What to Do with Old Family Photos – 6 Creative Ideas

Your old family photo archive is a window into the past that captures a little history of your entire family and serves as a valuable keepsake of your ancestors. Most of the time, these mementos are forgotten and lost in dusty attics. Unless you want such a fate for the photos of your ancestors, stay tuned to find out 6 ways on how to breathe new life into old photographs or make them more accessible to future generations.

• Digitize Your Old Photographs

You can preserve your ancestors’ photos to let younger generations know about their family’s past. The easiest and most convenient way to do this is to digitize all the images, save them in the cloud storage, and share access among all your relatives. Plus, you can bring damaged pictures back to life using the special photo restoration software.

• Make a Scrapbook with Your Inherited Images

Have lots of old printed photos, negatives, and small family heirlooms piled up in dusty albums or shoeboxes in the attic? Put them together into a beautiful DIY scrapbook. Give your imagination some freedom – add touching quotes and handmade embellishments – or get some inspiration from the Internet.

• Create a Family Tree with Your Ancestors’ Portraits

There’s no better way to analyze and illustrate your family’s relationship than by making a family tree. It is also a fantastic way to introduce children to their lineage. Talk to older relatives and dig into local archives to get a detailed picture of your origins. Compare the information with the available portraits and assemble them on a computer or on paper into a family tree.

• Design a Photo Puzzle

Another great way to introduce children to their ancestors is to create a photo puzzle. You can use one of the old printed photos if you no longer need it, or you can print out its digital version. Another option is to create a photo collage first to make the puzzle bigger and more entertaining. Glue your photo to the piece of cardboard or the empty cereal box, and use a Sharpie or a pencil to draw puzzle pieces. Cut your puzzle into pieces and start playing!

• Build Travel Map

Were your ancestors travelers who visited a lot of fascinating places? Would you like to set off on a journey in their footsteps? Combine your vacation photos with old travel pictures of your relatives and match them with countries on the map to create a work of art that will inspire you for new adventures.

• Donate or Sell Your Old Photos

Have you left some photos of your ancestors as a keepsake and don’t know what to do with the remaining pile of family images? Have you digitized all the images and don’t need their printed versions? Since none of your relatives want to keep the photographs, find a new home for your old pictures by bringing them to the local historical society or a flea market. Perhaps they will be of use to someone.

Wrapping Up

If you have stayed up to the end, you now have 6 ways on how you can keep your family’s old photographs safe and sound while still putting them to good use. So, it’s time for you to take your archived photos out of dusty boxes and get creative! Perhaps you will learn something new about your ancestors – isn’t that exciting? Want more suggestions for arranging your collection of family photos? Check out this guide about what to do with old family photos by following the link.