About four years ago, my mom and I got the idea to start scanning her family’s photos onto the computer, so that as they deteriorate we won’t actually lose the images.  There are services that will do this kind of thing for you, but we elected to do it ourself, for the opportunity to go through the photos and identify them as we scan them.

It’s been an interesting journey.  For one thing, we’ve discovered the value of oversized and high volume scanners – we’ve often found ourselves limited by the speed and size (document size) of my scanner.

But at the same time, we’ve learned the value of a scanner that is small and easily transportable (for scanning relatives’ photos on trips), the usefulness of Adobe Photoshop for restoring damaged or faded photos, and how enjoyable it is to see a photographic history of your ancestors unfolding before your very eyes.

We’re finally almost done — there were a ton of pictures to scan, beginning with my grandparents’ childhoods in the nineteen-teens and -twenties, as well as a handful or so of older photos.  Once we’ve finished identifying everything and naming the photos, we’re planning on making CDs (or perhaps DVDs, depending on how much memory we need) for everyone in the family.

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