Heritage Scrapbook questions

Aug '22 Grammy Fry

Hidey HOOO!!!
I am new here, and this is my first post. I am hoping that all of you wonderful scrappers can help me with my questions. My FIL passed this week and I was given pictures from his house, as most everyone knows that I am the "scrapbooker" who would take care to protect the family pictures. I am honored and a little bit in awe of the task ahead of me.
I say this because there are pictures from 1925 and some from the family from Germany that none of us even knew. There are even love letters that my MIL sent to my FIL while he was in Korea that he kept.
One of the really important things that I am looking forward to scrapbooking is one of the most daunting. "Pop" and "Sweetheart" as my kids would call their grandparents would go south for the winter, and Pop would write a story about Mr. Frog and send one chapter each month. It was on a yellow mini legal pad page maybe 2-5 pages long with his own drawings. Always with his own drawings. I have the ones that he sent to my son (the first grandchild ... 25 years ago) and found one that he never sent!!!! Now I want to scrapbook these for my son. HOW do I do this? Id like to scrapbook the originals, since I dont have a lot of room to keep originals AND scrapbooks.
As far as the pictures, I will be making copies so that I can do books for different members for the family.
My final question, is the toughest I think. and saddest:
My FIL and MIL both smoked like chimneys for 60+ years and the pictures smell horrid. Any suggestions? While I am making copies for the books I am giving to family members, I am selfish and keeping the originals in my scrapbook and then there is the book for my son with the story... BTW.., none of us smoke....

Thanking all of you wonderful people for your replies!
Living the life WAAAAY UPstate NY near the Canadian Border....
Robin
Aug '22 Lisn2cats

Not sure what to do about the smell - it's probably part of the paper now (just like how old books have that old-book-smell.

For the first part of your post, I have a bunch of newspaper clippings (back when kids on the honor roll were photographed/listed, farming news, etc.) and, like you, I wanted to use the actual clippings so I laminated then scrapped them (oh! maybe that will lock in the odors as well!).
Aug '22 Sewflake

What an interesting story and exciting but daunting task.
I had no idea where to begin until I read the end of your story.
The first thing I would have to do is try to get rid of some of that smoke smell…
Probably not an easy task as I have not had to deal with that particular issue.
The thing I would do is exposing items to outside air while keeping in mind the moisture and no direct sunlight.
I live in a humid climate and lots of rain particularly this year so not an easy task in my neck of the woods.

Start with the things you want to copy and spread them out may be in a garage or covered screened porch or even a room with open windows (close door to the rest of the house) for a few dry calm days.
For me I would have to think about the added moisture overnight if on a screened porch.

Then see how much of the smoke smell disappears.
It may be that 60 years of smoke will take more than a few days with the outside air.

Starting with the things you want to copy at least you will know fairly quickly if it's possible to get the smoke smell out enough to tolerate.
Aug '22 Grammy Fry

OH WOW! That is a good idea. Did you put the laminated piece inside the page protector or connect it to the outside so that they could be moved easily to be read?
Aug '22 Terry0773

I'll add a few thoughts. First, let me say I applaud what you are doing and wish you the best of luck in the endeavor. I agree put the items in some fresh air but away from light & moisture. If that doesn't work maybe a call to a local museum's curator would give you ideas to follow.
I'll address the rest especially the legal paper stories etc. I contracted to paper mills here in the NW for 30 + years and the one thing all paper has to have to be made is acid. When you buy archival papers for scrapbooking or now the newer books there is an agent that is added to the pulp that nuetralizes the acidity. So now you have these old things with acid paper. I would look on the market as there are products sold that will nuetralize those papers as well as glues used in the past.
The other thing I would do to preserve those precious photos (and I have done this to about 400 photographs) is I take a photo of the photo. I''m talking digital here so there are costs of film or developing. I have all those files stored in 3 spots on devices such as an external drive. To do this in the past, I took a chair outside, placed a piece of plywood with a nail in it on the chair. On the nail I put a large paper clip (those black things that hold 100 pg together). Then that clip holds the photo while I use a tripod & camera to capture the photo of a photo. I had to do this because the photos I was doing belonged to cousins etc and had to be mailed back.
Just my ideas.... good luck!
Aug '22 Lisn2cats

RE: Grammy Fry: OH WOW! That is a good idea. Did you put the laminated piece inside the page protector or connect it to the outside so that they could be moved easily to be read?

