We are honoured to have been interviewed ON camera and featured in a Wall Street Journal/Barron’s video: How to Preserve Your Family Legacy. As a follow-up to our interview in Barron’s PENTA earlier this year, The WSJ invited Iris Wagner and two of Memoirs’ New York based clients to their offices to be filmed.

It has been said that capturing family history on film/video is a new trend. In fact we at Memoirs are celebrating 15 years of providing excellence in legacy preservation this way, and the Association of Personal Historians was born 20 years ago and continues to thrive and grow.

We have received many lovely testimonials from the clients and families we serve as to the life affirming and transforming effects the Memoirs’ Experience has had on them. It was overwhelming to hear the heartfelt reflections of our two clients when the seasoned journalist interviewed them on their personal experiences. One of our clients interviewed, when asked about our process, said: “I began to feel much more proud of my life and the adversity I’ve overcome and it was obvious this is the message for my grandchildren and great-grandchildren.”

Click here to view the four minute video. It truly captures the essence of what Memoirs does everyday. Learn the impact that ethical wills and video biographies has on those who choose to preserve their legacy this way. Kindly let us know what you think and please share the link!

 

In celebration of May being Personal History Month, we’d like to propose a wonderful idea to easily collect anecdotes, virtual mementos and digital files as your child (or grandchild) grows up: set up their very own email address to preserve them all in one place!

Many parents and grandparents admit they print few, if any, of their digital photographs. Keeping the most important photos and videos organized and annotated in a separate email account for each child is a wonderful way to archive these memories.

This system is great for saving all kinds of life’s important (and some not so important) moments. It can also serve as a creative writing space for parents and grandparents where they can record their feelings about the child and surrounding life events, at that particular time.

When used consistently, a permanent archive of stories, both visual and written, is created. Think of the treasure trove you will have saved for your child (or grandchild) for the age when they are ready to tell their stories and begin the work on their ethical will!

Funny quotes or conversations, important milestones, written words and short videos capturing life events are all valuable memorabilia to remind your child of the way things were.

We consider handing over the account password as the equivalent to handing over the key to a virtual treasure chest.  Make sure to fill it up consistently with “treasure-worthy” photos and tales of your (grand)child’s journey from childhood to adulthood. The rewards for both parent (grandparent) and (grand)child are priceless as it really is a gift that’s a “lifetime” in the making.

We suggest that when you set up the email account you save the username and password in a secure location, as this account will not be accessed on a regular basis. As each email is date and time stamped devise a system using keywords to easily locate the memorabilia your looking for.

Would you prefer an app-based archiving solution? Check out Notabli and 23snaps. Both allow you to upload, find and organize your child’s images with the added benefit of being able to privately share them with friends and family. The apps also include a “hands on” option of developing a printable photo album you may one day give to your child.

Please don’t wait…Start today!

Tech Time is the third instalment in our 3 part mini-series on creating a digital photo/video archive. Kindly follow these links for part 1, A Life in Photos: Preserving our Legacy as it Happens and part 2, Photo Synthesis.

---

 

How nice would it be to get your photo and video collections under control and make it shareable with the rest of the family. Here are some basic tools to keep in mind to manage these collections, and hopefully will help you avoid some mistakes that eat up precious time.

 

STEP 1: PROJECT SETUP

Before digitizing it is essential to do a manual sort of all the images you own. This includes your digital photograph and video collections as well as your online images. You might find it easier to start with your digital media before proceeding to the hardcopies.

As discussed in our previous blog post, this is the prime opportunity to cull duplicates including “bad” photos (blink, red eye), landscape and scenery shots. You may start by dividing them chronologically and then by group, subject or family.

 

STEP 2: SCANNING

The next step will move your printed photos, negatives and slides into the digital era. This ensures that their quality is preserved, unlimited duplicates are accessible to family members, and provides the security of being backed up in case of loss or damage.

Photo and negative scanners are available for purchase or rent. Consider using linen gloves to avoid smudging photos or negatives with finger prints, as well as using a micro-fibre cloth or compressed air canister to remove dust from both the media and the scanner.

Ensure that your scanning output is at the highest quality i.e. scanned at a minimum 300 dpi (dots per inch). This means that you can make prints from these files, should you wish to have them reproduced. While 72 dpi will appear clear on a computer screen, bear in mind it will create a blurry print.

 

FILE NAMES AND CATALOGUES

Developing a file naming and cataloguing system that works and makes sense from the beginning is tremendously helpful. Do not name each photo individually (according to the people in it, for example). Rather, choose a serial number approach that captures all the essentials you can use to search for it later on. An example of this would be DATE / EVENT / NUMBER: 05052007 Karie and Flo’s Wedding – 01.

When cataloguing a folder system that includes: Year, Season/Month and Event provides a clear path as to where to save images.  Don’t go too “deep” into subfolders as it can make files increasingly difficult to locate.

Although at first it may appear unnecessary, it is useful to start cataloguing according to maternal or paternal side of the family, above YEAR in the folder hierarchy. It sets a system in place to accommodate family growth through marriage, remarriage and stepfamilies.

 

TAGGING

Whether you’re working on a PC or a Mac, offline or online, photo-tagging options are available and simple to use. A Google search can help you find these resources.

With thousands or tens of thousands of images to work with, consider integrating a standard for your tags and captions into your workflow. “Uncle Ken (Grenkow), fishing at Lake Wanapasaki CT, 1976.” This image could be tagged with the words: Ken, Grenkow, Fishing, Wanapasaki, CT, 1976.

Searching for the keyword KEN for example, will pull up all this Uncle Ken’s photos in your collection, along with anyone else named Ken. You can refine your search using more than one keyword to narrow your results. Think of the time saved in future searches if all photos have been properly tagged!

If you’re stuck for particular details in a photo, consider using online photo platform – such as Google+ Photos (AKA as Picasa) or social media to “kin crowd-source” the missing info. To use this method, post photos to a private album and ask family members if they know who is in the photo, what year it was taken, who is sitting beside whom, etc. It can be a fun way to go down memory lane together and can also generate excitement and participation for your project.

As this task can be long and feel tedious at times, a great suggestion is to use speech-to-text software and dictate right to the file.

 

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BACKING UP AND ARCHIVING

A backup is a duplicate copy (on an external hard drive or on the Cloud), which serves to prevent loss due to issues like computer failure or theft.

An archive, on the other hand, is a copy kept in safe storage. At least one archival copy should be stored off-site (away from home) and should be accessible offline. The Library of Congress suggests putting this copy with your important papers.

Remember, as your backup is updated every time you save new media you must periodically update your archival copy as well. This archival copy should be checked at least once a year to make sure the files are legible and new copies created every five years or so to avoid potential data loss.

THE ICING ON THE CAKE

The true joy of this project is in the accomplishment of what often is a large daunting task (don’t we all have thousands of photos by now?). Then once completed, gifting a hard drive or memory key copy to loved ones will be a unique and cherished heirloom.

Sorting, editing and archiving your family photos is truly a great journey to undertake. We wish you all a bon voyage on this digital adventure!

 

Happy Easter and Passover to all (and please don’t forget to get your elders storytelling around the table)!