Today, I want to share with you cool blog I ran across. “Forgotten Old Photos” features neglected pictures that ended up in antique stores, garage sales, etc.
Each post shows a photo and notes about available information — photographer seal, inscriptions on the back, where it was found, etc.
There are a surprising number of “Full Circle” posts which the previously forgotten photo has been returned to the family because of information received from readers of the blog. Isn’t that cool?
Do you have any forgotten photos?
Here’s one that is not forgotten. I know this is my grandpa in the late 1800’s. He was the oldest child and had two younger sisters. I remember my great aunt, who was the youngest in the family, telling about how fancy they used to fix my grandpa’s hair and clothes, but by the time she came along they put her hair in rags! Those of you who are the baby of the family can relate.
This picture of Grandpa in a long flowing gown and curls really supports my Aunt’s story. Isn’t that a fun memory? It would be a shame for it to become forgotten. It would take just a few minutes for me to journal about it and maybe a few other memories of my Grandpa and his sisters.
In the box with the cute picture of Grandpa is this one of five children. I’m not sure if culture or technology prevented them from smiling, but even without smiles they are adorable! However, sadly, I do not know who this family is, but maybe someone else in the family does if I take the time to ask. Don’t you want to know?
My family is fortunate to have lots of heritage photos. But even though a picture is worth a thousand words, when you are looking for family history, the words (or lack of words) are significant. When my family gets together we often talk about how we need to get all these old pictures scanned and labeled while our parents’ generation is here to tell us about them.
So now let’s fast forward to today…we certainly don’t have a lack of pictures do we?
Cameras have become so small that they are contained in our phones, which we carry with us everywhere. No film and process is needed. We take pictures of everything and share them instantly on social media. But are these pictures preserving our memories?
Ten, fifteen or thirty years from now, will your story be told by these pictures?
Will they be accessible? Many of us no longer print pictures. We are trusting these precious images to memory sticks and social media. Think about it, we really don’t know what will happen to all the data we push out to Facebook. Also, with the sheer volume of pictures we take, will anyone want to wade through the thousands of pictures to figure out which ones are significant?
Preserving memories is one of the primary reasons I scrapbook. I want future generations to know what our life was like, where we went, what we did for fun, what events were important to us, etc. I want my daughter and her children to have a sense of heritage. I want to pass on to them the love that we shared in our home.
Scrapbooking can take many forms, but generally it is telling the story of someone(s), a place or time using various media like photos, journaling and memorabilia. Traditional paper scrapbooking is just one of many ways to do this.
The first step is to get the pictures off your devices and out where people can see them.
You don’t have to do it all at once, just select a few that stir you and write a few sentences about what you feel.
You can use these words as a start to a scrapbooking layout, a mini-album, a photo journal, or something to adorn your walls. Need some ideas? I’d love to help you find a method that works for you. There are so many fun options available today!
Keeping Memories Alive,
Rebecca
