M-OH - I was born in Yugoslavia 26 years ago :-) lived there until recently (it's no longer called Yugoslavia)... What were your great-great grandparent's names?
Tony Rufrano - I'm using 2 external hard drives, a set on my computer, and one in cloud storage. It's a lot of work, but who wouldn't feel terrible if they were lost. I wish I had that many photos of my family. They're priceless.
Katina Patriquin - I JUST learned about Ancestry.com and saw you can post pictures as well! I was thinking of joining to start my search! I have been blowing up old images to canvas and hanging up in my home! Great post!!!
Tira J - This is so awesome MJ! We have sooooo many old photos from both sides of my family. I've turned into the family historian for pictures, and have one big whopper of a project to get done by next summer when we have the big reunion in Nebraska. I just told someone the other day, that if their house were to catch fire, they aren't going to remember to grab that CD or DVD, they will grab the photo album and the physical pictures. Hence the reason I place such a high value on photographs. I wonder if our families knew of each other back in the days in Nebraska?
Brooke Summer Photography - Oh wow those are neat. I love the old photos, and the stories behind them! Lately there have been lots of Groupon type websites that offer the scanning of old photographs. I've thought about it for gifts, particularly for my grandparents! They have high speed scanners and can do them a lot faster than I can. :)
zoltan - you're lucky: all our photos were distroyed in WWII. all but one that my grandma picked up from the snow. that is exactly what is looks like :) so i had it digitally repaired for one of her bdays. anyway, i started to scan the photos that we do have
Boggy - Wow!, I am not anybody's "great" or "grand" ...yet,but I do remember riding one of these horse wagons topped with hay... Those were the days! BTW Melissa, how did you get these pictures scanned in? Did you use outside service or what specific scanner model? Would mind to share this info?
Melissa Jill :) - So good to know Meghan!! Thanks for posting that link here! I'm going to check it out!
Meghan - I'm so glad you are interested in this too! These photos are amazing, they look well preserved too. Once my grandma and grandpa passed away, we had to go through their house to prepare it for a sale and I found a ton of photographs. I am in the process of cataloging them all so my family members can have digital copies, but I also wanted to let you know that I am a member of www.ancestry.com and you can attach photos, video, audio and stories to any person in your family tree. Mine has grown quite a bit, though I have a lot of photos of just a few people in my family, so I'm working on finding more. I'd be happy to share mine! I think this is the main reason why I LOVE photography :D
stephaniekaren - Wow, I think that this only validates the importance of photography and how much it can really give us throughout the years...even after we are gone. I love the wedding portrait of your great-grandparents. It is amazing how much wedding photography has changed.
Amanda - I LOVE this. My dad is into geneology, so we have tons of these kinds of photos. I am always struck by their blank stares (like in the group pic at the top). He says it's likely because they didn't understand what the "black box" was going to do :) I like your perspective on the sense of time and place though. You are so right! We try so hard to make our images "timeless" but the elements that date an image are often what makes it so interesting. Thanks for sharing!
Gail - AHH...looveee that you took the time to do this MJ! Having just lost my grandmother, I am AMAZED at all the old photos she had. An even bigger issue we've found is that no one really took the time over the years to identify SO many of the people in the photos. And after a generation or two passes, it's hard to know who most of the people are with the exception of my grandma and her parents. Interesting things to think about, for sure!