Taking photographs of your family as they grow and change over the years tends to be part of the family experience in America. Photographs are also taken of special events that involve family members, such as birthday parties, graduations, and weddings; especially when the family travels and visits exotic locales. It does not take long for the family photographer to realize that he or she is in the possession of thousands of photographs and while this is a lovely way to remember all of those happy times, it can be problematic to find an organized way to store all of those pictures. There are, however, many different types of archival photo storage available, which includes archival photo boxes, archival print storage, crystal clear bags and print sleeves to help you bring order to the chaos that is now your collection of family photos.

Archival photo storage is always the best way to go when it comes to preserving family pictures. This simply means that the materials used in the construction of the particular archival print storage solutions contain no acids, which are produced by paper products and over time can damage and discolor the delicate surface of your photos. By storing the pictures in archival photo storage, you remove one hazard to the pictures' longevity over time.

If you have a large number of photographs, one easy way to get started is to get several archival photo boxes. You can assign archival photo boxes to particular family members or sort the photographs by year or by special events. The archival photo boxes can also be labeled on the outside, so it will be very easy to figure out where particular photographs are in the future.

Another way to provide archival print storage to individual photographs is to invest is some crystal clear bags. The bags allow you to handle the photographs without damaging the surface from oils that are on the skin getting on the photo surface. Better bags have a little flap on the top or side that attaches to the back of the bag with adhesive, so the photograph is easily secured inside the bag.

If you like to sort your photographs into albums, then you will want to have plenty of plastic sleeves on hand. The photos get placed either on the top or the side of the sleeve opening, and these sleeves provide a very inexpensive way to sort through your photos and place them in albums while providing yet another customized organization solution for your family pictures.