What to do with old photos??

[tkradtke]

My grandmother (95) recently moved into an assisted living facility and my parents have been cleaning out her house. Being a scrapbooker/memory keeper, I have asked for all of the photos. My dad is as into photos as I am (and this is his mom), but he's become overwhelmed with the sheer amount of photos he's found. Apparently, my great aunt (who died before I was born) and both of my great grandmothers moved into that house before they died which means all of their keepsakes and such moved in with them. Turns out that my great aunt was a scrapbooker who took tons of photos. My dad said that the scrapbooks are amazingly organized and everything is neatly labeled. However, there are still boxes and boxes of loose, unlabeled photos.

He told me today, that he thinks he's just going to pare things down by tossing all of the unlabeled photos that he doesn't recognize the people or the place. This hurts my heart to think of photos being thrown away... but I do get where he's coming from.

Has anyone else inherited a large quantity of old photos? And if so, how did you handle them, especially the unlabeled ones? Our family is small, so there aren't a lot of living relatives to help with identifying the photos. I'm at a loss with what to do with them, but I still have the "must save them all" attitude.

(And a special hug to all of you here for being scrapbookers who are preserving family photos and telling the stories!!)

 

[dawnmarch]

I can so relate to this as my grandmother died a few years ago and I was tasked with going through her photo albums to decide what to keep. Unfortunately, there weren't really a lot of family history type photos and there were SO MANY unlabeled photos of people/places I didn't know and would never have the time to figure out. I took out a bunch that were noteworthy for one reason of another and recommended tossing the rest. I work on our family genealogy, so this project was a real eye-opener for me since I NEVER though I would ever throw away photos. I think my sister ended up keeping the albums just because she couldn't stand to see them thrown away but, honestly, I'm not sure that anyone will ever do anything with them. They just aren't meaningful for us without being able to connect them to some person or event. I think that unless the photos depict people, times, stories or otherwise that are important to you, there is not much sense keeping them. I suppose that, if you really wanted to be on the safe side, you could have them all scanned at a place like Scan My Photos and keep the digital files (or maybe scan just the ones that look ancester-ish? )

 

[amandac]

I went through all my old family photos and scanned them (it took a LONG time) but I haven't had to do such a large number ..... good luck with it and I know whatever you decide to do will be the right thing for your memory-keeping goals!

 

[fruitysuet]

kiss

 

[fruitysuet]

I wish I had that problem. I have a couple dozen at the most. I would always keep the originals after scanning, even if they stay unorganised. You never know how technology can improve preservation in the future.

 

[AnneofAlamo]

I do believe I would collage them. I can't and won't throw away a photo. I can't even delete bad photos in digital form.
A few days of placing them on a say a 8x10 paper and photograph them. I then would document those I could and have books printed. Then I would invest in lovely box to keep them in forEVER!

 

[carilyne]

I scanned a bunch when I was at my mom's family town but then no one wants to help me identify them or tell me the stories. So there they sit. I was going to put them in a quick album and maybe mail a book to the few relatives and see if someone would help fill it in. Otherwise it will be just what I can do.

 

[Sokee]

DONT THROW THEM AWAY!!! Use them to decoupage a chest? Wall? Desk Top? It would be soo cool!

 

[klee73010]

i would totally keep them... I get where he's coming from, wanting to pare things down... if they were excellent memory keepers and everything so well written and organized, maybe the photos are duplicates? or not that important? idk. Touch call.

 

[cfile]

My grandmother (95) recently moved into an assisted living facility and my parents have been cleaning out her house. Being a scrapbooker/memory keeper, I have asked for all of the photos. My dad is as into photos as I am (and this is his mom), but he's become overwhelmed with the sheer amount of photos he's found. Apparently, my great aunt (who died before I was born) and both of my great grandmothers moved into that house before they died which means all of their keepsakes and such moved in with them. Turns out that my great aunt was a scrapbooker who took tons of photos. My dad said that the scrapbooks are amazingly organized and everything is neatly labeled. However, there are still boxes and boxes of loose, unlabeled photos.

He told me today, that he thinks he's just going to pare things down by tossing all of the unlabeled photos that he doesn't recognize the people or the place. This hurts my heart to think of photos being thrown away... but I do get where he's coming from.

Has anyone else inherited a large quantity of old photos? And if so, how did you handle them, especially the unlabeled ones? Our family is small, so there aren't a lot of living relatives to help with identifying the photos. I'm at a loss with what to do with them, but I still have the "must save them all" attitude.

(And a special hug to all of you here for being scrapbookers who are preserving family photos and telling the stories!!)

I have the same issue and know my nephew is not going to care. Have no children and my brother only has his son... I have pics from my grandfathers cousin who had no children and I have no clue other than the cousin Gracie who anyone is. I am wondering if a library or museum may want old photos just for culture if the times?

 

[Cath_]

Don't throw away

 

[tkradtke]

@dawnmarch Thanks for your input! It is overwhelming! I don't even have them yet, but I'm just trying to formulate a plan for when I do get them. I'll try to keep my dad from throwing things away before I can get to them.

I do believe I would collage them. I can't and won't throw away a photo. I can't even delete bad photos in digital form.

