Nostalgia - Family Archive

For Family Historians

Restore one meaningful photo. Then finish the family archive.

Keep your tree in Ancestry, MyHeritage, FamilySearch, RootsMagic, FamilyEcho, Family Tree Maker, or Gramps. Use Nostalgia for the photo work around it: careful repair, likeness review, names and notes, and private sharing for relatives.

Private by designRestoration is the first winBuilt for inherited collections
Restore a Photo FreeRead the Scanning Guide

Free tier covers 10 restores a month. No credit card. Web is live today; iPhone is on the App Store, and Android is rolling out through Google Play testing.

Same ambrotype restored with dramatically recovered contrast and detailRestored
Faded Civil War era ambrotype of a young soldier in ornate caseOriginal

Repair first, keep the archival master, add color only when it helps tell the story.

Works alongside your tree

Keep your tree where it lives. Bring the photos here.

Ancestry, MyHeritage, and FamilySearch are good at names, records, DNA, and relationships. Nostalgia is for the part of family history most tools skip: the photos themselves.

Your tree software handlesNostalgia handles
Names, dates, relationships, and recordsThe photos attached to those names — scan quality, damage repair, and likeness preservation
DNA matches, hints, and tree-building suggestionsCaption drafts, tags, and era estimates that help you write down the photo context you already know
Formal citations and source documentsPrivate links for individual keepers and paid Family Vaults for branch-level sharing

The result: photos that still look like your ancestors, captions that survive the next generation, and an archive relatives can actually open.

Boundary: your tree software remains the source of names, records, DNA, and formal relationships. Nostalgia keeps the photo side organized around that work without becoming another tree editor.

Likeness is the whole point

A portrait that doesn't look like the person isn't a restoration.

General-purpose AI enhancers were built for selfies. Pointed at a great-grandmother, they happily smooth her face into someone who isn't quite her. Nostalgia is designed the other way around: repair what's broken, preserve what's real, and keep the likeness that lets you recognize the person on your tree.

  • Restore-first approach — damage is repaired before any stylistic step so facial character survives
  • Photo Insight ranks every recommended edit as safe, optional, or blocked for the specific photo in front of you
  • The restored black-and-white master is kept alongside any colorized companion view — not replaced by it
Same photo restored with cleaner detail and balanced toneRestored
Black and white photo of a grandfather and young grandchild on front stepsOriginal

Restored view keeps the original tonality. Colorization is a separate, optional companion view.

Private by design

Your family's photos stay yours.

Never used to train AI

Your uploads and restored outputs are not part of any training dataset. Human review is limited to safety or support cases you raise.

You own what you upload

Original scans and restored versions stay yours. Export or delete the full archive at any time.

Private by default

Private links are off unless you turn them on. Paid Family Vaults are invite-only spaces for relatives.

Details in the Privacy Policy and AI Policy.

Archive workflow

A practical workflow for inherited photos.

The goal is not to finish everything at once. Start with the photos that need names or repair first, then build a repeatable rhythm for the rest.

  1. Triage before you digitize

    Sort the shoebox into priority people, priority events, and everything else. Scan the first two stacks first so the collection becomes a manageable queue.

  2. Scan front and back at archival quality

    Use 600 DPI on a flatbed when possible, or Google PhotoScan on a phone. Capture the reverse of every print when handwriting, dates, or places are present.

  3. Restore carefully, then stop

    Start with a Photo Insight recommendation. Compare before and after. Accept the Keeper when the likeness is right. Color is a companion view, not a mandatory final step.

  4. Caption while memory is fresh

    Edit the caption draft with real names, tag the people you recognize, and add Who, When, Where, What, and Story notes while the details are easy to confirm.

  5. Share branch by branch

    Use private links for a single keeper, or paid Family Vaults for invite-only branch spaces where relatives can browse and contribute.

Next steps

Choose the help you need before you upload.

Scan the first stack well600 DPI, phone capture tips, and how to capture the back of a print.Bring photos out of a treeHow to work from Ancestry or MyHeritage while keeping your tree where it is.Set expectations with examplesReal before-and-after restorations before you try an ancestor portrait.
Start with one photo

Try it on an ancestor portrait. Add the rest of the archive only if it earns your trust.

If you're ready to try a photo

Web is live and free to start. One portrait, one restore, see whether the likeness holds up.

Restore a Photo Free

Want the broader story? Go back to the homepage.

Restore One Ancestor Photo, Then Finish the Family Archive · Nostalgia - Family Archive