What Can You Scan Besides Old Photos?

Besides old photos, you can scan and digitize family keepsakes such as letters, handwritten recipes, postcards, children's artwork, certificates, family trees, newspaper clippings, ticket stubs, and other paper memories. Digitizing these items can help preserve your family history and make meaningful keepsakes easier to organize, revisit, and share.

Once you've scanned your old photo albums, it might feel like your digitization project is finished. But photographs are only one part of a family's story.

Look through old drawers, boxes, scrapbooks, and folders and you'll probably find plenty of other things worth preserving - often with stories attached to them that photographs alone can't tell.

What Family Keepsakes Can You Digitize?

Almost any flat paper keepsake that you want to preserve visually can become part of your digital family archive.

Some ideas include:

• Letters and handwritten notes
• Family recipe cards
• Postcards and greeting cards
• Children's drawings and artwork
• School projects and certificates
• Family trees and genealogy records
• Newspaper clippings
• Wedding or event invitations
• Concert, theater, and travel tickets
• Other meaningful paper memorabilia

What makes something worth scanning isn't necessarily its monetary value. Sometimes the most meaningful items are the everyday things that would be impossible to replace.

Should You Digitize Old Letters and Handwritten Notes?

Old letters and handwritten notes are worth digitizing because they preserve not only someone's words, but also their handwriting and personal history.

A letter from a grandparent, a note tucked into an old album, or a card written decades ago can reveal details about a person's life that may not exist anywhere else.

Creating a digital copy also makes it easier to share that piece of family history with other relatives while keeping the original safely stored.

Can You Digitize Old Family Recipes?

Yes. Handwritten recipe cards and family cookbooks can be scanned and preserved digitally, making them easier to share with future generations.

And sometimes, the handwriting is just as meaningful as the recipe itself. A stained recipe card in a grandparent's handwriting can tell a much richer story than simply typing the ingredients into a new document.

What Should You Do With Children's Artwork?

Digitizing children's artwork is one way to preserve favorite pieces without having to physically store every drawing or school project.

You can keep the originals that are especially meaningful and create digital copies of others before deciding what to do with the paper versions.

Over time, those drawings, handwritten notes, report cards, and school projects can become their own record of childhood.

Can You Digitize Postcards, Tickets, and Other Memorabilia?

Postcards, tickets, invitations, programs, and other paper memorabilia can all be digitized as part of a personal or family archive.

A concert ticket might remind you of your first date. A postcard can preserve a message from someone you love. An old invitation may bring back an entire wedding, birthday, or family celebration.

They may seem like small objects, but they often hold very specific memories.

What Family History Documents Are Worth Scanning?

If you're preserving family history or researching genealogy, consider digitizing documents that contain information about previous generations.

These might include family trees, certificates, newspaper clippings, handwritten records, old correspondence, and other historical documents.

Digitizing these materials can make them easier to organize and share with relatives, while helping preserve family information that could otherwise be lost over time.

Can You Scan Photos and Keepsakes From a Relative's Collection?

Yes - and visiting relatives can be a great opportunity to discover family memories you don't have in your own collection.

Ask parents, grandparents, siblings, or other relatives if they have old albums, letters, or keepsakes you haven't seen before. You may discover photographs you don't own, unfamiliar relatives, or stories you've never heard.

Using a mobile photo scanning app like Photomyne means you can digitize many of those memories during your visit without needing to take the originals home.

How Can You Build a Digital Family Archive?

A digital family archive can include much more than photographs. Bringing photos, documents, letters, artwork, recipes, and other keepsakes together can create a richer record of your family's history.

You don't need to digitize everything at once. Start with one box, album, drawer, or category and gradually add to the collection.

As you scan, preserve any information you know about the item too. Names, dates, locations, and descriptions can help future generations understand why something mattered instead of seeing it as an image without context.

Frequently Asked Questions About Digitizing Family Keepsakes

What can I scan besides photographs?

You can scan letters, handwritten recipes, postcards, artwork, certificates, family trees, newspaper clippings, tickets, invitations, greeting cards, and many other flat paper keepsakes.

What family keepsakes should I digitize first?

Start with irreplaceable or fragile items and anything with strong personal or family significance. Unique photographs, handwritten letters, family records, and items that are beginning to deteriorate are good places to start.

Why should I digitize family keepsakes?

Digitizing family keepsakes creates a digital copy, makes memories easier to share and organize, and can help preserve family stories and information for future generations.

Can Photomyne scan documents and memorabilia?

Photomyne can be used to capture many flat paper items as images, including photographs, letters, recipes, artwork, certificates, and other keepsakes you want to include in your digital memory collection.

If It Holds a Memory, Consider Preserving It

Your family story isn't only found in photo albums. It can be written on the back of a postcard, scribbled onto a recipe card, drawn with crayons, or tucked away in an old box.

So when the last photo in your album has been scanned, don't assume the project is over. Look around for the smaller pieces of your history that might be worth carrying forward too.

Have photos and keepsakes you'd like to preserve? Get started with Photomyne and begin building your digital collection.