Collaborative memory book: collect memories online
Create a collaborative memory book with photos, memories and recordings from several people. Plan the collection, review pages and choose how to share it.
Start with 40 pages free. No card needed.
A collaborative memory book collects different people's accounts of one person or time. It needs a named organiser, a defined audience and a finish date as much as it needs photographs.
Use an online collection when contributors live apart or have material in different formats. A spoken memory can sit beside a scanned letter and a photograph on the same digital spread.
In tbf scrapbook, guests send contributions without an account. They can also make a private page when the organiser reserves one. The owner reviews submissions before they enter the book.
See also: how a collaborative scrapbook works, a birthday book from friends and family, a collaborative retirement scrapbook, the memory book maker, Start a shared memory book.
Collect the memories in one book
Start a collaborative memory book, send the contribution link and review each person's photos, words or recordings. Make a memory book online.
Start with 40 pages free. No card needed. Plans and prices.
Questions to send with the invitation link
- What is the first thing you remember about them?
- Which day with them would you live again?
- What did they always say, and when did they say it?
- What did they teach you without meaning to?
- Which photo of them do you keep, and why that one?
- What would somebody who never met them need to know?
- What did they do that nobody else noticed?
- Which place do you picture them in?
Choose the shape of the memory book
For a birthday or retirement, group contributions by parts of the person's life. For a shared event, arrange them by what happened. Date order works only when the dates are known.
Leave room for the person who has no photograph. Their own words or a recording can have a full page, rather than appearing as a footnote to somebody else's pictures.
Make a request people can answer
Ask for one memory and, if they have one, a photo. Include the closing date, who will read the book and whether it may be printed. Offer a voice recording as another way to contribute.
Use a question from the list above if someone wants help choosing a memory. Let them write or speak in their own way. Do not send a finished message for everyone to copy.
Collect memories after someone has died
Let the family choose whether to collect before a gathering, afterwards or over several weeks. Participation is optional. Do not make a short deadline another task a bereaved person has to carry.
Choose one organiser to check names, dates and photographs with the family. Ask before reading a contribution aloud or including it in a wider memorial page.
Make room for people outside the first circle
A neighbour or former colleague may have material the immediate family has never seen. Ask one contact in each circle to pass on the invitation with the same audience and deadline.
Keep contact details in the organiser's private register. The finished pages need the contributor's chosen name and relationship, not their address or email.
Choose what each household receives
A reading link lets the group see the finished digital edition. Paid plans also provide a PDF and an editable download with original media. Check the files before treating them as your retained copy.
Printing is a separate order after the proof. Recordings need a digital copy or a supported printed code. Check hosting dates before promising that a link or code will work indefinitely.
Steps
Define the book
Write down the person or period, the intended readers and the handover date. Agree who has the final say on sensitive material.
Invite the different circles
Ask a contact in each family, friendship or work circle to pass on the collection link. Record invitations privately so you can see whose material is missing.
Build and check the pages
Keep each memory with its author. Confirm uncertain dates and ask before shortening a contribution to fit.
Share a checked edition
Test the reading link on a second device. Download the paid formats you want to retain, and inspect a print proof before ordering.
Questions
What is a collaborative memory book?
It is one book made from several people's photographs and personal accounts. An organiser gathers and reviews the material, while contributors retain their own words.
Can someone contribute a voice recording?
Yes. tbf scrapbook accepts audio and video as well as photographs and words. Keep a digital version for playback and check the terms for any printed recording code.
Does every contributor need to design a page?
No. People can send individual items for the organiser to arrange. Reserved private pages are an option for contributors who want to design their own part.