The shoebox intake and handback checklist

At the client's home, before anything moves

• Count and photograph every containerPhotograph each box, bin and album stack where it sits, with a written count. Good looks like a numbered photo set you could hand to an insurer without explanation.
• Write down the condition of the worst itemsNote adhesive album pages, curled slides, mold smell, water staining and anything already torn. Specific beats general: page 4 of the green album, three prints stuck face to face.
• Agree in writing what will not be scannedDuplicates, blurred frames, scenery with no people, and any studio portrait you will not reproduce. Have her initial the exclusions so the count in your quote means something.
• Record who is allowed to make decisionsName one person who can approve exclusions, dates and identifications. Projects stall for weeks when three siblings each hold a veto and none of them holds the phone.
• Set the return date before you load the carPut a date in writing for the originals going back, not just for delivery of the files. Good looks like a date the client repeats back to you without hesitation.

Intake day at the studio

• Assign a project number and label every box with itOne project number, one box number per container, written on the box and in your record. Never rely on the client's own labeling, which is usually decades old and reused.
• Log each box to a shelf positionRecord where the box physically sits, down to the shelf and side. Good looks like being able to walk to any client's originals within a minute of the question.
• Photograph album pages before removing anythingShoot each page in place so sequence and captions survive disassembly. Album order is often the only surviving evidence of chronology in the whole collection.
• Separate fragile originals into a hold trayStuck prints, brittle slides, curled panoramas and anything mold touched go in a labeled tray for individual handling, never into a feeder run.
• Confirm the counted volume against your quoteCount a measured inch per box and extrapolate. If the real number is well past the estimate, raise it now rather than at invoice time.

Capture and batch control

• Number every batch and tie it to one boxA batch never mixes boxes. When a defect shows up two weeks later, the batch number tells you exactly which container to pull off the shelf.
• Check the first ten images of every batch at full sizeLook for roller marks, focus drift, crop clipping and color casts before the rest of the batch runs. Ten frames at the start saves rescanning hundreds later.
• Log rescans against the batch that caused themRecord what failed and why. A pattern across batches usually points at one setting or one worn part rather than at bad luck.
• Record dates as ranges when the back is blankUse a circa range you can defend from clothing, cars, processing codes or album position, and keep it separate from dates the family confirmed.
• Keep a running list of unidentified facesTrack the recurring stranger across batches so one phone call with the eldest relative can name her in every image at once.
• Embed metadata in the files, not only in the softwareWrite names, dates and captions into standard IPTC and EXIF fields so the work survives any future move to different software.

Handback and closing the project

• Return originals in the box order they arrived inRestore the original sequence and the original container unless the client asked for archival rehousing. Reordering someone's boxes without permission reads as damage to them.
• Walk the family index with the client before the final invoiceSit with her and search two or three names together. Every unanswered question surfaces here, when it is still cheap to fix.
• Reconcile counts on the recordBoxes in, images captured, images excluded, images rescanned, boxes returned. Good looks like five numbers that agree with the quote and the invoice.
• Get a signed receipt for the returned originalsA dated signature confirming every box came back closes your custody period cleanly. Keep it with the service agreement for the collection.
• Deliver the archive twice and say so in writingOne copy on media she keeps and one on a destination she controls. Tell her plainly that you are not her long term backup.