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Guides to Photo and Document Preservation and Sharing for Families and Community Historical Societies

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Photo and Document Preservation and Sharing

Please check for updates online.  This index was created as of July 2009.

Note that topic headings align closely with the Content Menu in the website.  Each major topic and sub-topic in blue is a link to the page on which the topic can be found.

Page 1  Preservation | "How To" Guides

► The Importance of Preservation

■ The Importance of Preserving Historical Photos and Documents Historical photos and documents provide individuals and communities with a sense of identity, purpose, and place.....

■ Conserve, Preserve, or Restore.  What is the Difference?  Preservation, conservation, and restoration have different meanings relative to both historical artifacts and land use......

► "How To" Guide to Image Sharing

■ Free Online Photo Albums and Share Sites  Major online printers now provide many useful free image storage and sharing capabilities, and some look much like a personal website.....

■ Build a Shutterfly Family Share Site  Not only does Shutterfly offer good printing products, but their free share site service is the best for extended families.  This article describes why and provides a link to a sample family share stie so you can judge for yourself how flexible it can be...

■ Build a Shutterfly Historical Society Share Site  Shutterfly's share site service is free and flexible enough to create the equivalent of an interactive community web site.  This article describes the possibilities and provides a link to a sample historical society share site....

■ Online Photo Books  High quality photo books are like the best of traditional photo albums and scrapbooks.  Easily add text and captions to a themed collection of images to create a story book or historical record.....

■ Websites to Share Your Images  Many  web hosting services will help you obtain a domain name and provide easy to customize templates for organizations, families, and businesses.....

■ Framing and Albums to Display Images  Many online options are now available to custom frame your images, create image groupings with museum quality ready-made frames, create dramatic large canvas prints, and to easily obtain archival quality album supplies.....

■ Copyright Considerations When Sharing Images  Copyright law is complicated and should not be taken lightly.  However, some rules are clear and these provide significant latitude to pursue many photo and document preservation and sharing projects.

■ Ready-Made Frames - Tips and Suggestions for Do-It-Yourselfers  Ready-Made frames provide a convenient and inexpensive do-it-yourself solution to quality framing. Quality discounted frames are readily available online through reputable sources. Some basic considerations are provided in this article that can help the home framer in deciding on frame and print sizes.

► "How To" Guide to Printing

■ Rules of Thumb for Photo Print Resolutions  In order to consistently obtain high quality print results, it is useful to understand how many pixels per inch of image detail you need.......

■ Pixel Resolution Requirements for Families & Historical Societies  Printing resolution requirements relate to planned image activities.  The "right" resolution will balance file size storage requirements and common uses.....

■ Online Printer Resolution Recommendations  It is interesting to compare the minimum resolution requirements of several major online printers, as they have developed these based on customer satisfaction experience....

■ Dots Per Inch and inkjet Printers  Inkjet printers are the most common non-professional photo realistic printers.  It is useful to understand DPI as it relates to printer ratings and print quality.....

► "How To" Guide to Scanning Photos and Documents

■ The Benefits of Scanning Images for Preservation  Image sharing possibilities are increased dramatically and the informational content of the image is preserved into the future..

■ Having Images Scanned Professionally  Major considerations include scan resolution, file format and compression, and cost.......

■ How Much Pixel Resolution Do You Need for Scans?  What scan resolutions are most likely to meet your needs for image sharing.....

■ Tips for High Quality Photo and Document Scanning  There are several good scanning habits that contribute to consistent high quality scans...

► "How To" Guide to Organizing Photo and Document Collections

■ A Methodology for Organizing Photos and Documents  A four step process to organize collections and set priorities for image preservation and sharing projects....

■ Tips for Sorting and Culling Photos and Documents  Sorting and culling is an important first step to getting a collection organized....

■ Cataloguing and Indexing Photos and Documents  When properly catalogued, a searchable library of images becomes more useful in many ways....

■ Archiving and Storing Digital Image Files   Proper organization and safeguarding duplicate copies of image files is part of developing some good habits....

► "How To" Guide to Storing Original Photos and Documents

■ Environmental Factors  Objectives in prolonging the useful like of paper artifacts is to slow natural chemical reactions and to avoid the introduction of factors that may accelerate damage....

■ The Major Environmental Storage Factors  Temperature, humidity, pollutants, pests, and exposure to light are among storage factors that should be considered.......

