The Importance of Old Photographs

[Alastair]

I was just creating an article for a newsletter I help with and just thought I'd copy it in here...

I remember when I was a lot younger I was going through a lot of old black and white pictures of family snap shots. I remember saying to my father at the time that as I hardly knew who any of the people were in the photographs I'd likely just throw them out.

Well he must have taken this to heart as after his death and when I was preparing to move from Scotland to Canada I came across a number of photo albums. And lo and behold there were all those black and white pictures all neatly put into these albums with notes about where they were taken and the names of the people in the pictures. I can only conclude that he was going to present these to me as there were very few left to add to the albums but of course he died before he could complete the task.

I very much appreciated his efforts to document the family in this way as if he hadn't done that then I would have just thrown them out.

There are photographs from his time in Aden, Iran, Malta, Kuwait, Italy and Australia as well as pictures from Scotland.

Should your family have old pictures like these this would be a great time for you seniors to make sure you have documented where they were taken and who are in the pictures.

I have in fact scanned them in and added them to my own web page.

Here is one of me at 4 months old...



Alastair

[1938 Observer]

Re: The Importance of Old Photographs

Alastair,

As you stated it really is very important to put name to faces,even if the original location cannot be remembered.

My parents were overseas for about six months in 1966 and spent a lot of time with family in Falkirk, I have a small collection of coloured photographs taken at the time,however as I only discovered them after my mothers death in '98 I can only recognize certain people. I think I still have 1st cousins alive in Falkirk, and certainly their children but at this stage i have not been able to make contact except with a couple of more distant ones who have been generous with their own family ties with ours.

I think sometimes we leave our investigations into our family history too late in life and some of the threads are broken/lost; i only started in 2000 with prompting from my daughter who did the initial investigations on "The Web" and achieved great success by having a 1st cousin 'downunder' contact us (this was really great as she is a family history guru and being a retired teacher/librarian she has all the skills) which greatly broadened our written and photographic records.

Gordon.

[Alastair]

Re: The Importance of Old Photographs

I've had hundreds of emails over the years saying that they wished they'd been interested enough while their grand parents and parents were still alive to ask them about their own history. There are some oral history projects going on where folk are taping 90+ year olds taking about the old days and also what they remember of stories told to them by their parents and grand parents. That's valuable but a lot of that is still hidden away in universities as it seems it's too costly to get those recordings written up. And even when they are they're still hidden away in those self same universities.

At the end of the day that's what Electric Scotland is all about. In the days prior to having an Internet archive I was hunting up books in antiquarian book shops and ocr'ing them up on the web. At the time these books were very hard to find and being antiquarian you couldn't borrow them and so they had to be read in the reading rooms of libraries.

Alastair

[Glesgalass]

Re: The Importance of Old Photographs

I'm the matriach of my family now and the only one who can identify a lot of people in old photos. After my Dad died my sister sent me a lot of old photos so I could identify the people in them. Some of them I wasn't sure of but my 1st cousin here in Oz was still alive at the time and could tell me who they were. My cousin was a lot older than me...my mother's age.
The oldest photo I have is my great grandparents in Ireland taken around the 1920's I think. Maybe earlier.

Elda

[Alastair]

Re: The Importance of Old Photographs

Well it's great that you are documenting them Elda as so many people simply don't find the time to do it and it's usually too late for many as they pass away. You also need to mention the collection in your will. I heard of one family where the mother died and 2 brothers and a sister were clearing out the house. The sister suddenly remembered about all her mothers genealogy notes and told her brothers to watch out for them. It was apparent in their faces that something was wrong... and you guessed it.. they had thrown out most of her papers and so her research had all been lost.

Alastair

[Ranald]

Re: The Importance of Old Photographs

Gordon, don't forget I live in Falkirk, so just shout if you think I can help.....

With the help of the family, the loft has been nearly cleared this weekend, and YES, we found old photos taken since the 1050's !

