"How To" Guides > Organizing Images
Organizing Photo and Document Collections
Organizing paper and digital images is an important step in identifying preservation needs and image sharing opportunities. This article includes a suggested methodology for getting started, tips for culling and sorting collections, and suggestions for cataloguing your collection(s).
Good organization of a photo and document collection provides easier access to images as seek them, and allows you to better monitor preservation needs for the collection. Whether you are organizing an attic or a photo and document collection the same principles and basic four steps apply.
A Methodology for Organizing Photos and Documents
1.) Inventory / Assess - The first step is to thoroughly understand what you have. For larger collections, this may be best accomplished by category (postcards / documents / photos / etc.).
Professional organizers will often empty a closet onto a bed, empty a garage onto the lawn, or simply gather a collection of like items into the open where everything being organized is visible and comparable.
It may not always be possible to bring a photo or document collection into the open. However, it is important to gain a feel for what is in the collection. A temporary work area in a less used area is useful.
2.) Decisions About Culling and Prioritizing - Professional organizers often help establish criteria for eliminating certain items. These decisions may involve comparing the value of storage space to the intrinsic value of items. Something that had value several years ago (the exercise bike) may have little value today.
Photo and document collections can and should be assessed in the same way. Do you ever really intend to make another print of a negative kept in the bottom dresser drawer? Do you still need the ten group shots of the family reunion taken twenty years ago, or would a couple of the best ones do?
Likewise, a community historical society may have some donated collections that simply do not fit within the society's "collection plan". Perhaps the items stay, but are kept in bulk storage so that more important preservation and sharing priorities can be met.
3.) Sort Items into Like Categories - Professional organizers use this step to identify duplicates to cull, and to assess the overall volume of storage needs. This may mean segregating postcards, newspaper clippings, photo prints, film negatives, letters, maps, and other possible categories. At this point, labeling, cataloguing, and cross referencing may start to become important and easier.
4.) Contain and Store - After
items have been sorted and culled, the professional organizer would make
suggestions about suitable storage and upgrades as appropriate.
Many organization projects are based on goals of
eliminating clutter, improving the efficiency of storage, and making items easier to find.
Two good sources for archival quality storage options include Dick Blick Art Materials
and
Archival Methods.
After culling unwanted or low value items, and with a better handle on what remains, it becomes much easier to develop ideas about what type of supplies are needed for proper storage.
