Organizing Family Photos - Where to Begin

What’s holding you back from taking on this project? Is it the overwhelm of not knowing how to get started, not having enough time, not having anyone to help or, all of the above? 

If this task has been collecting dust on your to-do list, then I challenge you to get started on it today. If you choose to accept it, your mission is to dig out all of those old albums and boxes of photos and finally organize your family’s photos. 

Picture this, your family’s photos, your most treasured memories and your family’s history all properly sorted, labelled and filed away. Imagine your basement or attic being more organized and less cluttered. What would it feel like to have a well-organized archive that you’re able to share with the rest of your family and pass down to the next generation? 

If this is something that you’re ready to do, let’s tackle it together!​​​​​​​

But before you get started, first, consider your end goal. Are you organizing your photographs to create a physical archive of your family’s history? Or, are you preparing a digital library to share with the rest of your family? You will save yourself a lot of time if you decide how you would like to organize and share your photographs before getting started.

Here are a few ways to organize your family photos: 

Chronologically

If your family’s photos are still in their original photo albums, then more than likely, they are already in chronological order. However, if you’re dealing with boxes of old photos, you may have a lot of sorting to do (see other methods below).

If you can organize your photos chronologically, I would recommend this method first because it follows the order of events and your family’s storyline.

By Person or People Pictured

TIME-SAVING TIP: As the holiday season approaches and you begin to make plans to visit with relatives, schedule some additional time to ask for their help identifying any unknown ancestors pictured in your family photos. 

Once you’re able to identify all of your ancestors, you may choose to organize your photos by the person or people pictured in the photos. From there, you should be able to recognize the chronological order of their lives. For example, while my parents both have their individual childhood photo albums, their lives and photographs merged into one shared album after they began dating in the 1960s. 

By General Theme

Try organizing them by theme if you’re struggling to recognize the person or people in your family photos. For example, you could sort your photos by “Holidays and Celebrations,” “At Home and On The Farm,” “At Work and At School,” etc. Once you have your photos grouped into themes, you may begin to recognize the people in them or see a chronological order within each theme. For example, the early farming days will look much different from a more established farm.

I hope this inspires you to get started on your project. However, If you’re still feeling overwhelmed by this challenge, you’re not alone, and I have some good news for you. Because I’m all too familiar with the challenges of organizing and properly archiving family photos, I’m in the final stages of putting together an online course called “Organize and Archive your Family Photos” that will walk you through these challenges step-by-step. This online course will launch early next year, and all of my email subscribers will be the first to know when it becomes available. 

Until then, good luck and happy organizing!