With over 20 years of scanning photos into digital copies, Capture knows how important your memories are. Old photo albums and photographs contain your precious memories, lineage, and legacy. However, they are also prone to deterioration, fading, water damage, and take up a lot of space.

That’s why it’s a good idea to repurpose photo albums for other uses. That way, you can make good use of the photos, preserve the memories, and make space by discarding some of your vintage photo albums that are sitting around your home. Keep reading to learn 15 creative things you can do with old photo albums including reorganizing, creating gifts, framing them, using them for a family tree, and more.

 

15 Things You Can Do with Old Photo Albums

1. Reorganize the Photos
2. Digitize the Photos
3. Create a Scrapbook
4. Make a Story Book
5. Frame the Photos
6. Create a Family Tree
7. Share the Photos Online
8. Use the Photos for Research
9. Create a Memory Box
10. Use Photos for Art
11. Use Photos for Writing
12. Make a Collage
13. Donate the Photos to a Museum
14. Make DIY Gifts with Photos
15. Use the Photos for Reminiscing

 

1. Reorganize the Photos 

One simple solution for what to do with old photo albums is to reorganize them so they’re easier to enjoy and share. Instead of flipping through dozens of disorganized pictures, try arranging them chronologically, by person, or by occasion like holidays, birthdays, and vacations. 

Then, you can downsize, have an opportunity to look through your entire life, and get rid of the ones you don’t want anymore (or use them for one of the other creative ideas on our list!).

2. Digitize the Photos

If you’re wondering what to do with old photo albums and pictures, one of the best answers is to digitize them. By turning your old photographs into high-quality digital photos, you preserve retro memories for future generations to enjoy. This protects your vulnerable photos against water damage, fading, discoloration, and degrading. Plus, it makes it easy to share, organize, and store them on a computer or in the cloud.

While you can digitize photo albums yourself using a digital scanner, a professional photo album scanning service can preserve old photos albums in the highest possible quality. With Capture, you can use the first, and only, touchless photo album scanning service. That means we can preserve all the photos from old albums without anyone ever having to remove them and your satisfaction is 100% guaranteed.

 

3. Create a Scrapbook

Not sure what to do with old empty photo albums? Turn them into a scrapbook! A scrapbook album or memory book can be a great way to organize and repurpose your photos. You can include documents, dates, designs, and more to spruce up your photographs. For example, you can include vows or wedding invitations next to wedding photos or graduation photos of all your loved ones on the same page.

Plus, you can go with any aesthetic for your scrapbook or even use different styles for each section or page. You can even use a retro aesthetic to retain the vintage appearance of your old town photo albums, leather photo albums, and antique memories. There are lots of options you can use to cover photo albums including colorful, memorable, leather covers, and more.

 

4. Make a Story Book

Old photos tell a story and you can use photos of yourself or your loved ones to tell the story of your life or your family. Get creative with it and show how stories connect us and build your legacy. You can even fill in the blanks by writing about events that happened between the photographic timelines.

A storybook with pictures that tell the tale of your history can be a great family heirloom that you can then pass on to future generations. Plus, you can leave extra room for your ancestors to keep adding to it as the story lengthens, grows, and evolves. This can instantly turn your regular picture album into a keepsake scrapbook album.

 

5. Frame the Photos

Find all the best photos from your old-fashioned photo album and frame them to hang around your home or office. This repurposes them for daily enjoyment and adds some personal décor. You can also give framed photos as memorable gifts to loved ones.

Plus, it can be fun shopping for the right photo frame for each image. You can use a playful school-themed frame for a 4x6 photo of you as a kid or a romantic, luxurious frame for an anniversary photo.

 

6. Create a Family Tree

A family tree shows how we are connected to all our cousins, uncles, grandparents, and more. It’s also a nice way to show younger loved ones where they came from as the family expands. Use your photo books to create a visual family tree starting at the top with the antique photos and moving to the younger family.

This makes a keepsake that’s perfect for labeling any way you wish. Then, you can decorate it with your loved ones. If you want an option that involves fewer DIY crafts, then you can find framed family trees on Amazon. If you’ve been wondering what to do with old family photo albums, this is one of the most heartfelt options available.

 

7. Share the Photos Online

If you want to downsize your photo gallery & album collection, then simply share photos with your loved ones. Organize them by the people in them so you know who to give them to. Sharing family photo albums is a great way to preserve them without them taking up all your personal space.

