Don't Wait: Another Hurricane Season Starts in Just 3 Months

Even if not submerged, wet conditions
 and oxygen will stimulate mold growth
on any organic material.

Yes, there are lots of ways to spend time rather than digitally scanning and creating electronic files of your favorite photographs. But how long can you tempt fate? How many years have passed since the last major flood or storm struck your neighborhood? Protecting your photo albums and pictures from a rainy day is a smart thing to do. You ensure that the memories those photos evoke can be passed on as “show and tell stories” from you to future generations.

To start, consider creating digital scans of your favorite 25 photographs. Generally, people scan their photos at 300 dpi (dots per square inch) from which they can create printed images. We recommend 600 dpi. It takes a little longer to complete the scan and there is little difference when printing the same size image as the original. The difference appears if you want to print a larger image or to take a detail from a photograph, for example, print a photo image of Grandpa’s head and shoulders from a photo with his siblings. New scanning software provides greater contrast, especially for color-on-color, three-dimensional objects. Old vacation photographs with the family auto in the background would benefit from this new technology.

There will never be a better time to start preserving your favorite photographs. The first step is to select your favorite 25 photographs. We developed a Do-It-Yourself package of information, the EvacuPacket. It provides guidance, templates, and an emergency organizer for keeping favorite photos and important documents with you. Save $10 off the retail price of an EvacuPacket by using the code TB2HEG at the checkout counter. 

If you don’t have the equipment or the patience, we may be able to help. Visit our website Our Heritage Vault or call us at (877) 512-4849. For more ideas about what you may want accessible in electronic file form, visit Our Heritage Vault.