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How to organize old family photos, one box at a time
A box of loose prints feels like a big job. It’s smaller than it looks if you sort first, decide later, and give each photo a number.
By Wren & Co. · Last reviewed
The short answer
To organize old family photos, sort the box quickly into rough decades on a clean table, and set aside the faces nobody can name to ask about. Number and label the photos you keep in soft pencil on the back, or on their envelopes [1][2].
Store them somewhere cool, dry and dark in photo-safe boxes, not in an attic, a basement or the old shoebox [5][4]. Then scan the ones you’ll use and keep the originals [6].
Where do you start with a box of old photos?
With a clear table and an evening. Work somewhere clean and dry, away from food and drinks, and handle the prints by their edges with clean, dry hands [1][2]. Take off any rubber bands and paper clips as you go; the Library of Congress advises against them [1].
Don’t try to do everything at once. The first pass is only about making piles. Labels, stories and scanning come later, one pile at a time.
Should you sort old photos by date, person or event?
For a first pass, sort by rough decade. It’s quick, it doesn’t need exact dates, and most family stories fit into it later. Clothes, hairstyles, cars, houses and the people who appear are all good clues. If you can’t decide, put a photo with its neighbors and move on.
We use nine piles: before 1950, the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and later, “Who is this?”, “Keep for the book” and “Set aside” for duplicates and blurry ones. Decide what to do with the “Set aside” pile later, with family: a photo that looks like a duplicate to you may be someone else’s only copy.
What do you do with photos nobody can identify?
Give each one a number, and take copies to the next family visit or gathering:
- Bring copies, not the originals: phone pictures or prints are fine.
- Show one photo at a time. One face is a puzzle people enjoy; a pile is a chore.
- Write down guesses too, with a question mark: “Aunt Vera? 1958?”
- Note who told you, and keep both versions if two people disagree.
When a face has a name, list the people from left to right [3].
How should you number and label old photos?
Give each photo you keep a short number, such as P001, so it matches your notes. Write it lightly in soft graphite pencil on the back, near an edge, with the photo face down on a clean, hard surface [1][2]. Better still, write on the photo’s envelope or sleeve [1].
Never use a pen or marker on a photo [3][4]. If the back is too slick for pencil, put the photo in an envelope and label that instead [4][3]. More detail: how to label old photos.
What is the best way to store old photos?
Cool, dry and dark, in the living part of the home. An inside closet is steadier than an attic, a basement or a garage [2][5].
- Keep the temperature below 75°F and the relative humidity below 65% [5].
- Use boxes, folders, envelopes and sleeves that have passed the Photographic Activity Test (PAT) [5][1].
- Avoid “magnetic” self-stick albums, tape and glue [1][5].
- Retire the old cardboard shoebox: the cardboard is acidic [4].
Label each box or envelope on the outside, and keep a simple list of what’s in each one, so nobody has to open every box to find a photo.
What about photos stuck in old “magnetic” albums?
Those albums aren’t a good place to keep photos [1][5], but don’t force out a print that’s stuck to the page: you can tear it. Photograph or scan the whole page instead, so the picture is safe either way. For a photo that really matters, ask a conservator.
Should you scan your old photos?
Yes, at least the ones you’ll use, share or frame. Scan prints at 600 dpi if you can, and never below 300 [3]. Keep the originals afterwards: a scan doesn’t replace them [6]. Keep three copies of the files, on two kinds of storage, with one copy somewhere else [6].
Frame a copy rather than the original, and keep the original in its box [7]. Settings, file names and backups: what resolution to scan old photos.
What comes after the photos are sorted?
The stories. Take one photo from the “Keep for the book” pile, sit down with someone who remembers it, and ask about it. These five questions work for almost any old photo, and the free Photo Story Starter gives you a sheet for the answers.
Sources
Official guidance this page follows. Each link was checked on the date shown.
- Care, Handling, and Storage of Photographs. Library of Congress, Preservation, undated. Checked October 8, 2026.
- How Do I… Care for Photographs. American Institute for Conservation, 2023. Checked October 8, 2026.
- Veterans History Project Field Kit. Library of Congress, American Folklife Center, September 2021. Checked October 8, 2026.
- Preserving Family Photos (Prologue magazine). U.S. National Archives, Fall 2015, reviewed 2023. Checked October 8, 2026.
- Storing Family Papers and Photographs. U.S. National Archives, reviewed September 18, 2025. Checked October 8, 2026.
- Digitizing Family Papers and Photographs. U.S. National Archives, reviewed May 26, 2021. Checked October 8, 2026.
- Displaying Family Papers and Photographs. U.S. National Archives, reviewed July 1, 2025. Checked October 8, 2026.
