The Box Under the Bed: Rescuing Your Family's Lost Photos Before It's Too Late
Somewhere (over the rainbow) in most Irish homes, there's a box. It's usually under your bed, on the top shelf of your wardrobe, or tucked behind the Christmas decorations in your attic. Inside of it is a jumble of printed photos spanning decades — holidays, christenings, school plays, long-gone relatives, (R.I.P) and moments you'd completely forgotten about. Sometimes, for good reason.
They're not lost exactly, they're just stored away for safe keeping. If you're like me, you manage to rescue them from the box before they succumb to mold or rat nibblings.
Why Printed Photos Are at Risk
In this era of people talking about how printed, physical media is so important, photographs are no different. Not to make it sound too dramatic or anything. Your photos can sometimes feel surprisingly fragile. It's all well and good having them on the cloud storage on your phone, but God forbid your phone breaks and you lose who knows how many photographs from all those years ago.
Even when you do get your photographs printed, there's a plethora of other issues to worry about. Exposure to light, humidity, fluctuating temperatures etc, all causes colours to fade away and images to deteriorate. I'm sure we've all had photographs in frames that slowly get bleached because they've been left out in direct sunlight for too long.
Unlike digital files, there's no backup. Once a printed photo is gone, it's gone, like Donkey Kong.
The First Step: Get Them Out of the Box
You don't need to tackle everything in one afternoon, unless you have all the time in the world. You can start by simply getting the photos out of the box and into a dry, cool space where you can see what you're working with. Once you've gone through said box, you can assess everything you have and go from there.
Depending on the quality of the prints, it might be best to handle your photos by the edges where possible, and avoid stacking them face-to-face without protection. If your photos are glossy printed, fingerprints can smudge them or they could stick together and tear.
Choosing the Right kind of Album
Now this can be the fun part. Each photo album has a certain charm to it. For older or more delicate prints, your best bet is to look for albums with acid-free, archival-quality pages; these won't cause further deterioration over time. Self-adhesive page albums are ideal for mixed print sizes, as they hold photos securely without the need for corners or sleeves. These albums are some of our most popular and can look well when staked up on your bookshelf.
For larger collections, consider a high-capacity album that can hold 200, 300, or even 500 prints, so you're not splitting one era across multiple volumes. It's more compact and neat when all your photos fit into one album. That way they're all together when you go looking for them again. Huzzah!
Make It a Family Project (Assuming they want to get involved)
Sorting old photos is one of those rare tasks that can be genuinely enjoyable when done with others. Sometimes ... If your parents or grandparents sort through those photos with you, they'll often be able to identify faces and dates you'd never know on your own. You can even label your photos with a marker or pencil, filling in names, dates, times etc.
Don't Wait for the Perfect Moment (Because it never comes y'all)
The most common reason family photos stay in boxes is the same reason most things stay undone: Procrastination. Or because the box full of photos contains a lot of sore memories that you don't want to dig back up. Just as an example. But barring that, every year those photographs spend loose in a box is another year of slow damage accumulating. Especially if they're in boxes in your attic.
The great thing about it is you can take your time and sort through everything at your own pace.
Ready to start? Browse our range of photo albums — from compact everyday albums to large-format family archives. Free delivery available across Ireland. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to get in contact with us today!
