Organizational Project Part 6: Ready for the Second Sort of Photographs!

In January I began my plan to sort, organize and digitize my family photos.  I ended up ordering archival boxes and sleeves from a company called GetSmartProducts

I've previously shared how I am organizing, sorting and purging these photos and if you missed those earlier posts, you can view them by clicking on the lable "Organization Project" at the bottom of this post or in the right side bar.

Pre-marriage photo box - childhood & young adult

All my family photos and photos passed on to me after family members passed away have passed the first sort. That means I have tossed blurry photos, set aside photos that I don't want but others in the family might love to have, and put all the rest into the categories I decided on in my original plan. 

I now have 5 purple acid-free boxes with family photos categorized which cover my life: pre-marriage; marriage #1; marriage #2; marriage #3; grandchildren. 

I have other boxes for other general categories but for now I'm focusing on these 5 purple boxes. My next step is to take one box and do my second sort within those photographs. I plan on putting the photos into a semi-chronological order, which should make finding duplicates easier. This should also ensure that photos of special events such as birthday parties, vacations and other occasions end up together. 

Next I will remove duplicates and place them in boxes intended for each of my children. If there are duplicates that I think my nieces, nephews, cousins or other family members would like, I will put those into envelopes to be mailed to them. 

Once I've completed this sort (the second sort), I could either begin scanning these photos or I can leave them and start on Box #2. I have decided I will finish the second sort on these 5 purple boxes before starting to scan.

Here are links to the previous blog posts about this project:

Organizing Family Photos - Creating a Plan

Organizational Project Part 2 - Family Diaries

Organization Project Part 3 - Digitizing Family Slides

Organizational Project Part 4 - Sorting the Family Photographs

Organizational Project Part 5: The Domino Effect in an Organization Project