Side Note:

As mentioned in the previous blog – Keeping the Best, Identification and Storage all come into play at the same time, so hold off on identification until we discuss Storage.

Slide Identification:

The 2”x2” slide mounting itself does not leave you enough room to write enough information about the “Who, What, Where and When”. So, you need to create a slide document. This will be stored with your slides. Your slide document will hold as many details as possible. Use only archival-grade, lignin free and acid free paper. The idea here is to come up with a numbering system for your slides and use the number as a cross-reference on the slide document. This will be explained in the next blog – Storage.

Details, Details, Details

You never know who will be looking at these slides in the future, so early on in the process, fully identify those people that will show up over and over again. Use their full name, dates of their birth and death, and place of birth and then what you’ll be identifying them as later on. Example: Loretta Barbara Ruetten – Padavic – Broz, b. 10/14/1913, d. 8/14/2005, Sparta Wisconsin – (Mom). Later on the viewer will know a little more about Mom and you’ll save yourself some time. 

Grouping the slides

Most of the time you will probably have your slides in chronological order (earliest to latest). But, there are options. Once you’ve figured out all the details, you can organize, view and store the slides in order within a “theme”. A “theme” is just a category of how you want to group your slides:

• vacations
• birthdays
• weddings
• anniversaries
• special events

In our next blog post we’ll talk about storing your slides. Continue your hard work and drop me a comment on your successes or any problems that you’re running into. Others will want to know that they’re not alone in this.

— Joe Padavic  - Teardrop Video – helping people preserve their visual history one image at a time.