Share your stories with family and friends by presenting your photographs and family histories online, or leverage your scans to display physical photos either framed or in photo albums.
☐ Seek permission before posting online
If you want to create a digital exhibit to share online, be considerate of your family members and get permission from the people in the photos before posting and making them publicly accessible.
☐ Use a digital exhibit platform
You can use social media platforms to share your stories, but for a dedicated digital showcase, there are a few recommended software platforms you can use to display and share your photos online, depending on your goals and resources that you have available:
WordPress: https://wordpress.com/
- Pricing: 3GB – Free; see photo-based themes: Snaps, Photos
- Notes: Free, relatively easy to use. Allows for combination of text and images. Paid versions are available, and free version is more limited in storage, functionality, and design.
Mukurtu: https://reclaimhosting.com/shared-hosting/
- Pricing: $30/Year for 2GB, $50/Year for 10GB, $100/year for 100GB
- Notes: Includes ability to set visibility controls and allow only certain people to view certain content upon logging in. Designed specifically for cultural heritage collections.
Omeka.net: https://www.omeka.net/signup
- Pricing: $35/Year for 2GB, $75/Year for 5GB, $350/Year for 10 GB, $1000/Year for 50 GB
- Notes: Allows for adding one item at a time so you can tag and search for individual items, detailed metadata fields at both item and collection level. Some default settings can be changed with some technical know-how.
Example digital exhibit: https://sloanfamilyphotos.wordpress.com/
☐ Create a plan for a physical display
In addition to or instead of a digital exhibit, you can also display your physical photographs with consideration for the following:
- You may want to scan all of your photos and have the digital images printed out for display, keeping original photos safely protected in archival storage.
- If you frame originals, make sure the frame materials are archive safe and the glass offers UV protection. You should aim to replace the glass every 5-10 years, as UV protection can wear off over time.
- If you want to keep originals in a photo album, use archival plastic sleeves. Do not use adhesive to label photos. Consider printing out an inventory or catalogue of the photos to keep with the album.
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Congrats on reaching the bonus milestone! You have gone above and beyond in telling your stories and archiving your family photographs. How was you journey? How did it turn out? Share your archiving experience by sending an email to ofn@uoregon.edu.
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Additional Resources:
- Home Movie (1975): http://www.folkstreams.net/film-detail.php?id=112
- How to safely display collection items: https://www.loc.gov/preservation/about/faqs/general.html#exh
- Displaying family photos: https://www.archives.gov/preservation/family-archives/displaying.html