How to Protect and Scan Your Printed Photographs, According to a Photo Archivist
Almost every family has one. A box of old photos sitting in a closet, garage, attic, or spare room. It may have been there for 10, 20, or even 40 years. Inside are parents before they were parents. Grandparents when they were young. Childhood birthdays, weddings, school pictures, family vacations, and ordinary Tuesday afternoons nobody thought were important enough to remember at the time.
Now they may be some of the most important pictures the family owns. The strange thing is that the box feels safe simply because it has been sitting there for so long. We walk past it, move it from one house to another, and put other boxes on top of it. Eventually it becomes part of the furniture.
But cardboard isn’t an archive. Old family photos can (will) fade, bend, stick together, get wet, or disappear during a move. Yet there’s another problem that has nothing to do with the photograph itself. People forget.
Someone looks at a picture and asks, “Who is that?” For years, Grandma knew. Dad knew. An aunt knew. Then one day nobody is left who can answer the question.
The photograph survived. The story didn’t.
Open one box today, then protect the photos and stories your family can never replace.
After 36 years of preserving family photos at ScanMyPhotos.com, I’ve learned that protecting old photos isn’t only about saving the image. It’s about saving what the image means while there are still people around who remember. So sometime today, find one box and open it. Don’t turn it into a giant weekend project. Just look. Pull out a few pictures. Ask who the people are. Write down the names you know. Ask about the house in the background or where that family vacation was.
You may see a story you’ve never viewed before. And suddenly that old cardboard box isn’t just taking up space in a closet.
It’s your family history. Save it.
[edited August 12, 2026].
