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Saving Your Family Photos

    I knew I had to get the family photos organized, labeled, and filed. I didn't know where to start or how to sort. I have old albums, new albums, frames that need to be replaced, and a lot of duplicates with no where to put them.

    Now, I've found out the best way to preserve them is to digitize them. I had purchased DVDs to back up by family history research, and my writings, and other research. When I finally learned how to scan a photo into my computer and re-size it, I then found out DVDs are not the best back-up.

    The genealogy experts say get a second hard drive. Put your photos with labels on it. Update it about once a quarter or more if you're adding a lot of photos. Store the hard drive in a separate place like your garage, or even a shed. The weather won't hurt it. "They" do say, put it in a fire-retardant safe first, about a two hour safe. Temperature extremes should not hurt the hard drive.

    I can't afford a second hard drive right now, so I'm still using DVDs. I'm copying a lot of pictures, including a wall picture from 1929. The picture itself was like molded paper mache, the glass domed, so they fit together. I pried it apart, since is looked like a ghost when scanned through the glass. First, there was black paper across the whole thing, glued over everything. It looks like it might never have been off before. If so, someone did an excellent job putting it back together. The nails around the edge were delicate but deeply embedded. There was a thin board next, stiffer than any cardboard. I pried it up without tearing anything else out. Then the molded picture had to come up. It was oval, as was everything. It wasn't flat, of course, so I covered the corners with my hands and paper, and scanned it.

    The image was good. Then I cleaned the glass on both sides. Who would dream that so much dirt could have gotten inside the picture as tightly sealed as it was. Putting it back together was a little trying, but few family members would notice that it wasn't as good. The black paper could not be restored where I had pried it off on two sides only. The picture is now in my "photo gallery" and on my site at MyHeritage.com.

    I told Dad I had cleaned his picture without too many details. He told me that it was the only professional baby picture ever taken in his family. Years later, his mother had told him that his father got very angry for spending so much money. Her family always had photos made, so she thought it was appropriate--just the one fancy picture. He was a tightwad, and just didn't believe in spending money. So when the other children came along, as much as she wanted pictures, she didn't get them.

    As I copy all these pictures, tag them, and write captions to explain for others, I realize you don't want to copy every photo you own. You choose the ones that will tell the family story. Instead of 50 wedding pictures, you take one or two that will be worth a memory or a story 50 years or 100 years from now.

    As technology changes, we'll have to keep updating our files, transferring to the new format. Maybe in the future, people looking at their family trees will find more than a name and a date. They'll find a photo!