One of my priorities in retirement was to organize all the photos that filled a big antique pie safe in my house.

For three years I opened the doors of that cabinet every once in awhile, added new envelopes of photos, thought briefly that I should begin the project, realized that I had no idea how, closed the doors, and baked muffins instead.

Meanwhile, I reflected on the mishmash of my parents' photos in cardboard boxes crammed into a storage closet at my mother's retirement apartment, and I conversed with fellow retirees about the need to organize our old photos.

My friends all had different ideas about what they would do. One said her plan was to use albums. Another would divide her pictures, giving some to each of her children. Most said they would arrange the pictures sequentially. A friend had cut out photos of family members and pasted them onto background shots so he could display his family and the scenery together.

No one I talked to had tackled a whole cabinet like mine, full of photos stuffed into shoeboxes, envelopes, and plastic bags.

I was a librarian! I know how to organize! I have free time, and maybe I can figure this out and give some pointers to others!

Those were my thoughts as I typed a query into an Internet search: "How do I organize old photos?"

I received 987,000 results. Although many were advertisements, some gave me pointers to ponder.

The most prevalent instruction, besides using acid-free archival materials, was to find a large table to lay out all the photos, either chronologically or in categories.

"You don't understand!" I shouted at the computer. "I would need five conference room tables to lay out all my pictures!" (My husband, sitting nearby, raised an eyebrow but didn't comment; he understands yelling at inert media.)

One site, www.home-organizing-ideas.com, advised me to label each picture with names, dates, location, and event. This time I only muttered to myself, "If I remembered all that information, the job would be easy."

Finally, the consensus of the multitudes provided the tip that got me started. On www.wikihow.com/Organize-Your-Photos, I read, "Don't feel guilty about having unsorted photos. Lots of people do. Do get going and sort them."

I cleared a daybed and the floor of our guest room, closed the door, turned on some music, and started through the first box of pictures. Immediately, categories made more sense to me than chronological order. There were pictures of the kids from babyhood, pictures of them now with their families, photos of friends, vacations, my husband's side of the family, my side. It was fun. Time flew as I threw out blurry pictures, remembered people and events, and categorized each photo. The stacks grew.

That is not to say that the job was finished quickly. Oh, no. I spent an hour here and an hour there over several weeks. The picture room became stuffy because I had to keep the door shut so my cats wouldn't destroy the fragile structure of my tilting stacks. If I'd had overnight guests during those weeks, I would have put each stack into a bag and returned them to the pie safe. They would still be there today.

Fortune and focus paid off. One day, after my stacks were complete, I went to a craft store and purchased the same number of acid-free boxes as I had categories. I bought one larger box for the 5-by-7 and 8-by-10 photos in the collection.

At that point I again hesitated. The trick was to organize the photos within the categories. I had decided to arrange them chronologically. My reluctance to get started arose every time I pondered the fact that so few of the old pictures would be labeled with names and dates.

Gradually, however, each of my eight boxes took shape. I had dated many more photos than I remembered. Others fell into sequence from the apparent ages of the kids, locations, or even hairstyles. Photos from ancient torn albums were easy to disassemble, stack, and label with box dividers.

Finally I stacked the eight boxes onto the cleared shelves and stood back to admire them. Now I'm looking forward to taking photo trips down memory lane with my husband, children, and grandchildren.

Here are my main tips for organizing your photos:

• It cannot be done in one sitting. Find a place where you can leave stacks and work on them a little at a time.
  
• Have on hand a pen, scissors, a waste basket, and some tissues for when the nostalgia hits.
• Most important, just begin!

Now, there are those digital photos stored on my computer—and all the recipes I've been meaning to organize…

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