I have letters from almost 15years ago. What's the best way to digitize them.
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Posted 2 years ago #
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I can't answer your question because I am not tech-savvy (I would guess you need to scan then save to disk).
Do you plan to then throw out the hard copies? Assuming you still have them for sentimental reasons, I don't think you'd be sorry if you held on to them.
When my Mom passed away a few years ago, I was so grateful to find a bunch of letters I wrote her while in college. Especially since I sent my first off to college this year - I appreciated the glimpse into my own past at that age. Unfortunately I will not have the same to pass on to my own children, as they don't write letters. I barely have emails - we communicate via phone, text, skype. ("Technology giveth, and technology taketh away" <<--- one of my mantras)
Also, I recently came across a shoe box full of letters I exchanged with a friend while she lived in England for a few years, and we each had our first and second children during that time. I treasure these letters now. I don't think I would tend to re-read them on a computer monitor, it's just not the same.
Back in HS my BFF (did I really just use that?) and I passed notes to each other every day in the hallway, bearing our hearts and souls. We each kept those "notes" sometimes 2+ pages of loose-leaf, until we decided after graduation to give each other the notes we had written (instead of received), figuring it better to have an account of our own lives during that time. Shortly after that I was purging all of my letters, notes from old BFs (there I go again), etc., and into the fireplace they went. I so wish I had them now.
So I am suggesting that even if you digitize them, save them as well.
Posted 2 years ago # -
There is a series of Unclutterer posts about this here: http://unclutterer.com/2007/04/20/paper-clutter-begone-part-1/
Fifteen years of letters sounds like a lot! I really like the idea of digitizing old letters--I have a large box of all the letters I exchanged throughout childhood and if I had the time, I would certainly consider this. I think your scanning strategy should depend on what you'd like to do with the digitized letters...
If you'd like to be able to share the letters with others, you should scan them in a common format that anyone can open if you email them the document. The most common would be .PDF, which most scanners can do for you. A .PDF is also nice because it can be printed out and the default settings are going to be to a conventional 8.5"x11" piece of paper. You would want to save the files in dedicated folders on your computer (perhaps even a folder for each sender, depending on how many you have), and you should use a common naming convention like sendername_date (e.g. "mary_8.1.07.pdf").
If you're interested in creating a "digital library" of your letters, perhaps as part of a family history project, you could use a more complex software program like MemoryMiner (http://www.memoryminer.com/). I'm not recommending this product--I haven't used it--but it might be worth exploring. I'm sure your local public library has books on this topic.
Regardless of the format of your scanned letters, be sure you plan to back up the files. I'm a librarian, and our philosophy is LOCKSS, or "Lots Of Copies Keep Stuff Safe." :-)
Posted 2 years ago #
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