I was also presented a bunch of pictures from relatives, and very few of them were identifiable, so they remain in a box in the closet where they will no doubt be thrown away by the next generation with the excuse, "I have no idea who these people are and I'm tired of them taking up space." So.......... I decided that my "bunch of pictures" would not suffer the same fate, so I set aside a complete day to label each and every picture in my bunch. Here's what I did to get this done. I took all the pictures from all the boxes, and dumped them on my desk. I went through them and tossed those that had no real significance to me or my family (duplicates, landscapes of places I can barely recall visiting, pictures of non-significant people (mostly from my first wife's circle of friends), pictures of other's pets, etc). You must be ruthless in this winnowing and throw out all that no one would care about. Next I separated them into different piles ... usually along family lines. Then I went to the office supply store and bought a box of Avery Labels #(5160). Can't recall what the cost was, but I got a box with 3,000 labels... enough to do me for a lifetime. I used Microsoft Word processor for this labeling task, so I'll describe the keystrokes that are necessary to accomplish this labeling chore. There are several word processors out there, so if you don't use Word the following won't help you much. a. open a new document b. Click on Tools then Letters and Mailings then Mail Merge Wizard c. on the right side of the screen click on "labels" d. Click "next: starting document" (bottom right of screen) e. Click "label options" f. select 5160-Address from the drop down window g. Click OK h. You are now presented with a blank document with lines dividing the columns and rows (30 labels on each screen) i. look at the first picture on the first pile and type the description in the first label (upper left corner). Include as much information as you know about that particular picture, subjects, date, occasion, etc. If there is more information than will fit on the label, change the font for this label to accommodate the additional information. I'd suggest no smaller than 8 points. j. Upon completing this label, press the TAB twice in order to move the cursor to the second label, which will be to the immediate right of the first label. k. Lay the first, and subsequent pictures, aside placing them face up. This will make affixing the labels easier when you're finished with this project. l. Go through every picture, entering a description, and if you know very little about the picture, at least enter some information like: "came from Grandma June's box of stuff. Subjects unidentified at this date," then insert the actual date in place of the word "date." m. After you have completed 30 labels, Word will automatically "turn the page" and you'll be presented with a new set of thirty labels. m. After you've identified each picture or document, look at the bottom of the screen to see how many pages you have typed, and insert enough blank label sheets into your printer and hit the print button. Now the satisfaction part..... take the labels and stick them on the back of the pictures and put them away and you'll feel so proud of yourself, knowing that from this date forward, when you have pictures to put "in the box that lives under the bed," you'll know to write the description on them before putting them away and you'll never get behind again! E. Lynn Wright Scottsdale, AZ

What you've done is a wonderful gift to your descendants! I ran across an interesting thing to do with old, unidentified phots at the Guadalupe Art Center, in Austin. All along both sides of one long hallway were old photos, matted and framed. I spent a slow 20 minutes or so going down that hallway looking at the photos and speculating about the lives of the people in them. Not really a lot of help to the descendants, but a way to continue to enjoy the pictures. Peace, -Joanne ----- Original Message ----- From: "Lynn Wright" <lynn.wright@cox.net> To: <TXWISE-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Wednesday, October 06, 2004 4:34 PM Subject: [TXWISE-L] Identifying pictures >I was also presented a bunch of pictures from relatives, and very few of >them were identifiable, so they remain in a box in the closet where they >will no doubt be thrown away by the next generation with the excuse, "I >have no idea who these people are and I'm tired of them taking up space." > > So.......... I decided that my "bunch of pictures" would not suffer the > same fate, so I set aside a complete day to label each and every picture > in my bunch. Here's what I did to get this done. > > I took all the pictures from all the boxes, and dumped them on my desk. I > went through them and tossed those that had no real significance to me or > my family (duplicates, landscapes of places I can barely recall visiting, > pictures of non-significant people (mostly from my first wife's circle of > friends), pictures of other's pets, etc). You must be ruthless in this > winnowing and throw out all that no one would care about. > > Next I separated them into different piles ... usually along family lines. > > Then I went to the office supply store and bought a box of Avery Labels > #(5160). Can't recall what the cost was, but I got a box with 3,000 > labels... enough to do me for a lifetime. > > I used Microsoft Word processor for this labeling task, so I'll describe > the keystrokes that are necessary to accomplish this labeling chore. There > are several word processors out there, so if you don't use Word the > following won't help you much. > > a. open a new document > b. Click on Tools then Letters and Mailings then Mail Merge Wizard > c. on the right side of the screen click on "labels" > d. Click "next: starting document" (bottom right of screen) > e. Click "label options" > f. select 5160-Address from the drop down window > g. Click OK > h. You are now presented with a blank document with lines dividing the > columns and rows (30 labels on each screen) > i. look at the first picture on the first pile and type the description in > the first label (upper left corner). Include as much information as you > know about that particular picture, subjects, date, occasion, etc. If > there is more information than will fit on the label, change the font for > this label to accommodate the additional information. I'd suggest no > smaller than 8 points. > j. Upon completing this label, press the TAB twice in order to move the > cursor to the second label, which will be to the immediate right of the > first label. > k. Lay the first, and subsequent pictures, aside placing them face up. > This will make affixing the labels easier when you're finished with this > project. > l. Go through every picture, entering a description, and if you know very > little about the picture, at least enter some information like: "came from > Grandma June's box of stuff. Subjects unidentified at this date," then > insert the actual date in place of the word "date." > m. After you have completed 30 labels, Word will automatically "turn the > page" and you'll be presented with a new set of thirty labels. > m. After you've identified each picture or document, look at the bottom of > the screen to see how many pages you have typed, and insert enough blank > label sheets into your printer and hit the print button. > > Now the satisfaction part..... take the labels and stick them on the back > of the pictures and put them away and you'll feel so proud of yourself, > knowing that from this date forward, when you have pictures to put "in the > box that lives under the bed," you'll know to write the description on > them before putting them away and you'll never get behind again! > > E. Lynn Wright > Scottsdale, AZ > > > > >