disagree re journaling

Maybe I used the term 'worthless' in a too general of a sense. When you are talking about your own pictures or "family treasurers" and you are the kind of person who sees the "worth" or "value" of hanging onto your heritage then yes "every picture is of value." I work in a small county musuem and we get shoeboxes and manila envelopes of pictures all the time from people who have no ides about the when/where/why/who involved. They may have belonged to an aunt or a cousin or found in an attic of a house they recently bought. The pictures rarely have a name or any info anywhere. These people don't know what to do with them. To them they are 'worthless' so they bring them to me. Thank goodnes they don't just throw them away. Though I have had some people bring me boxes they found at an illegal dump site and even purchased at an auction in the area because they couldn't stand to see them tossed. I get all of the info I can from the person who brings in the pictures -who might have owned them, where exactly they were found, etc and then sort and store them in acid free boxes or storage albums and put them in storage at the museum. We keep an up-to-date list posted for people who come in to research. I have been doing this for the past fifteen years. It's a volunteer job I love! And yes, we do even get albums of pics from tin types on. Albums of newspaper clippings and magazine cut-outs mixed in with pics. Some are journaled with nicknames or cute sayings, but no real identification or dates to tell who "Top Dog" really is. When I do find a surname I feel like I've found "gold." Local school pics from the early 1900's are the easiest for me to work with as the pics are almost always taken outside next to the building. I use those I have with identification to match up the buildings first so I have a location, then I match up teachers faces for at least a close year. After that I submit the pic to the local newspaper history page with what I have in the hopes someone will recognize a relative in the pic. Because I see this all the time I tell everyone to JOURNAL. Because without some type of information your boxes of pictures or albums may become "worthless" one of these days and end up at the dump, local auction, ebay, or even in the archives of the county museum. So at least put a full name or family name, date, and location if nothing else on every pic not in an album and don't forget to put the same info somewhere in your albums every few pages. Because , if you don't, fifty to a hundred years from now someone like me (a stranger) may be the only person looking at your pictures.

Sandy in Southern Indiana

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pictures -who

Sandy, what you do sounds SO interesting.... I would love to hear more about it.... could you email me and maybe 'converse' with me??? or ICQ me 14370767

I agree with you on the journalling... I leave space and keep on scrapping. If I waited until I had time and the information to journal I'd probably not have a single page done. Getting the pictures done spurs me on to journal either that night or at a later date.

I think doing your album in whatever order you need too is great. I believe it was Deb who had pages waiting for pictures. I thought that was great. She was getting them done.

Lynne

Hi Sandy,

I bought an encyclopedia set at a yard sale. It came in a book case. When I removed the books there was a very large school band picture stuck behind the books. I didn't remove all the books for the bookcase for several years and have no clue who I got it from. I thought someone would love to have this photo of "Grandma" in the band. I haven't had the heart to throw it away as it means nothing to me other than we get a kick out of looking at it. I wonder if the school it is from might like it if they still exist.

Hi There

Journaling is a great help to those who do not know anything of the people on the photo, BUT a picture CAN speak a thousand words. I love old photographs! Why is it that they somehow captured so much more emotion or feeling in those old sepia pics? I still have my great gran's wedding pic which was taken at the turn of the 19th century. It was fashionable those days to "colour in" the flowers!! :)) It's so beautiful and nostalgic. I never even knew her and my great grandfather but it fills me with emotion each time I look at it! Maybe I'm just a big old softie! LOL

Judy, SA

Oh wow Sandy! What a fantastic job you have. I would also do that for free it there were something over here like that. You must have heard such interesting stories over the years! Keep up the good work! You sound good at what you're doing and it's important to remember one's history.

Judy, SA

Sandy,

Thanks for the response and wow, fascinating. How did you get involved in that? I'd be interested in volunteering in that way, send me an email with info about this.

So, I guess we all agree that journaling is ideal but pictures can still show emotion and express a generalize story about the people depicted within them.

:) Melissa in Seattle

Lynne, If you don't recognize the uniforms and are unsure of the area you might contact the local historical society or check woth the library to see if they have a genealogy department. They will be able to help you. We just completed a pictorial history book project which has over 500 pics of county, people, places, events, buildings, homes, schools, etc..It was a two year project and I volunteered to scan pictures at the museum two Saturdays a month where people came in and brought pictures for the project. It was as interesting to look at the pictures as it was to talk to the people about the pictures. I found out real fast that if you scan a picture to the computer at a high resolution you can zoom in and see buildings, signs, faces.....it was just fantastic. But I couldn't use the high resolution for all the scans for the book - it had to be at 300 and 125% - 150% (based upon the original pic size) for most pics for the printers. Good luck finding a home for the pic. Sandy

If you can't figure out the school, you might post it on

They have a section called "Unknown" just for that purpose (link is on the left under "View Photos" on the main page).

It's way cool to find photos of ancestors there (I have) & someone just might be able to figure out which school it is or recognize someone in the band. Be patient, tho.

Alicia