In the digital age, for the first time in human history, most images and textual information are no longer being preserved as physical objects. Instead, digital images and other records are stored as coded electronic files using the ever-changing technology of hard drives, servers, solid-state flash memory, CD's and DVD's, and cloud storage. Archivists refer to such text records and images as “machine-readable records,” which require very specific software and electronic hardware preserved with the digital records to enable future retrieval, viewing, printing, and other uses utilizing both current and as yet unknown future technologies. In contrast, photographic prints and photobooks are physical objects that require neither special hardware nor software to be viewed. Archivists call these “human-readable records.” We are living in a very exciting age where most people have a rich mix of both analog and digital records in their personal and family archives. This paper proposes a simplified, comprehensive approach to preserving analog photographs, movies, letters, and other documents in their original form, digitizing these records for posting on personal and family websites, Facebook, Frickr, and other online modes of sharing, and using these digital files for assembling photobooks, making prints of significant images, and for other purposes. At the same time, it is equally important to preserve these digital files of original analog materials together with more recent digitally-captured still photographs, videos, MP3 and other audio files – all in a simple but coordinated manner. One of the great benefits of digital technology is that for the first time in human history, it is now possible to produce “perfect” bit-replicated duplicates of images and videos and, at very low cost, to disperse them in multiple locations to greatly increase the likelihood of their long-term survival. Archivists refer to this as “redundant geographic separation.” Throughout the history of traditional analog photography – going back to the 1839 introduction of the Daguerreotype – the single “unique copy” nature of negatives, transparencies, and prints has always rendered them extremely vulnerable to damage or loss because of poor storage conditions (hot attics and damp basements), fires, floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, theft, war, cultural cleansing, and other calamities. Also discussed is a philosophical approach to collecting, managing, and preserving personal and family records – and organizing and making them accessible in a way that can be passed on to future generations.