Pieces of memorabilia remind us of special memories from our past. These items may not be something we want to display or access all that often, but we still want to keep them stored away. The challenge many people face, however, is that memorabilia can begin to pile up. After a while, it feels too daunting to sift through it all, decide what is worth keeping, and organize what is left. That is where Picture This Organized steps in.
Our process for handling memorabilia will leave you feeling relaxed and in control of your keepsakes. We organize by type of memorabilia and use our client’s family timeline form to recognize key family members whose items will be important to preserve. We then work with our clients to decide what to keep. Depending on the type of memorabilia, we guide you through what to save and what to toss, and we will archive everything you find valuable to ensure no precious memories are lost. There are many types of memorabilia that many families collect over the years, and we have a system to help you sort through each kind of treasure your family has collected.
Certificates
Certificates can mark achievements, participation, ownership, and membership. Any certificate can be scanned and kept as a digital copy, but it is important to go through all of your certificates and decide if they are worthy of being kept. Think about whether it represents a moment that has meaning. If so, we will scan it for you so you have a digital copy for safekeeping.
Many certificates are given out for events or school functions, but they do not all hold special meaning. Not all certificates need to be kept or digitized as there are other ways to document awards and achievements. If someone in your family received multiple certificates for the same activity or within the same year, it may be better to record dates and what that person was being recognized for. This information would be great to use in the captions of a photo book.
The certificate above was from a school event for my daughter, but I don’t think anyone in my family recalls the details, so this is not a piece of memorabilia we would choose to keep or archive.
Cards
Greeting cards are a very popular type of memorabilia for people to hold onto. However, most people don’t care that much about the front of the card because the note on the inside is the most meaningful part. We often scan the inside to show what was said and by whom so that you can keep a collection of the sweet messages written to you over the years without keeping a box full of greeting cards. The note below was given to my daughter, Molly, from a high school English teacher - definitely a keepsake!
Many people also keep postcards that they want to remember. Some postcards act as a souvenir from a trip and some are used as means of correspondence. Postcards can represent a place that you have no other photo of or remind you of a special memory with someone you love. Scanned postcards make great additions to travel and memory albums, or we can help you make an album entirely of postcards and the memories they hold. This way you have copies of all of the cards you want to remember, and you can just keep the physical copies of the ones that have strong sentimental value. This postcard reminds me of my father’s handwriting, so having the original was very meaningful for me to keep.
Report Cards and School Documents
Schoolwork and report cards can feel very important for both parents and children as they represent a lot of hard work and accomplishment from children’s school years. Depending on how old these are, they might need some post scanning editing. We use this process to remove any smudges or discoloration that has happened over the years. Some people do not feel the need to keep the physical copies of school projects or papers, but we can scan them and create a folder of schoolwork and documents to look back on.
Final report cards are often important for college applications, so it is important to scan them and keep the original. Acceptance letters can also be scanned as a digital copy, or you may wish to only record the significant information from them such as the name of the school, any scholarships awarded, and the timeline of the acceptance. Original diplomas and continuation certificates are often important to keep, but we always scan them as well so there is a digital backup. The scans of these documents make special additions to keepsake albums.
Event Programs
Event programs can be helpful to use as a reference for the timeline of an important event. If photos of the event are originally in print format, we can use this information to adjust the dates accordingly. Some programs can be long and contain information that is not meaningful to you, so we can scan the pages relevant to your family member.
Sometimes we keep memorabilia from events we attended but are not personal to us. For example, Molly’s college’s homecoming and family weekends were filled with fun events. However the programs for the events we attended weren’t that important to us. As I looked at all the memorabilia, I chose to scan the schedule of the events but discarded the programs as there was nothing meaningful to Molly.
For Molly’s college commencement, we scanned the program covers. Her school had many events surrounding graduation, so it is helpful to have those as a reminder of the significance of those events.
This Awards Convocation program was more personal than the larger commencement program since she was part of a smaller group of students.
How We Can Help
We are here to help conquer those bins of unorganized keepsakes. Our goal is to bring peace to you and order to your collection. Memorabilia is such a powerful way to preserve memories, so we want you to have access to all of those special moments without feeling stressed about clutter.
We also have systems in place to scan and digitize your memorabilia so that you know all of your treasured items are preserved as a backup. Our team is skilled in digitally retouching any items that have been damaged, and they can make a restored copy for you.
Finally, we would love to help you display any of these memories in an album for you to enjoy all in one place! If you are ready to take the next step in managing your photo, video, and memorabilia collection, contact us and we would love to get started!
For more information on sorting through and organizing memorabilia, check out our previous blog post What to Do with That Box of Memorabilia Sitting in Your Closet.