riage certificates , residency information and a multitude of other ‘ legal ’ documentation . Some of these obviously must be kept in a safe and secure location with scanned copies being used for reference rather than archiving , but before you discard any of this paperwork , check with your home country regulations . All countries have different requirements to retain original documents so take specialist advice on this matter .
2Why should you consider archiving ?
For me , three things : space , condition and technology . Space is a top issue . Over my 30 years of parenting I accumulated thousands of pieces of paper – literally ! Physical storage space was becoming an issue and perhaps more importantly I couldn ’ t find anything when I needed it .
gy for many of us these are new concepts . The use of cloud storage technology such as Dropbox , or many other cloud storage sites available , enables you to scan paperwork and upload photos and videos to a secure location accessible via your smart phone , iPad or laptop … and depending how brave you are , you can throw away the originals reducing space and avoiding future quality and deterioration issues . Easy !
3Getting started – get organised
If you accept the challenge to archive your family history also accept it will take time , effort and working space . First gather all the different materials into one place . At this stage , don ’ t dwell or get side-tracked on individual items , you ’ ll have the opportunity to review them in more detail later , for now just think about
Top Scanning Tips
Name your scanned files as you go along . Most scanned file names are a series of numbers and letters and without proper naming the files will again be difficult to find , or search electronically .
Check the resolution . Low resolution scanning is fine for some general items ( like 1986 bus tickets ) and for sharing documents electronically but a precious letter or old family photos may benefit from high resolution scanning .
Secondly , unless you actively consider the items , and the conditions they are stored in , you may find that their condition has deteriorated considerably . Old photos are prone to fading due to their chemical composition and remember , old tape film used in Betamax videos , so popular 20 years ago to record the most precious of memories , are more fragile than today ’ s DVDs and much more vulnerable to accidental damage and Doha ’ s humidity !
Thirdly , technology . While it seems millennials were born with an intuitive understanding of iPads and cloud technoloputting together individual collections of related things . Have boxes ready for photos and negatives , videos and a third for paperwork . Be realistic about the amount of time and space this will take as you sift through everything .
Part of getting organised is to determine how you will store the items once they are ready for archiving . I prefer a three phase approach : cloud storage – easy to access , free or low cost , I see cloud storage as one of my primary storage methods ; hard drive – easy to use , low cost and it enables me to view my archives without internet access – however remember like
DVDs , hard drives have a shelf life ; finally I share all our archives with my husband who loads them on our family cloud account . Overkill perhaps but remember the hoarding DNA issue I mentioned earlier .
4Photos – a moment in time
A recent study by the Association of British Insurers noted that in a home fire , the second most popular item people would save ( after family and pets obviously ) was their photos . Coming from a pre-digital era I understand this statistic . Pre-digital photos were taken with a roll of film ,
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