Photo Personal Archive Project

Quick Project Stats:

• 84+ Hours
• 23 negatives removed from film canisters
• 200+ Rolls of film scanned
• 2TB Hard-drive
• 50 Years covered 
• 15 boxes
• 300 Envelopes
• 1 pack of (25) 35mm Negative Sleeves
• $330.00 for supplies only
• 4 types of film: APS film,  126 “Instamatic” Film, 110 film or pocket instamatic film, and 35mm film
• 100’s of loose photo prints
• 2 loose negatives

These pictures show how some of the materials were being stored originally. Some were loose in moving boxes, plastic storage containers, and were mixed in with random items that didn't belong. 

To start the process I began by sorting the materials by year, and removing extraneous materials. This was accomplished by the owners notes on materials, dates printed on printed photographs, owner recollections, and by context clues in the photographs themselves. 

There were 100+ printed photographs that were loose within the various containers than had been looked at and not put back, or used and not put back. Finding their original home and negatives were discovered by the prints shape, size, context, and by scanning negatives and matching the print. 

Here is a box organized by year, before the replacement of the envelopes. The photo envelopes were used once the complete set of negatives, prints (if there were any) were together and scanned onto the hard drive. Once transferred the envelope was labeled with the year, month, description of the photos, and whether they were digitally scanned or not. 

For the boxes I first purchased this black Lineco box that can hold up to 1700 photos, but  decided to go with the smaller Lineco boxes so I could organize by year and they wouldn't be as heavy. For the replacement envelopes I used the Lineco acid free envelopes that had a slot for negatives. For the hard-drive I purchased a 2TB Seagate for the image and negative scans. The folders on the hard-drive are organized by Year_Month_Description, that way they are quick and easy to find.  

Here is a before and after of the black Lineco box. I was able to use the four sections in the box for smaller year collections. 

The end of the project resulted with 15 boxes of organized photo collections by year. The boxes contain no sticky materials, tape, plastic negative sleeves, film canisters or the photo center envelopes.

The materials that were removed (Photo center envelopes, film canisters, plastic negative sleeves) were placed to the side until the project was over. I was then able to go through all the materials once more before  properly recycling materials. 

Here are some fun items that I found within then collection: Vacation Bahama and Hawaii postcards, film development loyalty cards, and a 50% off coupon that expired in 1998.