Family Archive — Project Worksheet

Before you start — what to expect

The first conversation is free. I’ll review this worksheet, talk with you for about 45 minutes, and submit a written plan with a fee structure.
Most projects run $5,000–$8,000 for my work, plus roughly $1,000–$2,500 paid directly to the scanning lab (if your material is not already scanned). Smaller collections cost less. We’ll size yours together.
Plan on 3–6 months end to end. Most of that is lab turnaround time and time spent by your family compiling material.
You never ship anything to me. I help you choose a lab for scanning (if necessary) and write the spec. Your original material goes straight there and is returned straight back to you.
The work happens in stages, and you approve the price for each stage before it starts. You can stop after any stage and you keep everything finished up to that point.

Who You Are

Your name

Phone — optional

Where do you live?

Where are the materials located?

Who else needs to approve this project before it proceeds?

What You Have

Guesses and estimates are fine. A shoebox holds roughly 300–500 loose photos. A full album is usually 100–200 photos. If a category doesn’t apply, leave it at “None.”

Loose printed photosBoxes, envelopes, drawers

Photo albumsBound or adhesive-page albums

35mm slidesCarousels, trays, or boxes

NegativesStrips, sleeves, or rolls

Movie film8mm, Super 8, or 16mm reels

Video tapesVHS, VHS-C, Hi8, MiniDV, Betamax

AudioCassettes, reel-to-reel, records

Documents & lettersCorrespondence, certificates, journals

Scrapbooks & oversizeNewspaper clippings, artwork, framed pieces

Files already digitizedOld scans, phone photos, a hard drive someone made

Condition of Material

How would you describe the overall state of things?

Good — stored indoors, dry, mostly intact Mixed — some fading, curling, or stuck album pages Fragile — water damage, mold smell, brittle film, or vinegar odor Worth flagging early; some of this is time-sensitive. I haven’t looked closely yet

Anything specific worrying you? — optional

Why Now

What is prompting this project?

Is there a date by which this needs to be completed?

Who is the finished archive for?

Who Can Identify People

This is the single biggest factor in how a family archive turns out. Software can group faces; only a person can say who they are.

Is there someone living who can identify people in these photos?

Yes, and they are willing to do it Yes, but time or memory is limited We should prioritize accordingly. Partially — between several of us we could piece it together No one left who knows Handwriting on the backs of photos providing dates and locations may still be beneficial.

Who is that person, and where are they? — optional

Roughly how much time can your family give to naming people?

We’ll show up for several sessions. This is the fun part! A couple of sessions, realistically Very little. Please keep our involvement to a minimum.

What You Want at the End

Pick whichever sounds closest.

Clean, organized files I can keep Everything named, dated, foldered, on a drive and in the cloud. That, plus a private website the family can browse Password-protected, searchable, shareable with a link. All of the above, with people identified throughout Not sure yet — help me figure that out

Which part of the project is your first priority?

Budget

Please estimate so I can propose something realistic. There are versions of most projects at most budgets.

Price Range

Anything else I should know?

I read every one of these worksheets personally and will reply within three business days. Your answers are used only to prepare your archive plan. Nothing is shared with anyone.

Arts-Link · arts-link.com/blog/family-archive