Preserve Family History: Review Genealogy Book Scanning Services

How often do you think about your old family photos and documents? People tend to forget to check on the physical remnants of their family's past, but not genealogy fans! If we’re being honest, some of our favorite customers here at Forever Studios are the ones who are passionate about genealogy, because it’s obvious we feel the same way about how important our family histories are.

As we both know, preserving history is essential for keeping your heritage alive for future generations. As the world becomes more technologically inclined, digitizing services like we offer here at FS are arguably the best way to safeguard such valuable information. Long story short, Forever Studios' genealogy book scanning service provides a practical, dependable, and affordable solution for making sure all your hard work stands the test of time.

This article outlines the importance of preserving family history and various companies that offer genealogy book scanning services. In the interest of fairness and honesty, I'll break down the pricing and quality of each company to help you determine who to trust.

This is just a standard photo book, but it's a great start to creating a genealogy project.

What is in a Genealogy Book?

Genealogy books and binders are more than just simple photo albums. They are an extensive collection of anything that can track a family tree. Old, often-times delicate and irreplaceable, genealogical materials (i.e. paper documents, artifacts, maps, historical records, and photos) create a timeline with names, dates, places, census records, etc.

THE BASIC INFO MOST GENEALOGY BOOKS CONTAIN

So I kind of already touched on this in the previous paragraph, but basic info has to be part of a genealogy. The family tree plotting out where everyone fits in relation to everyone else (every time I think of a family tree, I can't help but picture the Black family wallpaper from Harry Potter).

Significant dates like birth and death dates, marriage dates, etc. are also very important because most genealogy books are organized chronologically. Oh, and places! Humanity has an obsession with determining where we came from outside of American history (Guess what??? I'm one quarter Italian via my great grandad!).

PHOTOS AS PART OF A GENEALOGY PROJECT

In our tech obsessed age, digital photography is a great way to keep track of family events, but physical photos will gradually fade over time if they aren't properly preserved. Photos in genealogy books and binders can span the gamut from individual and family portraits to snapshots of daily life and (on a slightly more morbid note) post-mortem photography.

Photos are truly worth a thousand words because they provide a unique insight into history that written and verbal words can't convey. And most of the time, when we talk to a customer who has a bunch of photos connected to their genealogy work, they don’t quite know what to do with those photos.

Frankly, digitization is a must. And NOTHING is cooler than taking a bunch of damaged or faded historical photos and having them restored. The vast majority of genealogy enthusiasts don’t even know that photo restoration for genealogy projects is even a thing. But it is one of the coolest things you can do to add a new aspect to your research and preservation.

PRESERVING & RESTORING DOCUMENTS IN GENEALOGY PROJECTS

To be frank, documents is an all-encompassing umbrella term that can range from work and naturalization documents that are sensitive in nature to  deeds to homes and medical records. Documents don't necessarily have to be that "important." But generally speaking, documents provide primary information as to who someone was, and are going to comprise the biggest proportion of any genealogy project.

There are a number of concerns when it comes to documents for genealogy. For starters, a lot of the original documents are going to be old and one of a kind. Having these properly digitized is a MUST, and having them restored and reprinted is a really great idea. Of course, Forever Studios is able to reproduce any and all documents as well.

I didn't mention this in the article, but objects like this watch can be family artifacts. 

COMMON ARTIFACTS FOUND IN GENEALOGY WORK

Some might consider artifacts as part of the “documents" section of a genealogy project, but they generally have more of a personal feel to them like letters written by a far-flung ancestor or family recipes passed down through generations. Often-times these artifacts are sentimental. Other examples could be tickets to an event, dance cards, postcards, notes, newspaper clippings, etc.

Importance of Preserving Family History

Long-term preservation of family history isn't just about sentimentality but a necessary attempt to keep the past alive. Digital preservation, aka converting old media onto DVDs, flash drives, and cloud storage, protects the original records from physical deterioration, it also unlocks the door for future generations to explore their heritage without the constraints of outdated media, and also unlocks the ability to reproduce your genealogy work, or create something new and special from it.

Genealogy books are like windows into our ancestor's world. They shed light on those who lived before us, offering faces to names, stories, context, and an emotional connection to our lineage. You never really know what you'll find; it's a treasure trove of knowledge and information.

Aerial photographs of beautiful locales

Benefits of Genealogy Book Scanning

Whether it's a leather-bound family narrative or a binder of letters from a war era, scanning old documents and turning them into digital materials gives them a new life and makes them last for future generations.

EASIER ACCESSIBILITY TO COLLECTED MATERIALS

Diving into family history should not be like an archaeological dig. With professional conversion services, that oftentimes overwhelming amount of media will be easier to organize, search through, share, and understand as digital files.

PROTECTING AGAINST PHYSICAL DETERIORATION

The clock’s ticking for everything; nothing is made to last, but I'll tell you what will last longer than paper and ink... the internet. Digital images of photos and documents will maintain their visual beauty and crisp details long after the physical materials disintegrate. Oh, and any existing damage on the original image is easier to fix with photo editing software, whether you want to do it yourself, or have our team of restoration artists work on it.

Old photo books tear, wrinkle, and suffer from discoloration overtime.

