Tips on how to create your own family archive of letters, photographs, videos

Sue Scheible, The Patriot Ledger
·1 min read
Duxbury seniors gets tips on how to preserve their family history in digital media from librarian Sam Correia on Thursday, Jan. 13, 2022.

Here's how you can create family friendly archives by preserving letters, photographs, videos, recipes and other documents you find in those attic and basement boxes.

These suggestions come from the Duxbury Free Library's Sam Correia. She consulted with Carolyn Ravenscroft, archivist at the Duxbury Rural and Historical Society.

  • Keep items out of basements or attics. Temperature and humidity can fluctuate there

  • When possible, store items using acid-free materials

  • Label everything

  • What might not seem important to you right now might be very important to future family members, and maybe even a historical archive

  • Consider which materials you are keeping and why. What stories are being told?

Here's how the Duxbury library can help:

  • There are two Apple computers you can use by appointment

  • Use the Abode Creative Cloud Suite software for editing photos, videos and graphic design; a VHS to DVD converter to digitize a VHS; a cassette to CD converter to transfer music; a photo scanner to transfer negatives and slides; a digital piano

  • You can sign up for one-on-one sessions with reference staff to learn how to use the equipment, or check out the equipment for home use.

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This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: 5 tips of creating the best family archives from photos, letters