In the comments on Monday’s post about writing one’s obituary, Celeste who blogs at Celeste Bergin, asked about another concern the story raised for her:
”When the elder is without offspring and they have tons of family photos, what should they do (in a pre-planning way) with the photos? Any ideas?”
Nope. Not a single one.
I am in the same position as Celeste without children nor nieces or nephews. My brother and I are the end of the family line and there is no one I can think of who would be interested in having the ancestral photos.
Plus, everyone knows that anything published on the interwebs lives in some corner of it forever and I’ve posted the best of the images (well, the ones about which I had something to say) in my photo biography for any future curiosity seekers.
But it seems to me that unless a person without children is notable to his or her community – that is, someone whose parents or grandparents, or him- or herself, is likely to be mentioned in histories of the city or town – there is little reason to hold on to family photos.
So why are those boxes and ancient, crumbling albums stored away on a closet shelf in my home? Twice in the past seven years I have moved long distances and in packing up the house each time, I asked myself if I should keep them.
Both times I had no answer so I stuffed them in a carton and here they continue to sit without an audience.
Have you ever been to a yard sale and found a photo album or two for sale for a dollar or so? It is always sad. You ask yourself what happened? Was there (like me) no more family? Did everyone die? Or does the latest generation just not care?
Many years ago when the web was new and all, someone whose name I have forgotten bought a set of family albums at such a sale sale. Not having any idea of names or relationships, the purchaser created a website where he or she posted a photo each day making up a story over time about all the people.
I recall that it was quite popular and I followed along, too, while feeling more than a little wistful about those children running through summer lawn sprinklers and their 1950s’ parents, all with made-up names.
Since none of this helps with Celeste’s question, I’ve decided to let us try a bit of crowd sourcing and see what solutions you TGB readers can come up with.
When, as during the packing to move and now while writing this, I get tired, with no useful result, of thinking about it, my inclination is to dump them. Who could possibly care.
But maybe some of you see it differently. Let us know.
I’m late to the post but – 1) if you go back up the family tree far enough (and I’m not suggesting you have to do this), you will find some descendant somewhere who is longing to have old family photographs, regardless of the degree of relativity (so to speak); 2) if nothing else, find an archive (library, local historical society, family / genealogy group) that will catalog and preserve them. Someday, someone will come looking, and in the meantime, people who love looking at old photographs (me! me!) will have access to a trove, even if they don’t know the subjects depicted. 🙂
is there no (local) museum interested in having them? one of my greatest passions in life is photography, and I see it as a wonderful way of documenting the every day life. how it was back when… I know I am amazed at the sight of our city from 50, or 80 years ago. at how the people where dressing, how the people were posing, etc. I believe these photos have (must have!) a documentary value of sorts.
These photos are history – not just for Ms. Bergen but for past times and places. I asked my nephew – our family historian – waht he would do and this was his response:
— I’d look for the distant relative who is the self-appointed family historian and ask them if they’d like them. (I wish I had photos from the 1940’s and earlier from cousins who didn’t have kids.)
— I’d pick out the few with historical value, scan them, and give them to the relevant societies. Or if I couldn’t scan them, I’d just send them.
— I’d forward photos of friends either directly to them or—if they’re deceased—to their children/grandchildren.
— I’d keep the albums as long as I could. The albums will be easy for someone else—who doesn’t have any emotional attachment—to dispose of.
Just a thought. A great deal of thrift stores sell picture frames, maybe you could donate them and give them a home for awhile. Give the photo one last display. Heck, maybe someone will fall in love with the photo and keep it!
when my father”s mother died, my mother went through everything and if no relative or the local historical society was interested. she threw it away. i’m a pack rat and could never do that. there was a wonderful big red velvet family album that disappeared when my mother went into a nursing home. i would have loved having it and i know my neice would have too. a few years before my sister died, she and i went through all the family pictures that were left and she put them in an album with comments that we could remember or knew of the pictures occasion.
memories are good to have even if they aren’t personal, but a reflection of a time past. pictures are a history of everyones lives. if it is an interesting picture, it isn’t quite so important if we don’t know those people were.
I do end of life planning groups and get this question often. Some creative ideas I’ve heard are: making a story board to be displayed at their memorial and then discarded; donating photos to historical societies or libraries, having a ceremony and burning them reverently, sorting them and mailing old photos to old friends and/or younger relatives (if any), sorting them “one last time” and then putting them all in a marked container–for friends or for Goodwill. Any life review is beneficial when preparing for leaving this present existence.
There’s is value to leaving no trace behind when we leave this
Earth.
If the photos have historical buildings are locations, give them to a Historical Society. Ask major universities and libraries, too.