If you’re researching your family’s history, read on for the best and most secure way I’ve found to safeguard your findings.
Learning about your family’s history and writing up your family tree satisfies our curiosity about the family members, or our ancestors, who came before us. Personally, it’s a fun project.
My mother and I had my grandmother Albine’s traditional scrapbook album digitized and reprinted. It’s still in printed form but also digitized and able to be easily shared.
Knowing our family history is good for our well-being. Individuals who have a healthy identity development also have high levels of family history knowledge, according to researchers at Brigham Young University. A link is below.
If you want to save your findings for future generations, then you’ll need a plan and the right tools.
Family history sources
The sources we often use to start researching family history include:
- old photos
- stories from older relatives and cousins
- military and immigration records
- newspaper clippings
You might use notebooks to journal your thoughts or keep track of sources and type up stories in a Word document.
But the challenge is where do you keep your findings and how do you keep them safe and secure to pass along to descendants, like the children of your grandchildren?
The FOREVER® solution
The best solution I’ve found for keeping records, telling your family’s, and more is FOREVER®, your ONE digital home. It’s the only company that can guarantee your account lives on for generations thanks to the FOREVER® Guarantee Fund.
You can:
- Digitize your family’s older photos, VHS tapes, audio cassettes, slide shows, and documents
- Store your oldest files and newest photos and videos in your FOREVER®.
- Research your family history going back centuries with the help of FOREVER® family researchers
- Print your digitized photos and create a printed photo book of your family’s history, the story of one person like a parent or grandparent, or print photos on gift items
Here’s a closer look at why I use FOREVER® personally and as a photo coach. It’s a versatile all-in-one solution.
FOREVER®’s benefits
Digitized photos can’t get ruined like the hard copy print photos you have. However, not all digital storage is safe.
Why?
Digital devices like thumb drives and laptops can get misplaced or break. A good friend of mine and a photo coaching colleague, Kelly Quezada, had her home broken into when she was out for only 20 minutes. Her laptop was stolen and she lost many treasured photos.
In the event of fires or floods like we’ve seen recently in Los Angeles and North Carolina, the devices can still get ruined or destroyed.
Digitization
FOREVER®’s digitization process and digital storage is an industry-leading peace-of-mind solution.
You can easily pack and ship your photos, videos, and other files and send to the digitization team just outside of Green Bay, Wisconsin. Your originals are returned to you and you have the option of having your digital files stored in your FOREVER® account.
Get creative and have fun with your files.
I digitized my late grandmother’s photo book and then printed an exact copy as you can see here:[DS1] [MW2]
Storage
You have control over your storage.
You own your account. This means you’re not paying a monthly fee for renting.
FOREVER®’s storage is designed to last for a lifetime, plus 100 years with the goal of lasting far beyond that time frame. The storage is guaranteed safe through the FOREVER® Guarantee Fund.
The FOREVER Guarantee Fund will migrate your files to newest formats when the current format becomes obsolete. There’s no extra cost to you, your children, or future generations.
I’ve traced my family line back to the Civil War era using FOREVER®’s professional researchers. It’s been eye-opening and entertaining to see all the many different types of family stories.
You’re kept up-to-date on findings from activities like old records being searched. It’s especially useful to locate hard-to-find records like birth certificates and marriage documents if your family immigrated from different countries.
Need help safeguarding your memories?
Your family’s story is worth discovering through family research and it’s worth preserving for generations to come.
I’ll gladly guide you on getting started or help you step-by-step.
Contact me and let’s talk about what you need.
Please read and pass along this important post, especially if you know of friends and family impacted in the recent fires in Altadena and Pacific Palisades:
Cleaning Photos and Books After a Fire
Read more about the benefits of family research:
A post of mine: The Surprising Emotional Benefits of Researching Your Family History
From BYU, Family history knowledge helps American adolescents develop healthy sense of identity.