Group, I recently started doing some picture perserving of my family lines with our 'Microsoft Picture It!' program and then yesterday received this tip from Sandi about that same subject. I promise not to send all of Sandi's tips to the list, but if you have any interest in getting those precious pictures organized and saved, as usual Sandi adds some great tips on how to do that. Her basic tips are at the bottom, if you just want to scroll down to that part, but she also starts with a good story we can all probably relate to. Vicki ----- Original Message ----- From: "Sandi Gorin" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, February 28, 2002 7:45 AM Subject: TIP #381: THE POOR MAN'S GUIDE FOR PRESERVING YOUR FAMILY PHOTOS > TIP#381: THE POOR MAN'S GUIDE FOR PRESERVING YOUR FAMLY PHOTOS > > I call the tip "The Poor Man's Guide" because there are a lot of us on > limited incomes who can't afford the high tech goodies but who might have a > scanner. It's not an in-depth tip but just a thought. > > It all started with an email from one of my daughters a couple of weeks > ago. Both my daughters were well trained to appreciate genealogy, > especially their own family history. I truly believe that they thought it > was perfectly normal for Moms to come equipped with a keyboard stuck at the > end of their fingers and that all children grew up in musty county clerk's > vaults, quiet libraries and tromping around cemeteries. Thankfully, someone > along the process they began to have a deep appreciation of their family > and history. > > Now, my daughters are grown and the seed has matured in varying depths in > both of them. My youngest simply asked "Mom, how many pictures do you have > of our family? Well, I had been promising myself to get my photos organized > anyway and now seemed as good a time as ever. I started going through boxes > and photo albums of old, faded, torn photos going back to almost the > invention of the camera it seemed. Ugly relatives, handsome relatives. > Screaming children; women who looked twice their age holding babies that > were not at all pleased. Gallant young men in Civil War uniform or World > War II uniforms, an aged couple sitting so prim and proper. Some, > thankfully, had information written on the back. But, oh the process of > trying to determine who all those squirming children were - when the > picture was taken - where was it taken? Finally, most were catalogued and > I promised myself anew that with every roll of film I shoot, information > will be included immediately! > > Then I realized I was missing a lot of pictures. A phone call to my 80's > something Mom got her digging through all her boxes and albums. Soon old > photos were strewn all over her kitchen table and she repeated my process. > She found pictures of relatives that I had not seen since I was a mere > little girl. Some triggered a memory, however faint, of times gone past. > Some were not remembered and we had to know who they were - were they > friends, relatives, gangsters who had just escaped and run in front of the > camera with the police in hot pursuit? > > Next step. I called my aunt in Arizona, she was the one who taught me how > to do genealogy in the first place. Well, again, I caused boxes and books > of photos to be brought out all over the table, couch, bed - more sorting. > My aunt is the most organized of the clan; she labels every picture and > recognizes every relative on site. Emails flew as I looked at my photos and > tried to describe what the individual looked like; useless. Enter the > scanner. Nice little invention! My uncle and I were shortly scanning the > old photos and sending them back and forth, with copies to my daughter at > her home. Bingo ... faded images became real people again! That day faded > into the next and the next and finally we exhausted all the photos (for now > at least!) Suddenly I had a brainstorm, a relatively inexpensive > brainstorm. As I looked at all the photos in my possession, and those of my > Mom's and aunt and uncles, I realized that I would like to have them all > restored and bring back that smile on my beautiful Grandmother Pyle's face > - I wanted to see the twinkle in her eye that I remembered as a little girl > of 9 before she died so young. And, I knew I couldn't afford to go to a > photo restorer and have each picture remade. > > So, I did the next best thing and went to the local Wal Mart store and > purchased a couple of packages of Kodak (c) glossy photo paper. It ran > about $6.98 for twenty sheets. I also bought a 16 x 20 frame that allowed > placement of 30 photos in a collage format. I loaded up my program; I have > Adobe (c) and quickly tried to learn how to use it (thanks to a lot of > coaching from my daughters!). I learned how to sharpen the picture, > eliminate a few creases and spots on the film by using the eraser and other > tools (and I have a LOT to learn!), sizing the photo so it wouldn't eat up > all the memory in my computer) and printed it off on photo paper. Mercy! It > was gorgeous. There was Papa (don't laugh, that's what I called my > Grandmother), smiling proudly at her graduation! There was Dr. Patterson > from Adair Co KY (my only Kentucky family) looking proudly at his bride. I > printed, edited, cut, taped and within a couple of days came up with a > beautiful (to me at least!) collage of all my family back to my > great-great-great grandparents. There were baby pictures, wedding pictures, > graduation pictures - all neatly lined up with each generation leading to > the next and to the next down to me and then my precious daughters and > their beloveds. > > Only one picture was missing and one I am earnestly searching for it. My > Dad's father died when my Dad was three years old in 1916. All of Dad's > sisters and he are deceased except one, and no one ever had a picture of > their father. When I learned of a cousin of mine I never knew about in > Florida, I hunted all day for a phone number or email address as I had met > her late brother and knew he was "into genealogy". I finally reached her > and am parked by my mail box as she thought she might have a small snapshot > of him that was in her brother's belongings. All of his genealogy had > disappeared after his death except a small shoe box with some photos and a > small drawer full of papers. All we know is that Grandpa Laughery was short > (we're all tall), had dark hair and dark eyes. The collage will not be > complete until I find someone who might have a tiny photo of my Grandpa. > > So, after all my ramblings, I come to the point. If you have a lot of old > family photos: > > 1 - identify them while the brain still have some cells left! > 2 - either have them professionally reproduced if you can afford this or > 3 - scan them on the computer and save them on disk. I have a zip drive > finally and zip disks hold > so much more information. Anywhere you can - save them digitally. > 4 - Make a copy of that disk for your children or family. Label it > something like "Save this disk > under penalty of death if you re-use it for a video game" or > something! Get their attention. > 5 - Experiment printing off the pictures - either on regular paper for a > photo film. Put them with > the old picture or in a picture frame - display those people - you're > carrying their genes! > 6 - Invest in some acid free storage containers for photos. It's a miracle > any of our pictures have > survived this long; help them last another generation or so! > > The alternative of course to scanning your photos is to go to a print shop > that has a good photocopy machine and have them copied but it's fun to try > it yourself! > > It might not seem important now, but if you are fortunate enough to have > passed the genealogy gene on to any of your children, maybe someday, > somewhere, that gene will become dominate and they'll call you and ask > "Mom, do you have any old pictures of our family?" > > (c) Copyright 28 February 2002, Sandra K. Gorin, All Rights Reserved. > [email protected] > > Col. Sandi Gorin, 205 Clements, Glasgow, KY 42141 (270) 651-9114 > Publishing: http://ggpublishing.tripod.com/ > SCKY resource links: http://www.public.asu.edu/~moore/Gorin.html > < >< God Bless America ><> > > > ==== KYRESEARCH Mailing List ==== > >