives Mistakes: Tape, Lamination, and Refiling
Family archives mistakes like tape, lamination, and refiling can cause lasting harm. Learn safer alternatives and how to preserve a relative’s original order.
Industry
Document preservation: borrowing fire planning from professional archive models
Fire and emergency planning translated to a house: the three-element model behind fire risk, and the hazard survey that turns worry into a short list of fixes.
Industry
Risk in a photo archive: it follows the material, not the subject
Risk in a photograph collection follows the material, not the subject. How to spot nitrate and acetate film, cased images and color, and what each one needs.
Reviews
Acid-free, buffered, inert: reading the labels on archive supplies
Family archives materials: what the words on archival packaging mean, where lignin and alum-rosin sizing come from, and when buffered storage is the wrong choice.
Reviews
Photo digitization formats and disc handling rules for a lasting family archive
How to choose open, widely supported formats for scans and apply disc handling and storage rules that protect a family photo collection over time.
Guides
Memory display ideas how to mount a copy
Memory display ideas how to mount a copy: use reversible supports for the original, keep glazing off the surface, and leave a stuck original in its frame.
Costs
Document preservation cost: where to spend first
Document preservation cost starts with the room, not the box. Use the typical retail ranges to prioritize moisture control and buy only what fits.
Costs
Photo Archives Cost: Factors, Not Price Quotes
Photo archives cost depends on size, copying method, and storage target; learn how these choices shape a project without a flat price list.
Reviews
4 parts of memory display storage, explained
Storing framed pieces and textiles between rotations: where display items go when they come off the wall, vertical screens for frames, flat storage for textiles.
Reviews
Glazing, matboard and hinges for memory display, compared for a first frame
Glazing, matboard and hinges for a first frame, with the named products and acid-free tape worth comparing before you spend anything on a display.
Industry
Learning photograph care, and judging a lab's work
Where to learn photograph preservation without naming studios, plus the inspection routine that tells you whether a copying job came back good enough.
Industry
Digitization planning starts with an inventory, not a scanner purchase
How a digitization project is actually planned: the order institutions work in before any scanning starts, identify the formats, assess condition, inventory.
Maintenance
Silent media decay in digitization: why media that works can still be near failure
Why media that reads today can still be near failure, how error correction hides decay, and what routine checks and kept originals do to prevent loss.
Features
Memory display skills split into three separate practice projects
Rolling a flag, framing a sampler, and building a rotation board: three contained projects that teach a single technique each without risking a collection.
Features
Displaying keepsakes without wearing them out
Displaying keepsakes without wearing them out: light is the cost of display, and it is cumulative. How to frame family pieces properly, rotate them.
Costs
Digitizing a family collection costs more after the scanner than before it
No price list here. The real cost of digitizing is the maintenance a file needs after it exists: readable media, working hardware, and copies that get checked.
Reviews
Document preservation buying: what to get first for family papers in 2027
What to buy first for family papers: folders, boxes and interleaving in buying order, plus the honest answer on old scrapbooks, box them, copy them.
Reviews
What to buy first for a photo archive, paper or plastic, buffered or neutral
What to buy first for a photograph collection: paper or plastic, buffered or neutral, sleeve or envelope, how to choose photograph enclosures.
Industry
Conservation basics move into a family archive, but not every one survives
What institutional practice teaches a household collection: the conservation basics that transfer from an archive to a house, the ones that need a building.
Start here
Industry
Family archive case studies are rare: what to use instead
Family archive case studies are rare, so this looks at what published evidence from the NIST disc study, LOCKSS and NDIIPP can and cannot show you.
Reviews
Home archive shelving: line the wood or replace the unit
Home archive shelving decides what the boxes sit on. How to choose between lining bare wood and buying steel, and what upkeep each choice asks of you.
Reviews
St. John's and Halifax storage compared for wet Atlantic family collections
Atlantic Canada archive storage compared: how damp, salt air and heating shape family papers in St. John's, Halifax, Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia.
Maintenance
How Calgary dryness and chinooks affect paper, tape and static in storage
Calgary dryness and paper storage: how chinook humidity swings, static and adhesive failure affect documents, with humidity targets and handling changes.
Costs
What CBSA and Canada Post charge when you order archival supplies from the US
CBSA duty on archival supplies from the US adds GST, possible tariff, brokerage and Canada Post handling, so compare landed costs before ordering.
Industry
Digitizing immigration and residential-school records under Canadian access rules
Digitizing residential-school and immigration records in Canada means two access systems: IRPA for immigration files, community control for school records.
Latest from Memory Shelf Lab
Guides
Family Photo Archive: Recording Place Clues
A family photo archive records place clues by preserving original captions, separating standardized place names, and noting dates, sources, and uncertainty.
Reviews
Bench setups compared for family archive work, from paper to textiles
A mixed family collection needs one bench that changes shape, not three. Here is how each setup is laid out for paper, photographs and textiles.
Guides
A family document scanning workflow overview
This family document scanning workflow overview follows a home archive from sorting and pilot scans through file naming, quality checks, metadata, and backups.
Maintenance
Family archive mold: it starts with humidity, not with bad luck
Mold needs humidity above 65 percent, warmth and still air. What to do in the hour you find it, and the four things people do instead that make it worse.