If you create digital images first, then you can share them with anyone, anywhere using social media or email. Additionally, that means you no longer have to worry about what kind of photo album is best for old photos because the images will be preserved in their current condition. Many people choose to convert photographs to digital before distributing them to family, which also helps with organization and long-term storage.

 

8. Use the Photos for Research

Old photographs are a great primary source that can help you retrace your ancestry. With the right resources, you can find where photos were taken, who else is in them, and the era that they came from.

Finding genealogical clues can be a lot of fun too! You can learn more about your history and the things you have in common with your relatives. In many cases, researchers are surprised by how much they can learn by studying a photo based on the type of photo and paper, clothing and hairstyles, and other information.

 

9. Create a Memory Box

One creative idea for what to do with old photo albums and pictures is to turn them into a memory box. A memory box is a container that holds all the things that are special to you. This could be collectibles, favorite music, old letters, and, of course, photos. This is an easy way to downsize from huge leather photo albums and repurpose them into something priceless. Make sure you use acid-free photo storage options to ensure your old books and memories are kept in great condition.

You can even make a time capsule memory box that you aren’t allowed to open or look at for 10 years. That’s a lot of fun and can be turned into a family event when the day finally arrives. Try adding a newspaper, hobbies, or other items that signify the current or past culture.

 

10. Use Photos for Art

One of the most creative things you can do with old photo albums is to turn them into works of art. You can make jewelry with portraits, create a photo wall, or even add your own color by painting or drawing on the photos themselves.

One easy idea is to create a poster out of large photo album pages that you can hang in your home so you can always enjoy the memories instead of locking them away. You can also repurpose photos into keepsakes, decorative displays, dioramas, and more.

 

11. Use Photos for Writing

Lots of people use photos as a jumping point for writing fiction or journaling. They basically act as a prompt so you can write about the event or person in the photo. Whether you want to create a fictional story about the photos or write about the memories themselves as a journal, it can be a lot of fun.

You can even write poetry about the people, places, and situations found in vintage photo albums. This can be a great way to heal after losing a loved one or simply reminiscence on your most precious memories.

 

12. Make a Collage

A collage art is a great way to visually interpret your photos and turn them into something new, unique, and personal. You can do this with physical or digital images to create an entirely new picture or idea. Collages can be symbolic of all the things that make up your life, told in a visually appealing way that brightens a room.

If you want to create a unified image out of dozens or hundreds of photos, then start with organizing them by color. You can also add other items, documents, drawings, paintings, and anything else to turn them into something truly original.

 

13. Donate the Photos to a Museum

When considering what to do with old photo albums and pictures, donating them to a museum or historical society is a meaningful option. While it’s unlikely that the Smithsonian will want your pictures from 2010, you’d be surprised how many museums and historical societies would love to have your images. That’s because photos are a primary source that can be valuable for research, display, family history, and more. 

This is especially true for local museums and historical organizations because they study the same area where you and your family planted roots. Even if you don’t think your old photos contain anything significant, give them a call just to make sure, especially if you don’t plan on keeping the photos yourself.

 

 

14. Make DIY Gifts with Photos

You can turn your photograph album and storage boxes full of old photos to create fantastic gifts. Or you can use a service to turn photos into coffee mugs, blankets, or templates for scrapbooking.

A DIY gift doesn’t have to be complicated. You can simply add wedding photos together to create a wedding album or glue photos to paper pages to create a personalized greeting card. Maybe try adding some of the best photos to a ring binder along with pressed flowers, letters, and more for a priceless keepsake gift. The best gifts come from the heart and photos are a perfect way to do so.

15. Use the Photos for Reminiscing

Reminiscing over old photos can be enjoyable and spark emotional connections, conversations, and memories. Start looking at your old photographic albums again. You may discover they mean more to you than you realize.

Try to think of all the events and situations from the day the photos were taken. Do you remember what you were doing? Other events that happened? Why was the photo taken? You may not have thought about some great experiences in years, but reminiscing can be a wonderful experience.

Preserving and Repurposing Old Family Photo Albums

There are lots of things you can do with old photo albums, whether you want to downsize, preserve, or simply enjoy family photos you haven’t seen in years. You can make a scrapbook, gifts, collages, and other arts and crafts. You may even enjoy using antique photos for family history research or donating to a museum.

Regardless of what you want to do with your photo albums, we recommend preserving them as digital photos first to keep them in the current condition, ensure future generations can view them, and make it easier to share and organize photo books. Companies that digitize photos, like Capture, can help you get started quickly and easily, especially if you’re looking for quality and care.