How to Start a Private Family Archive (In a Weekend)

You don’t need a museum to preserve a legacy — just a calm plan, the right labels, and a private hub your family actually uses.

Step 1 — Gather the starter set

• Pick 30–50 meaningful photos across years (not everything)
• Add 1–3 voice notes — a welcome message, a favorite story, a recipe
• Collect dates and names for each item where possible

Step 2 — Create a private home

• Tree first: Add yourself, parents, and grandparents for orientation
• Private workspace: Start with a small trusted group
• Permissions: Keep posts private by default inside the family workspace

Step 3 — Upload with structure

• Write who, where, and when into every caption
• Give each person in the Family Tree a profile photo and a line of notes
• Use Memory Lane for a chronological view

Step 4 — Add context with short posts

Use Family Announcements for milestones. Write 3–5 lines explaining the moment, add location, then attach media.

Step 5 — Let the digests do the chasing

• Recaps: Kunbaa writes each relative a short recap of what they missed, so you don't have to announce every upload
• Read-only: the digest summarises and nothing more — every post and photo is added by a person
• Free for everyone: digests are included on every plan, free tier included

Bonus — Bring genealogy data

Already researching on MyHeritage, Ancestry, or FamilySearch? Use verified notes to manually build the relatives and living stories you want in Kunbaa.

Weekly habit to keep it alive

• 10 minutes every Sunday: 3 photos + 1 note
• One new voice note per month from an elder or teen
• Quarterly: curate highlights into a shared recap