How to make a family history book from old photos and stories

The short answer

To make a family history book, gather the stories one photo at a time and write each one as a short page: the photo, a caption, and 150 to 300 words in the storyteller’s own words. When you have about twelve pages, add a family timeline and a who’s who, put the pages in order and print them.

A first edition can be twelve pages in a ring binder. You can add more any time.

What goes in a family history book?

A short book is better than an unfinished long one. A first edition usually has:

• A title page: the book’s name, who made it, and the year.
• About this book: who told the stories, who gathered them, and what any marks for guesses mean.
• Contents, then the stories: one per page, each with its photo.
• A family timeline: the stories and big events in order.
• Who’s who and places, so future readers know who everyone was.
• Questions we still have, and a few blank pages for stories still to come.

How do you gather the stories?

Sit down with a storyteller for about an hour, with a few photos and a few questions. Old photos, letters and keepsakes bring memories back [1]. Ask permission before you record [1], and make clear they can skip anything [2].

Aim for three or four stories a visit. See the questions to ask your grandparents.

How do you write each page?

• Keep it short: one moment, told well, about what you’d say telling it over dinner.
• Start in the middle: open with the moment, not the background.
• Keep their words: the storyteller’s own phrases and sayings are what the family will treasure.
• Mark guesses: a question mark after a name, place or date that isn’t certain.
• Never add what wasn’t said. Future readers need to trust the book.
• Credit the teller: “Told by Ruth Anders to Claire, March 2026.”

Read each page back to the storyteller. Their corrections are part of the process.

How do you organize a family history book?

Pick one order and stick to it:

How do you print and bind a family history book?

Three ways, from simplest to grandest:

1. Ring binder. Print at home and slip pages into sheet protectors. Inexpensive, and you can add pages any time.
2. Print shop. Take a PDF to a print or copy shop and ask for color pages with spiral (coil) binding and a clear front cover.
3. Printed hardcover. Use a photo book or print-on-demand company. Many accept PDFs; check their page sizes first.

Use copies of the photos in the book and keep the originals in a box [4]. Keep your scans and files in more than one place [3].

How do you share it with the family?

Decide who gets which version before you print. A family edition has only the stories everyone may read; a complete edition has every story, for the storyteller and the people they choose. Ask before you share photos of living relatives.

Then read one story aloud at the next family gathering. It nearly always brings out another story.

Researching the family tree as well? Fill In the Dots is a family history starter map and research log for beginners, also from Wren & Co.

Sources

Official guidance this page follows. Each link was checked on the date shown.

1. The Smithsonian Folklife and Oral History Interviewing Guide (revised edition). Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, © 2016. Checked October 8, 2026.
2. For Participants in Oral History Interviews. Oral History Association, updated 2025. Checked October 8, 2026.
3. Digitizing Family Papers and Photographs. U.S. National Archives, reviewed May 26, 2021. Checked October 8, 2026.
4. Displaying Family Papers and Photographs. U.S. National Archives, reviewed July 1, 2025. Checked October 8, 2026.