Make & keep
Catalogue a collection of photobooth strips
An original record template for a box that has become difficult to navigate.
Once a handful of strips becomes a boxful, memory alone stops being a reliable index. A simple catalogue can connect each object to the people, places and digital copies you have already identified.
Give each object a stable reference
Use an identifier that does not change when you discover a new date. Our example is strip-001: the object reference stays stable while its description improves. Give the front, reverse and album-context images that shared identifier, followed by a suffix explaining which view each file contains.
Use a compact record
Our template fields are reference, measured size, frame count, known names, date or range, location, inscriptions, original container, condition and digital file names. Add an evidence note for identities and dates. Describe a crease or stain in ordinary language rather than trying to diagnose a photographic process from appearance alone.
Run a retrieval test
Choose one strip at random and try to locate its record and both digital sides without relying on your memory. Then start from a catalogue entry and find the physical object. If either route fails, fix that naming or storage link before cataloguing the next large batch. The catalogue should help you use the collection, not merely describe it.