Frequently Asked Questions

Record storage boxes are perfect
for protecting awards and plaques

What can I do with my old family slides, super 8 movies and other older formats?
You can hire a professional service that uses today's technology to digitize older materials for easy viewing. Ask at your local camera shop or historical society to get the name of a good local service near you. Don't forget to get archival materials to store your originals safely and preserve them for future generations.

For slides and negatives, it may be possible to make your own high-quality scans using the right equipment and a few simple tips. Learn more about viewing and storing slides and negatives in our Photos section. You can also purchase carriers and sleeves for slides, photos and negatives of different sizes through the familyarchives.com store.

You can find more detailed information about playing and storing reel-to-reel recordings in our Film & Video section. Also, there are a number of boxes in different sizes that may be appropriate for your family movies and recordings available at the familyarchives.com store.

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How can I decide what to keep and what NOT to keep in my family archive?
In building your family archive, it's important to select the items you most want to preserve. This may need to be done in stages, but as a starting point, think about what NOT to keep.

You can learn about what to keep and what not to keep in your family archive, in the Get Started — Creating Your Family Archives section of this website.

In addition, visit "What to Keep" sections in Documents, Mementos, Photos, Film & Video, and Digital Files.

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What's the difference between creating a family archive and scrapbooking?
Unlike scrapbooking, which only focuses on pictures and small mementos, a family archive can include items of all shapes and sizes. A family archive also preserves your family's memories with high-quality archival materials that will help preserve your photos, documents and other mementos so they last for generations.

A scrapbook is a great way to have fun and remember important events in your life, but if you preserve your original photos and mementos in a family archive and use color photocopies or high-quality digital scans in your scrapbook, your memories will last for generations to come, instead of letting them yellow or deteriorate.

You can learn more about preserving old photo albums and scrapbooks in the Photos — How to Preserve section of this website.

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How can a family archive help my genealogy research project?
Genealogy research and a family archive can be a great combination. As you conduct your family history research, you might find important photographs or documents that you'd like to preserve. By establishing your family archive, you can use the best practices, from museums and libraries around the world, to safely store and protect the documents and photos you collect as part of your genealogy research.

Don't forget to capture the stories of your living relatives, as well, by starting a family oral history project.

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What's the best way to store my wedding dress?
An archival box with acid-free archival quality tissues paper will help your wedding dress keep its color and shape. You can buy a wedding dress preservation kit in the Archival Boxes & Supplies section of this website.

For more information on preserving clothing, visit the Mementos section of this website.

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What are the differences between buffered & unbuffered storage materials?
Storage materials described as "buffered" have an alkaline substance, such as calcium carbonate added as an alkaline reserve or buffer to counteract acids that may form in the future. FamilyArchives.com offers a wide selection of both buffered and unbuffered storage materials.

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How do you choose between buffered or unbuffered storage materials?
Cellulose fibers such as cotton, flax, linen and jute, as well plant-based specimens can be stored in buffered material, which will protect against migrant acidity, with the exception of specimens that may be used in DNA research, which should be stored in unbuffered materials.

Protein-based fibers such as wool and silk, as well as animal-based natural history collections are best stored in unbuffered material. When textiles have both cellulose and protein fibers, or dyes or if the fiber content is unknown, choose unbuffered material. Blueprints, albumen prints and cyanotypes should never come in contact with buffered material. Since buffering agents don't migrate, a buffered box could be used if an unbuffered layer such as unbuffered tissue or polyester film surrounds the item.

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My family archive went through a disaster (such as a fire or flood). What can I do?
Damage to your family mementos and history materials because of a disaster, such as fire or flood, can sometimes be repaired. Learn more in the Disaster Recovery section of this website.

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I don't have a lot of family materials. How can I add to my family archive?
Starting a family archive can be a great place to start researching your family. You can begin by asking you relatives if you can borrow photographs, or make digital scans or photocopies of family materials they have. You can also conduct research online or at local libraries and historical societies.

Learn more about conducting research for your family archive in the Get Started - Creating Your Family Archive section of this website.

You could also conduct oral history interviews with living members of your family to begin to capture the stories of your family's experiences. Visit Oral Histories for tips and techniques for starting a family oral history project.

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What are "archival" supplies and how are they different from regular supplies?
There are many items on the market that refer to themselves as "archival quality" or "acid-free", but at familyarchives.com when we use the term "archival" we mean materials like those used in the best museums and archives around the world.

Museum-quality archival supplies are specially made so that they won't react with materials that are stored in them. Regular cardboard, paper and plastic all give off chemicals and acids that can cause irreparable damage to papers, photos, clothes and other kinds of materials. Although nothing can stop the progress of time, archival materials are designed to help your most valuable memories last as long as possible.

You can purchase archival materials in the Archival Boxes & Supplies section of this website.

Interested in a career as a professional archivist? Learn more in the What's an archivist? section of this website.