I'm totally with you on not being able to throw away a photo... I have every duplicate and blurry shot I've ever taken. Collage them is a great idea!

DONT THROW THEM AWAY!!! Use them to decoupage a chest? Wall? Desk Top? It would be soo cool!

Hmmm... maybe I need to scour pinterest for vintage photo craft ideas??

i would totally keep them... I get where he's coming from, wanting to pare things down... if they were excellent memory keepers and everything so well written and organized, maybe the photos are duplicates? or not that important? idk. Touch call.

Good point Kristina! The boxes could be the ones that didn't make the books for some reason or another. Those I would have less guilt about tossing or using for a craft project.

I have the same issue and know my nephew is not going to care. Have no children and my brother only has his son... I have pics from my grandfathers cousin who had no children and I have no clue other than the cousin Gracie who anyone is. I am wondering if a library or museum may want old photos just for culture if the times?

Christa... your post reminded me that a couple years back I connected with a woman on Ancestry.com. We share great, great grandparents I think. She's heavily into family history (I was just on Ancestry for the free trial when my daughter had a school project, but we kept in touch)... she might be interested in some of the photos or at least may be able to help me identify some of the people. My dad has a few local items that he is considering taking to the historical society to see if they would like them for their collection. He could take some photos as well, if anything clearly depicted the area.

Don't throw away

That is my absolutely last resort! It seriously puts a knot in my stomach to think of them going into the trash. Going to try to come up with a plan. I love photos too much

 

[bestcee]

We have been digitizing the old photos around here. And some have been thrown out.

I know, thrown out!?!? How could we?!?! The truth was, as we went through older photos depending on the photo, it has faded, or is very blurry, or was 10 photos of the same mountain or dog. We kept a few of the duplicates, usually only 2 or 3, and tossed the others. If it was super blurry, or had faded, there wasn't much we could do about it.

I'm also in the habit this year of deleting digital photos too! Lots of the same or similar shot - keep a few, delete the rest! Blurry? I only keep it if it's the only one that tells that story. Like 2 year old blurry running around? That is the story!

 

[jesskab]

I've found it much more rewarding to not keep them in albums. I like those $3 boxes from Michael's that look like pretty shoe boxes. I label the dividers so I know when they're from. My mom has my grandparents' pics in albums & it's not like anyone ever looks at them. I've scanned some, but wish I scanned more when I had them.

 

[klee73010]

I've found it much more rewarding to not keep them in albums. I like those $3 boxes from Michael's that look like pretty shoe boxes. I label the dividers so I know when they're from. My mom has my grandparents' pics in albums & it's not like anyone ever looks at them. I've scanned some, but wish I scanned more when I had them.

I keep meaning to buy those when they go on sale, but then don't. Do they get looked at in the boxes any more than they would in an album?

I inherited a post card collection from my grandmother, and I thought it was really neat to have, but I do not want to pull it out or look at it often. I'm afraid to mess up the pages.

I like the decoupage idea for the old ones that can't be identified. I have the letters my (other) grandmother and grandfather wrote to each other before they were married, and during their marriage. My grandmother kept them. They are no longer married but when he was in town, she tried to give them to him... he didn't want them, so I took them from the trash! I haven't read through them, but I feel like she kept them all this time for some reason, so they must be worth keeping, and I can be a romantic enough to hope that someday when I read them, I'll feel the love they had at one point. Lol!

This doesn't really help you Tracie. I was just commenting because I thought about it. Haha! Sorry for hijacking.

 

[jesskab]

@klee73010 I like going through the boxes like files when I feel like scrapping an old picture.

 

[bbachand]

I vote for not throwing them away also - until you've had a chance to save them somewhere. I'm a hoarder of all photos.

 

[gonewiththewind]

Don't throw them away until you've at least digitized them.

Getting on an ancestry site, it's great to be able to post photos. My mom has viewed photos of ancestors and was able to match up some unidentified photos from it!

 

[tkradtke]

I've found it much more rewarding to not keep them in albums. I like those $3 boxes from Michael's that look like pretty shoe boxes.

That's a great idea! I need to do that with all of my personal pre-digital photos as well. I have bins full of them. If I could at least get them sorted, I would at least know where to find them if I wanted them.

This doesn't really help you Tracie. I was just commenting because I thought about it. Haha! Sorry for hijacking.

No problem Kristina! That's the next set of things to figure out... my dad found a stack of letters my grandparents wrote to each other while my grandfather was in Army during WW2. He also found my grandfather's diaries... apparently he was an avid journaler as a teen.

Getting on an ancestry site, it's great to be able to post photos. My mom has viewed photos of ancestors and was able to match up some unidentified photos from it!

I've emailed the woman I met via Ancenstry.com (we share great, great grandparents) to talk to her about help identifying people in some of the photos. It's so amazing to be able to "crowdsource" some of there projects via the internet.

 

[QuiltyMom]

Don't throw them away until you've at least digitized them.

Getting on an ancestry site, it's great to be able to post photos. My mom has viewed photos of ancestors and was able to match up some unidentified photos from it!

What a great idea! I have an album my dad made from Boy Scouts, and none of the photos are marked. Maybe I could do something like that with the album.