I've done both (I use brads to attach the LO page to make sure they stay put). If you attach to the outside (page protector), you could attach several with a large brad so they "swing" if the story is multi-pages.
Aug '22 Grammy Fry

So far these are amazing ideas and I thank you for the replies. I am going to look into the museum option. I will also see if my husband or my children can help with taking photos of the photos as I have MS and can't get up on chairs like was described, but that would be a great way to do this. All in all, some good things to try to start. I will keep you posted on my status, and maybe if I get brave, I might even post a layout as I go. If anyone else has any suggestions. I would LOVE to hear them!!!
Aug '22 Carrie640

I, too, had a TON of older pictures once my grandma died. There were original newspaper clippings, marriage records, etc. I do not like using any originals as they are fragile. I scanned everything and then printed the newspaper clippings out and sent the picture scans to Walgreens for prints. I just don't think any original would hold up well in a scrapbook page layout, but maybe it just depends upon how you are doing them. I am a decorative type...I hot glue. I ink. I just don't use adhesive to put things on paper for simple displays. I felt the scans on newer paper/prints would hold up much better in my case. My originals are in a photo case that can be snatched at Hobby Lobby/Michael's/etc. The case has small cases on the inside....it keeps them neat, organized, and all kept together. The documents, on the other hand, are a different story. Some options I have done are putting them in my grandma's Bible and framing and displaying (I have my great-great grandfather's original civil war papers). I like the idea someone mentioned above about laminating, too.
Aug '22 Dawna.s Place

I too was gifted my family photos and have a few thoughts to share. Photos and articles, I scanned all of these to digitize everything and placed all the originals into one large plastic tote with a lid that fit under my bed. For the smell, before you digitize, use a large tote and line it with cat litter, add a layer of paper over the cat litter and place all your photos on top of the paper for about a week. Be sure to close the tote with a sealed top. The litter should pull the smell out of the paper. Then digitize and use your copies for scrapping. Any time I have an oder problem, I have successful used new cat litter to pull the smell out, works wonders. Keep in cool dry place thought out the process. Wishing you the best of luck.
Aug '22 Sewflake

I had not heard of or thought to use cat litter to extract smells. What a terrific idea.

I don't worry about keeping original photos as not many (in my family) have an interest in old photos especially when/if there is no background information. Then the articles/pictures memorabilia need to be at least 100 years old for (small town) historical society to get excited about.
My sister is taking photos articles and memorabilia to our home town this week that pertain to past events. To make a long story short I use the originals for my books and let anybody that keeps them for 100 years deal with it.

I wasn't blessed with being gifted With a lot of heritage things that had any information coming with it.
Aug '22 Lisn2cats

RE: Dawna.s Place: I too was gifted my family photos and have a few thoughts to share. Photos and articles, I scanned all of these to digitize everything and placed all the originals into one large plastic tote with a lid that fit under my bed. For the smell, before you digitize, use a large tote and line it with cat litter, add a layer of paper over the cat litter and place all your photos on top of the paper for...

I wonder if baking soda would work (cheaper than litter...unless you have a cat (and make sure your cat understand it's not to be used while photos are still in the bin)). Never thought of litter - what a great idea!
Aug '22 Bootsie

I know cat litter draws out moisture, we put pie plates full of litter in our travel trailer for the winter so I think it may draw the smoke smell out of your photos. Good luck with your heritage adventure! Looking forward to seeing a layout or two.
Aug '22 Grammy Fry

I am in awe of all of the suggestions. My sister suggested I use some activated charcoal, and I happened to have some of that. I took all the capsules apart and put the powder in a ziplock baggie, and cut it off to expose it. Right now the pictures are in a cardboard box (she suggested that cardboard also absorbs smells) and I am going to try this for a couple of days to see what happens. Only basically, because I have it right here. If it does not work, I am going to try the cat litter. That sounds promising. I thank everyone once again for your input. I now am looking forward to sharing what I come up with. I know that I will not have a theme for the entire book, or set color for each layout. I tend to be a fly by the seat of my pants kind of gal and really need to have the pictures tell me what they need to have to go with each layout. Some might be brown hues, some black and white, and yet others, might request color.... but each will undoubtedly get the utmost care and love they deserve.