Guide 3 of 3 · Preserve and share
Keep the Originals Safe
Store, label and share family photos, and make sure the family knows who is in them.
$12
- 24 pages, PDF, US letter, selectable text
- 5 printable worksheets at the back
- Every fact numbered to a source list (17 sources, checked October 16, 2026)
Want all three? The bundle is $22 instead of $40.
The problem it solves
The prints, slides and albums are digitized, or soon will be. Now there is a quiet question: what do you do with the originals, and how do you make sure the family knows who is in them?
What this guide gives you
- Where to store originals in a normal house, and which places to avoid.
- What “photo-safe” means and how to shop for folders, sleeves, boxes and albums by specification, not brand.
- How to label without damaging anything.
- How to display and handle photos you want to enjoy.
- When to stop and call a professional.
- A relative-interview method for identifying people, with a worksheet.
- Ways to share the collection with the family, and a plan for passing it on.
Look inside
These are pages from the finished PDF.
What’s inside
24 pages
Start here: welcome, how to use the guide, and a one-page summary of the whole method.
- What to do with the originals
- Where to store them
- Photo-safe enclosures and boxes
- Albums, old and new
- Labeling without damage
- Handling and displaying
- When to stop and call a professional
- Who is in the picture? Interviewing relatives
- Sharing with the family
- Passing the collection on
The whole method on one page
- Keep The originals stay. Scans are copies.
- Place A cool, dry, stable, dark interior spot.
- House Photo-safe folders, sleeves and boxes.
- Label Soft pencil, on the housing, with an index.
- Share Copies for display and gifts, originals in the box.
5 printable worksheets
- Storage checklist
- Supplies shopping list (by specification)
- Photo identification interview sheet
- Sharing and gift plan
- Box and folder label sheet
What it deliberately does not cover
It does not explain how to clean, repair, flatten or restore photographs, deal with mold, or handle fragile or very old film. It gives no legal advice, including about copyright or who owns a collection. It does not promise that photos stored this way are “safe forever”; it aims to reduce risk, not remove it.
Where the facts come from
Statements of fact in the guides come from public guidance by the Library of Congress, the National Archives, the National Park Service, CISA (the US cybersecurity agency) and the Image Permanence Institute, plus the help pages of tools named as examples. Each carries a small number that points to a Sources list at the back of the guide, with the date we checked it (October 16, 2026). Our own suggestions are not numbered, so you can tell the difference. We are not affiliated with or endorsed by any of those organizations.
Keep the Originals Safe: $12
PDF, 24 pages. If it is not right for you, email us within 30 days for a full refund (Refund Policy).
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