Eva, I think that you have to triage. From what you said, the single most critical issue is that the one person who can identify the people and places in the photographs is about to die. As much as it would feel good to get organized, the photographs will still be in existence next year. Archiving issues can be approached then. If you put the archiving issues first, you risk losing identification. You risk losing that forever. I wouldn't be above taking the oldest photographs first and bringing them to your grandfather and all of his children and asking who is in them. Their memories will provide stories. Make sure to record them. The new smartphones will permit you to photograph the photographs and record the conversations as you go. In 1984, the photographs and old family keepsakes of both sets of my grandparents were divided up. Ruthlessly cut into five piles and sent out to my and my cousins and siblings. The five of us immediately photocopied our piles. I gathered all five photocopied piles into one complete set and then made four more complete sets. Back they went. Digital technology has changed how you might do that now, but we have two things going on. One is the splintering of the complete set of photographs. The other is the duplication so that we all have that information for ourselves and our own children. Digital technology, especially in regards to photographs, will be very helpful for you in this task. I just wanted to state that I think the focus should be on using the photographs to spark conversations with your grandfather and his children. I know from personal experience how comforting it is to organize and clean when these big issues of impending loss come up. I remember that the day my mother died I cleaned her kitchen. It was my mother's kitchen and if ever there was a room that didn't need cleaning, it would have been my mother's kitchen. However, it was comforting to me to wipe down those counters. Yours, Barbara