Ranald

[Alastair]

Re: The Importance of Old Photographs

The 1050's Ranald... you mean your family actually invented photography way back then??? WOW!!!

Alastair

[Ranald]

Re: The Importance of Old Photographs

Blast, I didn't want you to know that I am 960 years old.... lol

Ranald

[1938 Observer]

Re: The Importance of Old Photographs

I've just added fifteen (15) old family photographs to the album gallery,they reproduce quite well on the system.

Gordon.

[Alastair]

Re: The Importance of Old Photographs

Great photographs Gordon.... and with the comments system with each photo you can if you want add wee stories to each of them if you wanted to.

[1938 Observer]

Re: The Importance of Old Photographs

Thanks Alastair, I forgot about the comments details,:laugh2: I spent so much time sorting which photographs to put on and making sure they stayed there.. ,last time I tried I deleted everything by accident.:crazy:

[Rick]

Re: The Importance of Old Photographs

Well said all. My mother became the repository of most of our family photos and artifacts, which as her world becomes increasingly "fuzzy" are now passed on to me . These go back to Forfarshire (Angus) in the 1890s and carry on through Ontario and Saskatchewan. A cousin and I are actively working to locate any other photos and to get them all organized, annotated, digitized and circulated on CDs as widely as possible within the family to ensure that they are not lost to future generations. It's a big job, but the difference between "Ho Hum" and history is one generation, so acknowledgements to all who are working on the same sort of projects.

[FriedaKateM]

Re: The Importance of Old Photographs

I had met my mom's cousins in Aberdeen, Scotland, many years ago when I was a teenager. However none of them ever bothered to keep up with us USA cousins. So, a while back, I got in touch via email with a library in Aberdeen, & requested info in re: my cousin Richard. They advised me initially that it might take a long time to get together information. I think about 6-8 months went by, & lo & behold, I got a huge envelope of stuff, with some information printed out on Richard's business career, plus a page out of a phone book (copied), with names all through it. I debated about this but, perused that page, & discovered someone who sounded right. I called long distance to the number, getting a woman, who obviously didn't know anything about me. I finally convinced her of my being related, & she said to call back later, when R was home. I did, & that began my entire trek into the genealogy of those relations, plus some more I didn't know I had. And...many pictures have evolved from this beginning. I would like to advise, to go ahead & step out on that limb, & find the families, because it's really a satisfying thing to do for yourself, and some of the others as well. I have loads of pictures, more than I could ever post on our site, but I can look over the computer screen, & see my grandfather when he was about 10-12, in his family of origin. I see faces that look like some of my family of origin!!! It is truly amazing. Joan PS: Those two phone calls I made, amounted to approx. $82.00, which I could ill afford, but it got the ball rolling!!!!

[Glesgalass]

Re: The Importance of Old Photographs

I think it's so sad that you didn't get know at least some of those relatives personally, but I guess that's what happens when people emigrate.
I was very fortunate that even though I emigrated to Australia, I was able to visit frequently as my husband worked for an airline and therefore my children were able to meet their grandparents, aunts, uncles & cousins many times while growing up. My son is in touch now via Facebook with his cousins in Scotland and a few here in Oz too. He probably wouldn't even have known their names if it weren't for the fact that we were able to visit Scotland (and Germany) so frequently. I doubt that the next generation (my grandchildren) will still mainain contact with their cousins but I'd like to think so.

Elda

[FriedaKateM]

Re: The Importance of Old Photographs

Elda, My maternal grandparents were the ones to emigrate in 1907. My grandfather was hired, from Sussex, by a rich guy to come to America, to aid in getting a hydroaeroplane in flight. I have some pics on my profile of this. However, I've been in touch with a younger cousin in southern England, & she has provided some of these pictures for me. My granddad as well worked in Dayton, OH, for the early development of airplanes, I think as a mechanical engineer. When I knew him, I didn't understand all of this great history, & he died at 79 years. The grandparents spoke with a British accent, though. Joan