If you're lucky like me, your ancestors have left you a large treasure of scrapbook memories. Hopefully, the original archiver identified the photos or other items if they are not still with you.
More likely than not, your scrapbook is not in such great shape anymore and is in danger of self-destructing! What to do? Let's talk about saving Scrapbook Memories for future generations.
If the scrapbook maker is still alive, go through the book! There is great information to be gleaned, especially if someone's unknown maiden name is suddenly remembered! This is a great way to spend an afternoon or two with your aging parent. Trust me.
Then select which memories are worth keeping and preserving digitally. Save those newspaper clippings of announcements of births, illnesses, graduations, engagements, weddings, club meetings, funerals, etc. Back in the day, newspapers were looking for content to fill spaces around their ads. Remember, these are not just random newspaper articles, someone thought these were important to your family! In this photo, my grandmother has kept a clipping (originally published in the Tucumcari News) about her brother in law, Emmitt Jennings. Now we know he attended every World Series but one starting from the "Black Sox" scandal of 1919 through this one in 1963, for the LA Dodgers vs. the NY Yankees. He correctly predicted the Dodgers would win, but missed by how many games (he said 5, they did it in 4!) His autographed baseball collection was donated to Notre Dame.
You'll obviously want to keep photos, even if you don't know who they are, as other family members or DNA matches may know them! If you have a scanner, you could scan and save these clippings as JPEG or PNG images that you can later edit to a better size (way too much headroom over some of these old photos!). You can also use the camera in your cell phone if you don't have a scanner.
Most importantly, look for any official birth, marriage, and death certificates. If they have a raised seal, you should probably keep them in a firebox or somewhere else safe, especially if they are recent. Certificates should be scanned as documents (PDF) they are often too hard to read or crop from a photo. Be very careful scanning pages in a scrapbook you can't take apart, as pushing too hard to flatten them could damage the structure! I have a marriage certificate that is 14x20 that I will have to have professionally scanned that is a thing of beauty to behold!
Every scrapbook is different, in materials used from the paper to the method of attachment (tape, glue, paperclips). A lot have been damaged by improper storage or natural disasters.
Here are some great links about how to repair, save, and preserve your scrapbook memories:
US National Archives
The Smithsonian
If your damage is too great, or this all just seems overwhelming, there are professional services you can Google and find for "scrapbook preservation" or "scrapbook repair."
FamilyTreeMagazine.com has a great article about how to start your own DIGITAL scrapbook here (you can get a few articles for free without subscribing) that includes links you can use to find templates, ideas, and or service providers, and recommendations for software and equipment:
You may not be ready to take on the task if it's too soon after your receipt of the treasure. Here's how to preserve it until you are ready, or even if you're never ready, but don't want to let it go from The Library of Congress:
Time goes by so fast! As Paul Simon advised back in 1968 on the Simon and Garfunkel "Bookends" album, "Preserve your memories!" Here is a youtube clip of it that is very short: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iLreg8-RJo
Hope you and your families are safe and warm this Winter. Just ask me if you have any questions about your research!
Regards,
Leslie Ryan
No compensation is received for any referrals or links herein. No copyright infringement is intended. I do not own the rights to the music.