What Is a Legacy Book?
A legacy book is a personalized and meaningful way to immortalize your family history, memories, and stories and preserve them for future generations. It is a printed and/or digital book that showcases your digitized collection of photos, documents, letters, interviews, and often written stories that give context to your legacy. A legacy book can be a great heirloom piece that can be passed on to future generations or a gift for your loved ones.
Why Create a Legacy Book?
Creating a legacy book can have many benefits, such as:
- Enriching the lives of present and future generations by transferring values, stories, and memories
- Organizing and curating your digital collection
- Transforming your digital materials into a tangible form – in some cases, this is more accessible and enjoyable
- Documenting and celebrating your family history, culture, traditions, and values
- Serving as a guiding light for your family, providing continuity, connection, and pride in your family history
- Honoring the past and celebrating the core values and principles of your family, celebrating your ancestors
- Expressing your creativity and personality
- Connecting and communicating with your family and friends to share memories and insights
How to Create a Legacy Book
Creating a legacy book can be a fun and rewarding project, but it can also be challenging and time-consuming. Here are some steps and tips to help you create a legacy book that you can be proud of.
Step 1: Define your purpose and audience. Think about why you want to create a legacy book, and who you want to share it with. This will help you decide on the theme, tone, style, and format of your book.
Step 2: Select and organize your digitized collection. Choose the materials that best illustrate your theme and story and arrange them in a logical order. You can use folders, labels, tags, or metadata to help you sort and categorize your collection.
Step 3: Write and edit your content. Add captions, titles, headings, and text to your materials, and make sure they are clear, accurate, and consistent. You can include stories, interviews, quotes, anecdotes, and other information that add context and meaning to your collection. Consider stories told at every reunion as well as hidden moments of healing, resilience, triumph, as well as the traditions and wisdom shared by your family.
Step 4: Design and layout your book. Choose a platform or service that suits your needs and preferences, and create a layout that is attractive, readable, and balanced. You can use templates, tools, or professionals to help you with the design and layout of your book.
Step 5: Print or publish your book. Depending on your chosen platform or service, you can print or publish your book in various formats, such as hardcover, paperback, ebook, or web page. You can also choose the quality, size, and quantity of your book. When choosing, consider that this book can serve as an heirloom, a vessel of memory that can be passed down through generations.
What Are Some Options for Creating a Legacy Book?
There are many options for creating a legacy book, ranging from the basic to the bespoke. Here are some examples:
- A basic option is to use a service like Shutterfly, where you can plug your images and text into a layout and print your book in various formats and sizes. This is the most “DIY”er friendly option, as these services are built for user experience and have a “What You See is What You Get” approach to building a book.
- A more advanced option is to use software like Adobe InDesign, where you can create a custom layout and design, and export your book in various formats and sizes. This may be inaccessible for anyone without training in the software and presents an additional variable in working with a book printer who may have specific requirements for print files, resolution, and print run.
- A more bespoke option is to hire a designer or publisher, who can use your images and text to create a layout and design that is customized to tell your legacy story and print or publish your book in various formats and sizes. In addition to providing quality digital files, Anderson Archival offers this service in house – adding yet another option to the “one stop shop” concierge-style service you’ll find from us.
What Are Some Tips for Creating a High-Quality Legacy Book?
Here are some tips to help you create a high-quality legacy book that reflects your digitized collection and your legacy story:
- A printed book can only ever be as good of quality as the images going in, so it is important to capture images using high resolution, attention to file format, color fidelity, and quality assurance.
- Choose the right team to do the job right. Instead of putting time, money, and effort behind a poor-quality project you’ll need to re-do, look for a team that holds expertise and experience to create exactly what you need. A professional-looking legacy book is not out of reach!
- Don’t limit your legacy book to photos and digital images. A legacy book is also a great way to combine stories, interviews, and primary source documents with other material like photos to empower and enrich the lives of present and future generations.
What Else Can Be Done with Digitized Legacy Collections?
If a printed (or digital) legacy book isn’t quite the form you see your family legacy collection taking, there are many more options to consider.
- Alternatives to a physical book (though physical books are great heirloom pieces that can be passed on) could include a family digital repository. The more customized end of this could include things like a graphical timeline, or a web page laid out with galleries and text.
This private (or public) digital library can serve as a central point where all family materials are stored. It also safeguards and stewards your full family history for generations to come.
- A popular use of digitized collections is to create reprints. This is an easy way to distribute prized pieces of the family collection for keepsake or for display, without risking damage to the originals.
- Organizations like Story on Purpose love including digitized collection pieces to add depth and illustration to their family legacy video documentaries. What better way to accompany a story about the generation of the family hair product business than to showcase a digitized film clip of the first time the family patriarch whipped out his scissors for a trim?
How Can Anderson Archival Help You Create a Legacy Book?
Anderson Archival is a digital preservation and archiving company that can help you create a legacy book that showcases your digitized collection and your legacy story. We can help you with:
- Digitizing your collection of photos, documents, letters, and other materials, using high-quality scanners, cameras, and software.
- Organizing and curating your digitized collection, using metadata, tags, labels, and folders.
- Writing and editing your content, using professional writers, editors, and historians.
- Designing and laying out your book, using professional designers, publishers, and software.
- Printing or publishing your book, using various formats, sizes, and quality options.
If you are interested in creating a legacy book with Anderson Archival, please contact us today. We would love to hear your story and help you preserve and share it with the world.
