Archiving Family History

Nate Berkus did a great feature on tips for archiving aging family photos and letters. Watch and learn.

Learn ways to showcase memories and incorporate your family's story into your home.

Framing Family Mementos
Displaying meaningful family letters around your home is a wonderful way to not only honor your family's legacy, but add interest and original art to a room. The letters will serve as a constant reminder of family, and will likely become conversation pieces among house guests. When displaying fragile paperwork, it's important to be cautious so the letter is properly preserved and protected.

To frame a double-sided letter, be sure to select a frame with 100% filtered glass on either side, which will protect the paper and color. Frame the letter with buffered matting to keep the paper from sticking to the sides of the glass. Choose a weathered looking mat if you're going for a vintage look, or a classic, inexpensive linen mat to add texture.

Add Accents that Represent Your Heritage
Another way to incorporate your family history into home design is to invest in decor that is tied to your family's heritage. For example, if you're Greek, consider adding a set of klismos chairs (seats with a concave top rail and in-curved saber legs) to the corner of a room in your home. You could also incorporate a Greek key pattern as a fabric trim on pillows or throws, or create a Greek Key stencil on a piece of furniture, or as a decorative tile border.

Preserve Family Memories Digitally
If you want to start collecting and preserving your family's memories today, there are a few helpful online resources you can use to help you get organized.
Proust.com
Proust offers an online memorabilia box for you to store important photos, videos, historical documents, recipes, artwork, and more. Answer question prompts about your own family, and send your questions to friends and family to find out more about your heritage!
OurVoicesInTime.com
Voices In Time is a service that allows you to record your family stories to be transferred to CD. A facilitator comes to you to set up recording equipment and help draw out the details of your personal stories!
Ancestry.com
Ancestry.com, the world's largest online family history resource, enables you to trace your genealogy through collected legal documents. It includes historical records, photos, stories, family trees and more.