Your life is an epic. To those who love you, and to generations yet to be born, it’s as enthralling as a bestseller. It’s a composition crafted since before you entered the world—and it’s still being written.
Digital Preservation Strategies
Digital Preservation Fundamentals
An acute preservation challenge lies in saving digital items. Technology enables us to create, use, and be enriched by information in ways that were unthinkable generations ago. But the same advances that make sharing information so easy also pose some problems. The complexity and diversity of technology is overwhelming, even as storage capacity becomes cheaper. The volume of digital data, unstable storage media, and obsolete hardware and software make the usability of digital items a challenge.
Donating Your Family Archives
How to Save Your Life
As you reflect on your life, what moments or thoughts would you like to save? What about some of your family members? Wouldn’t you like to record their opinions on their lives?
Open-ending questions about people’s life experiences yield surprising results. Use these questions to record your thoughts, or start a conversation with a relative. When possible, record the interview on audio or video.
Detailing Dad’s Life Story
“I wish I'd asked Dad while he was around.”
Far too often, my clients tell me that they regret not interviewing their father about his life story as they create their family archives.
For this Father’s Day, why not conduct an oral history interview of your father? You’ll not only create a memory, but you will capture stories for the next generation
Documenting Your Mother's Life
How to Preserve Polaroids
I was given a Polaroid camera when I was a teenager that I loved. I liked the look of the photos and the ability to have photos developed instantly. In the course of creating my family archives, I found many of those old photographs and wondered what was the best way to preserve them.
What Does "Archival Quality" Mean?
When you are creating your family archives, you will most likely have to rehouse your family treasures in suitable storage containers, such as folders, enclosures, and boxes. These items are often described as “archival” or “archival quality” by their manufacturers, but these terms convey no specifics about their preservation use.
