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| Antoinette Harrell preserving original papers. Photo Credit: Walter C. Black, Sr. |
Any person who has experienced a natural disaster or other catastrophic situations where they lose their home suddenly will tell you how painful it is to lose family photographs, albums, documents and family papers. In most cases, those losses can never be replaced. "What if there were one picture of your great grandparents and a flood took place at your relative's house and the one picture was lost?"
Just recently hundreds of thousands of people were affected by the recent rising flood waters in nineteen parishes. Lots of family photographs were floating in water that became molded. Mold can be very dangerous and a hazard to your health. You may want to consult with a conservator to have your picture restored if possible.
I found that simply sharing copies of the family rare photographs with other relatives is one way of making sure that there are additional copies if something should happen to the original. I use blog and Facebook page is another great way I share my images. Digitizing your family photographs and papers are another way to preserve the images. But keep in mind that there a risk should something happen with the device you're using to preserve the collection digitally. To learn more about how to preserve the priceless family keepsakes, please click on the link below.
Most people have an iCloud account where they can keep copies of their photographs, documents, family papers and video clipping. Most importantly, your files are accessible from your iPhone, IPads and other Android devices. I also use an external portable hard drive to store my files as well. In the event of a catastrophic event or natural disaster, I can just pick up my external portable hard drive and leave to say the least. Nevertheless packing the originals of my collection is vital as well.
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| Ernest Lewis and Catherine Harrell Wedding. |
The National Archives site on how to preserve family papers and photographs very helpful. Most of the time we become reactive rather than pro-active. If you live in a flood zone, please consider your family keepsake collection when you prepare to evacuate.
It never to early to start working to organize your family priceless photographs and papers before a natural disasters. When a natural disaster occur, most people can't think about saving those items.
Please click on the link below to learn more:
https://www.archives.gov/preservation/family-archives/
