Humans are natural storytellers. We hang onto old photos, tell our children about our late relatives, and relive the highlights of our lives. We cherish the memories of those big days— weddings, vacations, holidays— and revel in the beauty of simple, candid moments.

These moments and memories create the framework of our legacy. As such, it’s no wonder that we want to hold onto them and keep them safe.

Here are some creative ways to preserve your precious family memories for years to come.

How to Preserve Family Videos and Photos

Digitize Old Films and Photos

Old photos are incredibly fragile and often irreplaceable. Even if you have backup copies of your photo negatives, how are you going to find a place to print them?

The best way to preserve your old memories is to start by digitizing your photos and videos from yesteryear. Not only will this exercise help you keep copies of your fragile polaroids or VHS tapes, but it will also make the content easier to use for projects and share with family members.

Upload your videos and photos to cloud-based storage, outsourcing to a digitization service as needed. Then, store the originals in a cool, airtight location with acid-free labels. There are plenty of organizing hacks for family photos & videos to help guide the process.

Consider an option like legacybox for converting old family photos and videos. 

Once you have your old family photos in a digital format, import them into Zinnia and create digital scrapbooks.

How to Preserve Grandparent’s Legacy

Record a Family Documentary

Take a modern approach to preserving your memories by creating a family documentary. This project is a fantastic option for any budding filmmakers in your family. Host interviews with various family members and ask a series of questions about their favorite memories, their experiences, and how the world has changed over time.

Our memories are the stories that make us. Keep them safe and present them to others to keep your family’s legacy alive.

Do a podcast with your grandma or grandpa

You don’t have to film a documentary to capture an oral story. A personal podcast is great because it’s a smaller file size, easy to share, and fun to listen to on walks or roadtrips. It’s also a wonderful excuse to spend time with your grandparents and learn their stories.

When interviewing your grandparents, give them thoughtful questions to encourage them to go into details about big – and little – moments in their lives. 

Here is a list of questions to include in your interview with your grandparents:

  1. Tell me about your parents and grandparents. What were their personalities like? What were they known for? 
  2. What were the rules in your household growing up?
  3. Did you have a memorable birthday as a child? What was it?
  4. Who was your first boyfriend/girlfriend? What happened?
  5. How did you meet your spouse? What drew you to him/her? 
  6. What did you want to be when you grew up? 
  7. Did you have any traditions or rituals growing up? 
  8. What was your favorite thing to do on the weekends in your 20’s? 30’s? 40’s?
  9. What memorable shows and concerts have you been to?
  10. Tell me about a memorable trip that you took.

Create Custom Art to Capture Experiences

Once you’ve converted your photos to be safe and secure in a digital format, you can start to get creative and use those precious memories to construct something beautiful. A great example of this is Kirstin of kdigitalstudio’s digital scrapbook of her elopement. She beautifully uses Zinnia to commemorate her special day.

You can also create custom art based on old family photos. Consider working with an artist to commission pieces that replicate snapshots of important people and places. For example, you could have a watercolor painting commissioned of your grandmother’s childhood home.

If you’re artistic, use your old photos to create your own art. You can use an app like Assembly to import and trace over images, creating vector graphics and even comic book panels of your family history. This approach is a fantastic way to create personal, sentimental gifts for yourself and others.

How to Preserve Family Memories

Create Heirloom Photo Projects

Photo books are an effective way to present cherished memories in a meaningful way. They’re an evolution of the photo albums we once used, and simple to create and replicate with digitized images.

If a simple photo book doesn’t resonate with you, create a photo recipe book with your family’s cherished recipes. Incorporate photo memories from various occasions that you’ve enjoyed these meals or celebrations together.

You can also have photos printed on fabric to make an heirloom quilt. Include samples from different memories, like the material from a favorite shirt or jersey or a piece of your late grandmother’s favorite dress.

If you have old videos, create a montage with music showcasing a highlight reel and photos. This option is a fantastic gift for grandparents.

Write Personal Memoirs

Memories aren’t always captured on film or with your phone. Many of the stories we know and love are handed down from our elders. Once they’re gone, they live on through those stories.

Consider working with your senior family members to create personal memoirs. You can hire a ghostwriter to help capture the highlights of their life, the challenges they faced, and the lessons they’ve learned and record them in a meaningful way.

You can plan out your memoir project with Zinnia – mapping out chapter outlines and deadlines is a great way to stay organized.

You can also create your personal memoirs to hand down to other family members. Or have everyone submit their favorite stories to put together a collection from everyone’s perspective. Create a journal and pass it around to other family members. Everyone can incorporate photos from their collections as desired.