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.
What to take away
- Selection comes first. Deciding what you are keeping is what makes everything after it possible.
- Physical material survives neglect. Digital material does not, and needs active work to stay readable.
- Organize into folders that make sense to somebody who was not there.
- Printing some files is a legitimate preservation decision, not a nostalgic one.
Start by selecting, not by sorting
The University of Michigan Library's guide to digital archiving opens with a distinction that decides how much work you face.
Physical records can be stored and preserved over time with fairly little effort. Digital materials need ongoing active intervention to stay accessible, because computer crashes, software and hardware changes, and the volume people generate all cause loss.
Its first step is the one families skip. Select: identify the digital materials you want to keep over the long term, make a list of the types of file you want to keep, and focus first on small collections of the most important files.
That instruction works for the physical side too. A family collection is not one project; it is several small ones, and the order they run in decides whether any of them finish.
The guide is also realistic in a way worth repeating. It says each person uses their material differently, that some of its advice will not be practical for a given reader, and that a small effort is better than doing nothing.
The plan, in order
- Select.What is being kept, by category. Write it down.
- Gather.Bring the scattered copies into one place, physical and digital separately.
- Group.By family line, by household, or by decade. Pick one and be consistent.
- Name and label.Folders and boxes on the outside, files by a fixed pattern.
- Copy.The fragile physically, everything digitally, twice.
- Record.One page saying what exists and where it is.
- Schedule.A date twice a year to check that step five still works.
Digital is the half that decays
The New York State Archives guidance on digital media is plain about the uncertainty. Hard drives, CDs and DVDs, tapes and other media are inherently unstable.
What keeps and kills materials
Material
- Paper and prints
- Dry dark box
- Negatives and film
- Cool, dry, enclosed
- Files on one drive
- Backups you run
What keeps it
- Paper and prints
- Water, being thrown out
- Negatives and film
- Heat, vinegar syndrome
- Files on one drive
- Drive failure
What kills it
- Paper and prints
- Negatives and film
- Files on one drive
It says some might remain readable for a long time while others fail within a few years. No certain way exists to determine the lifespan of an individual drive, disc or tape.
Its four strategies map onto the plan above: identify your most important files and organize them into clearly labeled folders and subfolders. For example, a Photos folder can hold a subfolder per event, named for the event and its date.
Consider printing some files, since a print stays accessible without equipment and lets you focus backup effort on items that cannot be printed, such as video and databases. Also create backup copies on a system you actually run.
The printing point is the one people dismiss and should not. A hundred printed photographs in a box will outlive the drive they came from, without a single decision being made about them.
| Material | What keeps it | What kills it |
|---|---|---|
| Paper and prints | A dry dark box | Water, and being thrown out |
| Negatives and film | Cool, dry, enclosed | Heat, and vinegar syndrome |
| Files on one drive | Nothing | Time, quietly |
| Files in three places | The habit of checking | Losing the habit |
What finished looks like
Finished is not a catalog. It is: everything is in one place, the boxes and folders are labeled, the digital files are named and copied, and one page explains the whole arrangement to somebody else.
Our starting point for a family archive covers the first physical sort, and the comparison of storage options covers where the boxes end up.
Common questions
Should I use family history software?
How do I handle duplicates?
What if relatives hold parts of the collection?
How long should this take?
In this guide
- Condition reports for family history collections: what to photograph and write downA 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.
- Family Collection Numbering: Schemes Compared and File Naming RulesIt compares five numbering schemes for a family collection, names software tied to some, and gives file naming rules plus answers to common questions.
- A beginner project: free family archive readingA beginner project in family archive care: free institutional guides, journals, blogs and library resources for organizing and preserving family history.
- Family history organization storage: what to keep apartFamily history organization storage: keep incompatible materials apart, support books upright, and give textiles and objects their own boxes and labels.
- 4 things about family history organization worth your timeFamily history organization options: displaying an open book safely, and burying a time capsule that survives, two appealing family history projects.
