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Do you have any photos stored away in a shoebox that you have no idea who is in the picture or when it was taken? Is this preserving your family history?

While looking through my grandma's tattered, mildew stained, scrapbooks, I realized that almost every photo was deteriorating and fading. All of the memories that she wanted to share would be gone in the next generation. Some of the items in her scrapbooks were already no good.

In the past, products used for scrapbooks were not safe for photo preservation. People thought they were cataloging their life. But, most of them did not journal, did not include dates and also didn't tell who was in the photos. They made these books with the intention that they would show them and then the people who looked at them would remember the stories as they listened. They didn't take into account that the products they were using would damage their photos, newspaper clippings and postcards. Nor did they think they might forget the stories themselves, or even worse, they might not live to tell every story.

Most scrapbook products today are acid free and lignin free. This is important because when an acid product comes in contact with photos it migrates, causing permanent damage and decay to the photo. Newspaper clippings contain a high amount of lignin which causes yellowing and discoloration. Using acid and lignin-free products prevents the damage. It is worth purchasing these products because trying to repair or correct photos damaged from acid and lignin can be costly and most of the time the damage is irreversible. The craft industry spends over a billion dollars a year developing products that are safe for photos. Some offer buffered pages that can remove high levels of lignin from newspaper clippings and make it safe to put them in a scrapbook with their photos.

The idea of documenting the events of their lives for themselves, but also for future generations is important to those who scrapbook. They see their lives as a never ending story that they want to share with their grandchildren, great grandchildren, and so on.

How do you do this? By putting your photos in a scrapbook, using safe products, journaling the story and including the dates and those who are in the photos. Locks of hair, postcards, coins, etc can all be included in a scrapbook. These are a great way of telling the story with physical items.

Some scrapbooks are very detailed and some are very simple. It really doesn't matter how complex the layout, as long

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