Dealing with family photos, mementos, documents

SueBee

SueBee

New Member
Location
Central Kansas
Has anyone else developed a simple system of dealing with large quantities of family photos (both pre and post digital) and such. I'm overwhelmed. My son suggested I start by making an outline of my life and then go through photos and sort based on outline... well, while the idea sounds good, I'm now bogged down on listing events in my life. Help, lol!
 

I think that creating an outline may be helpful.

I had a similar problem when I inherited an unorganized box of photographs that my uncle took while he was traveling through pre war Europe reporting for the AP, Associated Press.

Using his daily diary entries I was able to create two chronological photo albums - matching a photo to a diary entry. His diary was like the outline your son suggested.

Many of the buildings and landmarks he photographed were destroyed in the war.

I am however still stumped with about a dozen of the photos he kept of old stone bridges. I have no clues as to what city they are in. It seems he had a thing for stone bridges.
 

SueBee said:
Has anyone else developed a simple system of dealing with large quantities of family photos (both pre and post digital) and such. I'm overwhelmed. My son suggested I start by making an outline of my life and then go through photos and sort based on outline... well, while the idea sounds good, I'm now bogged down on listing events in my life. Help, lol!
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I've tossed a lot and passed on some to younger family who care. My family has always been very small and haven't ever taken a huge # of photos, so I haven't had a lot of pics to manage. I've bitten the bullet and thrown away all duplicates and baby life photos of extended family. It's up to them to keep those types of photos. Some I have scanned to distribute. At my advanced age and with the already small family reduced by several unexpected deaths, preserving lots of photos is not as important as it was when I was 40 yrs younger. The younger family members today don't seem to care about family history.

I think your son's idea is a good place for you to start. Good luck to you.
 
I might be overwhelmed if I had boxes of loose photos over many years to sort through. But, I'd first sort them by years, then months, if I knew that information, then mount them albums. If I couldn't be sure what year, I'd just make educated guesses.

All my adult life until 10 years ago, I put photos in albums, and when each album was full, I stuck a "to and from" date label on the front the album. I have a large wooden upright cabinet (like a bookcase) with doors that open and close in the master bedroom, and all the albums are stacked in date order in that cabinet, making it easy to find what I want.

I have very few hard copy photos from the past 10 years, since most of those were made with cell phones, or sent to me in texts. I take them off my phone and store them on my computer in folders by years and back them up on USB drives, which I keep in my safety deposit box. If I want to print a hard copy, I can, but that's rare.

I keep some hard copy photos in frames, displayed in my living room. I've been told that's in poor taste, but I don't care - it's my house and I want to be able to see pictures of people in my life that matter to me.
 
DailyArtsyCrafter said:
REAlly! 😮 I've never heard that. I wonder why someone would say/think that it's in poor taste?
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I read this on Quora: "Displays of family photographs can be seen as bourgeois and an unnecessary display of love." I don't recall where else I've seen the same thing expressed in different words. My cousins keep no photos out, and little else. The last time I was in their living room, the coffee table had nothing on it except one solid colored vase with one flower stem in it. The entire room looked sterile. I don't live that way. I want the room picked up and tidy, but I have many objects and some pictures in my living room.
 
Dealing with family photos, mementos, documents
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Oh yes, this is a big chore. All my pre-digital photos have been scanned and saved digitally. I've got 100s of GBs of photos and videos uploaded to my Google storage, and close to 4 Terabytes of photos, videos and documents stored on various internal and external hard drives. None of the storage drives are encrypted, so after I pass my son and/or step-son can access them as they choose. Organization? Nothing sophisticated, but the various files are stored in labeled directories("family photos", "financial documents" etc).
 
I suppose that it would depend on the end result.

If this project is to organize them for the benefit of family and friends, I would get them all together and let them each create an album or collection that has meaning for them and toss the leftovers.

I have one box and a few in frames that I will eventually dispose of so that they don’t end up at the flea market or on eBay.
 
Aunt Bea said:
I have one box and a few in frames that I will eventually dispose of so that they don’t end up at the flea market or on eBay.
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Yep. When family members no longer care like they did in the distant past, or when families are not close, that's where the pics and documents will end up. There or in the dumpster with other refuse. It's easier to face the facts.
 
That Lady in PA said:
get rid of anything extraneous... blurry photos, duplicates, excessive photos of a single event.
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This would reduce a lot of them.

MaddHollander said:
I am however still stumped with about a dozen of the photos he kept of old stone bridges. I have no clues as to what city they are in. It seems he had a thing for stone bridges.
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This sounds like something I would see at a thrift store, stuffed into crumbling envelopes or crushed shoe boxes. I've bought a couple of very small photo collections of people for use in papercrafting. They're very interesting to gaze at and wonder who they were.

MACKTEXAS said:
an unnecessary display of love.
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😂🤣😂 Some people...

Pinky said:
My late, ex MIL had a room that dedicated entire walls of photos to her large family.
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I've seen this type of display in some homes and it can look very attractive and classic.
 
I've tried various "organizing" schemes over the years.
I typically just date them, write who it is on the back or where, and toss it flat in a box.
I have two small book boxes of photos over time and a few slightly "begun" albums which started with great expectations.

