Digitizing Memories for Decluttering & Safekeeping

I have a collection of over a thousand physical twentieth century photos, ranging from the 1912 wedding of my grandparents to 1950s pictures of my childhood to 1990s Asia travels as publisher of the The HP Palmtop Paper.

I found these seldom-viewed photos in albums, boxes, and envelopes scattered throughout my domain. To bring them back to life, I decided to digitize them and make use of the iPhone Photos app and its many viewing possibilities.

The task seemed overwhelming. I needed to gather and organize all the photos, decide how to digitize them, and intelligently make use of the Photos app. After a year of stops and starts, I eventually triumphed. I hope my experience helps you.

Initially, I purchased the expensive Epson FastFoto digital printer ($600) to scan all the photos into my PC. But while gathering my pictures, I discovered old home movies and photo slides. That led me to discover Legacybox, a company dedicated to digitizing old media such as VCRs, cassettes, photos, slides, negatives, and movie reels. I ended up selling the printer on eBay.