The day my grandma's photo album fell apart in my hands

I was helping clean out her old house in Toledo last spring, and this big leather book just came apart when I picked it up. The pages were stuck together from damp, and a bunch of pictures from the 50s were ruined. I mean, I knew she had them, but I guess I always thought they'd just be there. Now I scan every old photo I find right away onto a hard drive. Does anyone else have a good way to save really fragile old pictures before they're gone?

4 comments

4 Comments

paigep8522d ago

Ngl, scanning them right away is smart, but a hard drive can fail too. My aunt lost a ton of digital files that way. I make physical copies on good photo paper and keep them in a cool, dark box. It feels more real than just having them on a computer somewhere.

jana_jones22d ago

Oh man, I feel this so hard! My old laptop just died last year and took a bunch of scanned recipes from my grandma with it. I was crushed. Now I do exactly what you guys said, both digital and physical. I even put some of the best photo paper copies in a big fireproof lockbox I got, because I'm paranoid. It does feel way more solid to have something you can actually hold.

hall.joel22d ago

Ugh, that's such a heartbreaking feeling. Watching something that held so many memories just fall apart is awful. I totally get the panic to save everything right away now. I do the same thing with scanning, but paigep85 has a point about drives failing. I've started doing both, scanning them and then putting the best physical ones in those acid-free sleeves inside a solid box. It feels like a safer bet than just one or the other.

danielnelson6d ago

Fireproof lockbox" sounds safe, but honestly, that's a huge risk. Paper can still burn or get soaked inside a box if your house has a real disaster. You're way better off having those digital copies stored somewhere else online, not just on a shelf.