Photos

[Thyra]

OC has mentioned losing all her photos in a flood and that is so sad. I have a rather different problem. I must have thousands of photos and slides I sort of inherited and worse yet, many of them I can’t identify who the people are in the photos or where they were taken. I have had two husbands, who are now deceased, and they were both avid photographers. Not only that, but with them came their parents photo’s and slides. They go back another generation, most of who I never met. My own parents are both dead so I can’t question them about the photos I have from my side of the family. My current husband came with hundreds of slides, plus photos, some of which he has no idea how he acquired.

What I am finding is I no longer have any source of information and if I don’t know who is in a photo or what its about, my kids certainly aren’t going to know and actually I doubt they are going to care. None of them have shown any interest in genealogy. The dilemma is what to do with all the photos, slides and negatives. I personally have a problem tossing them - I don’t understand why - but I will say I have a lot of storage room devoted to a whole lot of boxes that some one else will have to deal with eventually!!

 

[FishDad]

Don't throw them out. Some day one of your kids/ grandkids might suprise you with interest in researching their geneology and those photos could prove to be a valuable resource for them.

My grandmother saved everything related to our family heritage, including family stories and notable mentions. I'm one of about 30 some grandkids and the only one who took serious interest in exploring her volumes of photos and information. Well usiing what she preserved I was able to take my direct (child to parent) lineage all the way back to the 900's to my 24th great grandfather, Gitto de Leon. Plus relations to a suprising amount of historicaly important people, for example Henry VIII is my second cousin 14x removed.

None of that research would have happened w/o my grandmothers forsight, which I passionatly am thankful for. My plan is to compile my family geneology into a printed story book form so my kids can (hopefully) have the same appreciation is the same spirit as my grandmother. Don't throw them away!

 

[Newman]

I bet I could trace my lineage to some Tzar in Russia. lol True Story.
And yea don't throw them away.

 

[FishDad]

You should try!

 

[Newman]

haha it would be insanely difficult, especially since its just a rumor in my family as far as I'm concerned (I don't believe it )

 

[arcab4]

keep them! they might get interested in it later and find out all this other info that you might not have known. those are things that you can never get back if tossed.

 

[FishDad]

haha it would be insanely difficult, especially since its just a rumor in my family as far as I'm concerned (I don't believe it )

Its not as hard as you might think if you're familiar with ancestry.com. I was able to confirm a lot of family stories through that website.

 

[Thyra]

I have learned a couple of things. It is helpful if people write something on the back of pictures - even a date. Scenery pictures without people mean almost nothing years later, nor do pictures of airplanes, particularly if they are flying. Fireworks are another thing - they need to be enjoyed in person. Those are the kind of pictures I wish I could toss, but I still hesitate. Over the years I have made several attempts at organizing and downsizing, but mostly it has been futile. I even have a hard time tossing the slides that are moldy! (And I am sure glad slides are a thing of the past - they are so hard to work with!) I have managed to make about a dozen albums. I will say that albums work better than CDs or Videos, because people can pick them up and look at them any time. Although kind of spendy, Shutterfly has worked well, but it was very time consuming because I had to scan prints, slides and even negatives. Now days with the digital cameras it would be a lot easier. The other thing I have done is use those shoe box like things you can buy to store photos and I organized them by date the best I could - many had a date stamp, but again that is just the ones from my generation and family.

 

[OrangeCones]

If you have access to one, I would scan them. Then you could toss the bulk of photos and keep the images for the future. That's what I wish I had done.

 

[Thyra]

I have already scanned hundreds of slides, b&w negatives and prints. The slides and B&W negatives are very time consuming. On the old negatives I wasn't even sure what was there in some cases until after I scanned it and then realized I didn't even know who the people were or recognized where they were taken. I sometimes resorted to a magnifying glass and car licenses trying to find clues. Sometimes it was worth it, but many times it was a waste of time. I have no relatives left to refer to questions to - I waited too long. Distance was also a problem - I moved west when I was 18, the rest of the relatives stayed in Wisconsin and with the exception of my parents, I seldom saw them.