Selecting the Right Genealogy Scanning Service

Many genealogy projects take years to compile historical materials, and that dedication should be respected. You put in the time, so you need a dependable company that understands the importance of the work you put in. Not every company is worth your time and money. In some really bad situations, if you don't choose the right company, they can ruin or lose your documents, photos, everything.

FamilySearch

FamilySearch Book Scanning digitizes mass genealogy scanning projects of family history, local history, journals (70+ years old), yearbooks, and maps. However, everything that is scanned becomes part of their online database. I can't be the only one who finds the concept of my entire family history being available online with an advanced search vaguely uncomfortable, but I digress. Once everything becomes digitized, your books are searchable via family names, locations, various subjects of interest, and other search terms. Think of it like this, it's a large FamilySearch family tree.

Digitizing at FamilySearch refers to scanning two pages of a genealogy book at once and transferring that new image to the online digital library. Scanning is free at FamilySearch, which is amazing, but they don't take the time and effort to scan each individual piece when digitizing books. FamilySearch does have rental flatbed scanners available for reservation, but preparing old photos and documents and scanning falls on you, the client/customer. 

FamilySearch centers are located in a wide variety of locales throughout the United States (but not Florida for my fellow Floridians), some areas of Canada, England, and even Norway. The centers are staffed by volunteers who use "special book scanning equipment." The FamilySearch library has quite a few services that will help anyone looking to build their genealogy knowledge. From online to in-person help, the family history department can guide interested individuals.

Family genealogy fan from FamilySearch

READER BEWARE: FAMILYSEARCH REVIEWS

Reviews about FamilySearch are unfortunately mainly negative on trustpilot.com. Some reviews expound on how they found a long lost great-great grandparent or details about their family they never knew, and if those are honest reviews, that's absolutely wonderful. 

So here's the sticker… a lot of the reviews claim that the data on the FamilySearch digital archives is wrong, incorrect, corrupted (you get the picture). Honestly, if it wasn't so sad it'd be funny. That doesn't necessarily have anything to do with their scanning services per say.

However, I'd like to point out that they're not the most trustworthy company (reader hint: I'm being very sarcastic). If you trust FamilySearch, your data will be in danger. Their online database is a public domain where almost anyone can access and add to. One review even claims someone stole her identity and was actively harassing people. That's literally my personal nightmare.

Everpresent

Oh goodness, Everpresent... their "Expert Fragile Book Scanning Service" doesn't outright say genealogy, but that is basically what they mean. I'll be direct with this particular company. They're not great by any means and I know this because I've already looked them up for their photo scanning services.

If you want to start a project with them, you have to either fill out a form or give them a call before you get any idea of how expensive their services are (the company is known for having a lot of hidden fees and being unreasonably pricey).

They say they do the same sort of cleaning and processing as Forever Studios, which is great, grand, and proper, but I already know that they have some issues. Their BBB business bureau profile is not stellar. The reviews there are full of accusations of hidden fees, missing media, and general discontent with the finished product.

Forever Studios

Forever Studios (located in Boca Raton, FL right off of Clint Moore Road) isn’t your average photo scanning company. We work with historical societies, so we’re held to a very high standard. A high standard that extends to every project and every customer. When it comes to genealogy book and binder scanning, we’ll create a digital duplication you'll be proud to share with the family. 

A great example of what we see at Forever Studios when we get genealogy binders. 

GENEALOGY BOOK REPRODUCTION

The genealogy book scanning process is a meticulous exercise in digital preservation. Many companies only focus on document or photo scanning, not genealogy books, as individual projects. Through mindful digitization techniques, only a few companies deliberately advertise that they handle historical records. Forever Studios is the only company I know of that can reproduce a one to one copy of genealogy books and binders. We also create full-custom hardbound, lay-flat books that make excellent heirlooms. Lastly, Forever Studios also offers professional old photo restoration service if you want your family genealogy photos to look perfect.

And I would know; I’ve personally worked on a few genealogy binder reproduction projects myself. It takes time, patience, and care to properly scan delicate and sensitive media (especially if they’re falling apart and crumbling off the metal binder rings). 

This is a good example of a reproduction genealogy binder that I created for previous clients.

PREPARATION OF MATERIALS

At Forever Studios, our extremely qualified technicians gingerly wipe each photo free of dust and place them on state-of-the-art scanners. Our attention to detail ensures that each and every scan comes out perfect.

Before the scans (and/or reproduction) is available for pick-up, drop-off, or delivery, the FS quality assurance team makes the final review to ensure that only pristine copies make the cut. Throughout the process, our customers will receive steady communication and updates from our concierge team.

Quality of Professional Scanning Services

Quality assurance in the scanning process is the linchpin at Forever Studios. We hire only trained experts to handle your beloved family histories. And our equipment is top-of-the-line so each scan is as accurate to the original as technologically possible. If you want to learn more, give us a call, walk in, or talk to us on chat and we'll be happy to start the next step of your genealogy project.

Final Thoughts

If you read this through, I'm sure you'd agree that there really is only one option. Reputable services differentiate themselves with dependability and convenience. They're the go-to experts trusted by your neighborhood historical society and affordable to boot. At Forever Studios, scanning is not just about simply transferring images and paper documents from one medium to another; it's about pursuing a museum-worthy replica of moments, documents, and histories which would otherwise be lost to time.