- Picture Organizer -
Home Storage Ideas for Photographs

A picture organizer is necessary in a organized home if you want to protect your photographs and the memories that go with them.

These archival quality home storage ideas will protect your printed photos and prevent damage from moisture, light , or chemicals commonly found in ordinary packaging materials.

What does Archival Mean?

Archival quality means that the storage container you choose to put your precious photographs in, should protect them from being damaged and/or prevent the ink and paper from degrading in quality over time.

Photographs can be damaged by light, moisture, and even chemicals.

Ordinary paper will still have chemicals in it from the pulp it is made from. The inks and paper used for printing photographs are vulnerable to damage from the small amount of these chemicals that are still in the paper after it is processed.

If you prefer to go with a paper instead of a plastic photo storage box then make sure it specifically states that it is acid and lignin free or of archival quality.

OMS Product Picks

This is a picture of the organizer I use to store and categorizez my own pictures.

I can recommend this style and design for a Picture Organizer because I own several of them and find them extremely useful both for archiving and organizing your photos safely.

It is large enough to store over 800 individual photographs up to a 4" x 6" size (10 cm X 15 cm).

Inside the case are individual photo cases so you can sort before you store.

OMS endorses this type of organizer as one of the best home storage ideas for photographs.

A photo organizer that keeps your printed pictures safe and organized will make your life so much simpler.

Wondering how to get organized with digital photographs?
You need to preserve them too!

If you are a digital native and all your photographs are stored digitally, then make sure they are also backed up!

Many people (including me) have lost countless numbers of photographs when hard drives are damaged or fail to respond. While it is possible to get those files off a damaged hard drive, file recovery is very specialized and very expensive (ask me how I know this).

Getting organized at home with your photos means that you simply must have a backup of your digital files.

A Photographers Guide to Backup can show you how to take this important step in preserving your precious photos while they are still in the digital format.

by Beverly OMalley