■ Tips for Storing Original Photo Prints and Documents  A collection of specific tips for storing originals...

■ Archival Paper Basics  There are labeling clues to the archival qualities of paper.  Suppliers' definitions vary for acid free, pH balanced....

Page 2  Projects for Families | Projects for Local Historical Societies

► Projects for Family Image Preservation and Sharing

■ Create a Free and Easy Online Album or Share Site  Large Online printers are making it free and easier than ever to upload and share digital images.  It is easy to get started with just a few images.....

■ Building a Shutterfly Family Share Site  Just short of a dedicated web address and total control over how a website is designed, a Shutterfly share site is very powerful and flexible.  Great for families and small organizations.  A link is provided to a sample family share site.....

■ Create a Themed Photo Book  Select images with a theme and create a soft or hard cover printed album, story book, or history book.  Flexible templates allow you to quickly add text and captions to produce a professional looking product......

■ Create a Family Website  Web hosting companies help you gain a web presence by obtaining you own domain name and by providing website building templates.....

■ Create a Stunning Wall Grouping of Memories  Many options are now available to create impressive works of your images for home decor.  Ready-made museum quality frames, large canvas prints, and online custom framing.....

► Projects for Local Historical Societies

■ Historical Society Collection Planning  Thoughtful planning for the direction of a collection can help in developing acquisition, preservation, and sharing priorities....

■ Developing a Photo and Document Preservation & Sharing Plan  A five step methodology is offered to assess and prioritize collection preservation and sharing objectives.....

■ Share Photo and Document Images in Online Galleries  One can build an image gallery within a website or simply link to a third party gallery. There are many relatively simple and inexpensive ways to develop internet image galleries regardless of whether a society has web design expertise or even a website....

■ Building a Shutterfly Historical Society Share Site  Just short of a dedicated web address and total control over how a website is designed, a Shutterfly share site is very powerful and flexible.  Great for organizations such as historical societies.  A link is provided to a sample historical society share site.....

■ Marketing Historical Society Images as a Fund Raising Activity  With evolving technology and internet services, it has become easier to share and market images as a fundraising activity.  This article describes some possible approaches.  A link is provided to a sample online gallery...

■ Creating a Society Website  Many web hosting companies make it relatively easy and inexpensive to get started.......

■ Creating Professional Wall Displays With Collection Images  Many online options are available to create professional quality displays for society museums or to display in the community.  these include ready-made museum quality frames, large canvas prints, and custom framing solutions.....

■ Developing Educational Programs for the Community  Developing joint educational programs with neighboring community societies and partnering with school systems are two suggestions to help develop community pride, share images in collections, and expand education.....

Page 3  Digital Learning | Preservation & Sharing Resources | Genealogy

► Digital Learning

■ Digital Technology Expands Photo and Document Image Preservation and Sharing Possibilities  Low cost, expanding digital image services, and the preservation of images are a few of the reasons to consider creating a digital image library....

■ Understanding Digital Image Terminology and Technology  There are three major categories of digital image activities.  Decisions and objectives for capture, storing, and sharing images are mathematically related and impact the range of options and decisions in the others....

■ Digital Image File Formats and Recommendations  Several characteristics of file formats are discussed and reasons given for recommending Jpeg and Gif for certain types of images.....

■ Aspect Ratios and Cropping Considerations for Digital Images  Digital images are captured by cameras and scanners in a ratio of width to height.  These ratios are often different from standard print sizes.  Therefore, images are often adjusted by default or manual cropping....

► Index of Preservation and Sharing Resources

■ Best Overall Online Printers  Several major online printers are compared....

■ Best Online Photo Books  Several major online photo book providers are compared

■ Sources of Archival Quality Preservation Supplies  Links are provided to some leading sources of a broad range of preservation, storage, and display supplies...

■ Considerations in Selecting a Printer  Major considerations and links to buying guides.....

■ Considerations in Selecting a Scanner Major considerations and links to buying guides.....

■ How Many Pixels Do you Need in a Digital Camera  The most important feature in selecting a digital camera is its megapixel rating.  How many megapixels do you need for your intended purposes......

■ Considerations in Selecting a Digital Camera  Major considerations and links to buying guides....

► Genealogy

■ Using Genealogy Database Resources to Build a Family History  As interest in genealogy and online databases grow, services are developing to automate and update family name searches....