Documentation
By dreamertink
@dfollin (25391)
United States
April 26, 2009 10:06am CST
I do genealogical research and I cannot begin to tell you how many old pictures that I have of people I can't say who they are.I have taken my pictures and written full names,dates and places on them.Sometimes I also add the event.For example if the picture was taken of my husband at a family reunion picnic,I would write.Richard H. Follin,August 5,1998,Fairfax Park,Fairfax,VA at family reunion picnic.
I have passed this advice on to some people who have told me that they don't care it is not important.Well,maybe it will be important to their great grand daughter some day.I do believe it is selfish not to document at least the person's name and date.
How many of you already do that?
4 people like this
8 responses
@ANTIQUELADY (36440)
• United States
26 Apr 09
i think that is a great idea & u are very smart to do that. i wish i had been. i to have pictures that i don't have any idea who they are. good for you!!
@ANTIQUELADY (36440)
• United States
27 Apr 09
that is great that u know so much about your ancestors. i really don't know much about mine. noone in my family was ever interested enough to study thaat. good for you. have a good week.
1 person likes this
@lilsoozieqwa (67)
• United States
27 Apr 09
my family has been tracked all the way back to pochantas..im my family historian..im starting my fathers history now..pochantas is on my mothers side,,i hate brick walls..
2 people like this
@jwfarrimond (4473)
•
27 Apr 09
It's amazing that you have Pocahontas in your family tree. That's a real conversation piece at parties I'll bet.
1 person likes this
@jwfarrimond (4473)
•
26 Apr 09
Like you I do geneology and I've got lots of photos that I don't know who the people are. My mother did write on the backs of some photos some details of who they were and the date, and for that I am eternally grateful.
I've done the same with my photos as much as possible. With digital photos, its a bit different. But there I try to give the photo a descriptive filename. Windows will support long enough filenames to allow for a name and a date.
1 person likes this
@dfollin (25391)
• United States
26 Apr 09
My pictures are old,some are even metal.I have a myfamily.com site and I have made a picture folder on there for pictures of people I do not know.I have got one reply after a long time someone knowing who this person in one picture was.One down,only a million more to go!
@jwfarrimond (4473)
•
26 Apr 09
I really don't have a great number of family photos from before my parents were married (early 40's) I suppose that photos then were only taken on some formal occasion, not like today where people are snapping hundreds of photos all the time.
I have a one small pre war formal photo of my grandmother, and another of her at some celebration in the 1950's - it's a group photo with her in the middle and my mother has written the date on the back, but not why it was taken or identified the other women in the photo. I'm sure that one of them must be my aunt Lily, who was still alive at the time, but I have no idea which one she is.
Oh just give me a time machine and a camera!
1 person likes this
@bobmnu (8157)
• United States
26 Apr 09
Not only do I write what the photos are and who is in them I aoso make use of the Thumbnail info. Some programs ask if you eant this information saved or not. I save it because it has the photo size, date and time as well as the camera that took the photo. By using Windows XP I am able to save my photos in folders and sub folders. I chools to group my photos by year then break them down into different sube groups from there. It makes finding a phot easier.
1 person likes this
@ralphido (842)
• India
27 Apr 09
you are right.. i lost many of my photos from my childhood days.. so now i have started scanning them into my computer and uploading to a site so that i won't lose them also.. recently i saw one of my old photos with my old classmate.. i couldn't even recognize myself in the picture... its odd how people change over the years...
1 person likes this
@dfollin (25391)
• United States
27 Apr 09
I have a myfamily.com site that I have put most of the old pictures on and some newer ones that some people might be interested in.I have made a photo album of all the pictures of my children other immediate family on mySpace and as soon as I can get a new scanner I am going to also put them on Facebook.I am also making copies of the pictures as I can afford it and putting them in scrapbooks and photo file boxes.Plus,I am going to get a safety deposit box at the bank and put copies in there.This way there will be copies in a lot of places.Of course I will label all of them.
All of my late husbands childhood pictures were destroyed in a fire.One picture of when he was in 7th grade from a family member.If more copies had been made and sent to more family members then we would have them for my daughter to compare her looks to her fathers as she grows.It is amazing how much a person can or cannot change thru the years.
@ada547612 (203)
• China
27 Apr 09
I have on my family tree, but no way to gain the upper hand. Our generation has been very little research was concerned about the family tree. I am a Chinese, and we rarely have family dinners.
1 person likes this
@dfollin (25391)
• United States
27 Apr 09
I was not speaking about doing genealogy to get the upper hand.I am speaking about writting information on pictures not having dinner together.
@kaleem_jr (106)
• Pakistan
27 Apr 09
In fact in case of your I'd like to add that from the post you've made here I came to know that you yourself are not satisfied. Consider it for others? What will they be thinking after you've told it. I think no body will go into details but one who have already known the problem of yours.
1 person likes this
@dfollin (25391)
• United States
27 Apr 09
I am just saying that if details were on there then people in future generations would have a better idea about how life was for their direct ancestors in their time.
@suspenseful (40192)
• Canada
26 Apr 09
I do it. I did not before because well they were pictures taking of me or I thought I would remember and we never got around to taking the rolls of film to get them done, and then we would find pictures that we had no idea who took them. But now I will write the name and date on the back so I do not get mixed up.
My husband has lots of pictures of his family, and I have some of mine, but not that far back. I do not have any of my father's family. I guess they could take only so much with them when they left Europe.
1 person likes this
@dfollin (25391)
• United States
27 Apr 09
Good for you.
On the older pictures,if you know who they are write their name and put approaxamate date.Example: Mary Doe (abt. 1975-1980).This will help future generations be able to know who they are and the era anyway.Every little bit helps.
On the older pictures,if you know who they are write their name and put approaxamate date.Example: Mary Doe (abt. 1975-1980).This will help future generations be able to know who they are and the era anyway.Every little bit helps.
@Cillysophie (327)
• United States
26 Apr 09
I agree with you. I too document any picture I take. My parents didn't do that a lot with really old pictures, but whenever we take a picture now, we document at least a name that'll jolt our memory on where it was and what had happened. Whenever I upload a digital picture on the computer, I do the same thing. I type a jeyword that will remind me of the event. :)
