familytreemagazine.com 151 Scan diary images.
Preserve diaries and journals
by going digital. Create a copy
of your ancestor’s diary by
scanning or photographing the
cover and inside pages. View the
digital images to discover clues
to your family history. Use the
zoom and contrast adjustment
features of your image viewer
to enhance old handwriting and
faded ink.2 Create a photo book.
Create a new edition of the
journal using digital images of
the cover and inside pages. First,
scan each page at 600 DPI in full
color. Use TIFF format as archival
copies and convert the images
to JPG for upload at photo book
sites like Shutterfl y <www.
shutterfl y.com> or Mixbook
<www.mixbook.com>. Select a
book option similar in size and
shape to the original, then recre-
ate the diary with digital images.
Use scanned images of blank
pages to preserve the original
page order, if necessary.Denise May Levenick
aka The Family Curator
<www.thefamilycurator.com>
is the author of How to
Archive Family Keepsakes
(Family Tree Books).3 Keep diaries and
journals in a safe place.
Store the book away from heat
and light inside an acid-free
archival box on a fl at surface
like a closet shelf in your home.
Most importantly, don’t store
heirloom books in an unheated
space like a garage, attic or base-
ment. Changing temperatures
and humidity invite speedy
deterioration, pests and mildew.
Support detached covers with
four-fl ap book enclosures to
protect fragile bindings from
further damage. Avoid stacking
books on top of each other,
which adds pressure to items at
the bottom of the stack.4 Record your own
experiences with apps.
Even in this digital age, the
goal of journaling remains
the same: to record thoughts,
memories, and everyday events.
Choose from apps like Day One
<www.dayoneapp.com> or
Journey <www.2appstudio.
com/journey> to easily record
your daily experiences, or add
photos and social media posts.
Try a few diff erent journal apps
to fi nd one that suits you. Look
for an intuitive entry process,
automatic reminders (so you
remember to use it!), and the
ability to export in a common
format such as PDF or text.5 Save your social media
posts. Dedicated social media
users are already documenting
everyday life on Facebook, Twit-
ter and Instagram. The Memen-
to app <www.momentoapp.
com> imports social media
feeds to create a searchable digi-
tal diary without additional work
from the writer.6 Share the joys of
journal keeping. Help create
the heirlooms of tomorrow by
encouraging the next genera-
tion to keep their own journals.
Kids love books with locks and
keys—especially with color-
ful gel-pens or a set of colored
pencils. Teens like the colors and
generous pages of larger-format
books made by Moleskine <us.
moleskine.com/en> and Leucht-
turm <www.leuchtturm1917.us>.
Also be sure to share your most
interesting ancestral journal fi nds,
as well as your photo book.5
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