One year I send my eldest daughter every photo I could find that I had of her.
She had ticked me off so much with an email full of ungratefulness I didn't ever want to even see her ungrateful face again in a photo. :ROFLMAO:

She called me in tears when she got the photos and asked me if I was "going to die soon" or if I had a terminal disease :ROFLMAO:

I said: "No, but you may die soon, if you don't apologize for that ungrateful email you sent me....".
 
DailyArtsyCrafter said:
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This reply is to DailyArtsyCrafter.

You only copied part of a quote from Quora -> "an unnecessary display of love," The entire Quora quote reads as follows: "Displays of family photographs can be seen as bourgeois and an unnecessary display of love."

The Quora quote, and other such quotes do not reflect my own personal taste or views, since I have pictures of family displayed in frames in my home, as I previously posted.

There are other websites and home decorating sites that discourage displaying photos in the living room. Here is an excerpt from one of them: “I tend to not hang family photos in public spaces like living rooms, foyers, or dining rooms." And here is the link: HOUSE BEAUTIFUL
 
MACKTEXAS said:
This reply is to DailyArtsyCrafter.

You only copied part of a quote from Quora -> "an unnecessary display of love," The entire Quora quote reads as follows: "Displays of family photographs can be seen as bourgeois and an unnecessary display of love."

The Quora quote, and other such quotes do not reflect my own personal taste or views, since I have pictures of family displayed in frames in my home, as I previously posted.

There are other websites and home decorating sites that discourage displaying photos in the living room. Here is an excerpt from one of them: “I tend to not hang family photos in public spaces like living rooms, foyers, or dining rooms." And here is the link: HOUSE BEAUTIFUL
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It is your home and your memories.
Miley called me to let me listen to her shredding everything. Years later she insisted that originals going back to grandfather as a baby with mother grand mother and great grand mother belong to her. I mailed everything in frames. She did not get them. They are hanging on the wall.
 
Twostep said:
It is your home and your memories.*
Miley called me to let me listen to her shredding everything. Years later she insisted that originals going back to grandfather as a baby with mother grand mother and great grand mother belong to her. I mailed everything in frames. She did not get them. They are hanging on the wall.
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*Exactly.
I'm sorry she did not get what you mailed her.
I have one large oval frame near the hall entrance with rounded (curved) glass holding a picture of my great, great grandfather, made in 1850. I never knew him, of course, except from stories. I've heard he was a preacher. In the picture, he's sitting in a chair, with a Bible in his lap.
 
I've gone from six big packing containers down to three of family pics, documents, etc.

Every couple months, I drag them out of the closet and do some discards but it's difficult and emotional to do and I usually give up after an hour. Plus, the paper dust and/or mold does my respiratory system and eyes an injustice after a while.

Several years ago, when my mom was still alive, I made her sit down and go through old photos of people I couldn't identify. If she said, "Oh, that's Uncle John's first wife's daughter, Myrtle!" then it made a one-way trip to the round file. If *I* don't care about Myrtle, none of my offspring is going to, either.

My sisters, daughter and granddaughter have indicated that they don't want any of the photos but guess what? One of these days, they're going to get a proverbial basket left on their doorsteps with a representative selection of orphan photos. What they do with them is their business. I'll keep a small collection of important ones.
 
Get a super huge photo album and create a “best of“ chronological album with all family members from old to recent. Having a single album like this, rather than 8 or 10 other albums crammed in a closet top shelf would at least make it easy for viewing.

An electronic photo frame might be an option as well.
 
It may seem hard hearted to some, but I've been, for the last few years, slowly throwing away family photos. Not everything, but photos I know my kids won't have any connection to. People they never knew, etc.

Why should they be saddled with having to deal with my junk after I'm gone?
 
So many wonderful, thoughtful replies that I'll have to respond tomorrow... it's end of the evening for me and my eyes are saying good nite! Until tomorrow!
 
and then what happens when families split ?? - where are the family photo albums who has them : are they shared : are they dumped??
 
I have boxes of old photos from my grandmother and photos I had put in albums from when my son was a little boy. I started a family photo group on Facebook after uploading some to Google photos. Each photo is captioned with something about the family member(s) and events. The members of the group really appreciate the content and contribute their own. I still have many more to go and between my Google accounts, enough storage for them all. It's a project that I intend to get back to at some point.
 
MACKTEXAS said:
*Exactly.
I'm sorry she did not get what you mailed her.
I have one large oval frame near the hall entrance with rounded (curved) glass holding a picture of my great, great grandfather, made in 1850. I never knew him, of course, except from stories. I've heard he was a preacher. In the picture, he's sitting in a chair, with a Bible in his lap.
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No Macktexas - everything is hanging in her living room. I have an envelope of pictures left and she wants them. I had copies made for her.
 
With lots of material to work with I would tackle it like a room remodel. Go through everything and eliminate duplicates, bad pictures and irrelevant ones. Hang on to them until you are all done. What is the end goal - mementos for individuals, timeline of family. Sort accordingly. Sort by time of events or importance. Take a break and sort for details such as walking down the isle then the vows.
 

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