Meant my post about a bin of memorabilia to be/stay in the executor thread - tip for being an executor - as an executor I appreciated that and would think about doing that for ourselves as well as asking for that for any upcoming executor roles. I would recommend that for others who are upcoming executors to suggest if appropriate. The photos were a minor part of the bin contents.
I have scanned about 7500 slides my parents had, and scanned hundreds of photos and albums.
Important for me was using file names that reproduced any information written on the slide or photo . ID people with their full name. IDplaces if you can. Throw out generic landscape, flowers, crowds.
Albums are scanned as whole pages (to preserve context and that weird sense of a person via what they kept) Photos that arecompletely unlabelled and can’t be identified in context go in a separate box. Important photos are scanned and printed, then labelled. (Hard copy is never the wrong choice!) Photos in paper albums stay put, photos in horrible plastic albums can’t be saved. Loose photos are organized and stashed.
Slide emulsion degrades over time, so you don’t have unlimited time to scan.
I made my siblings and their children CDs of all the images. I made my cousins CDs of appropriate images for them (but not their kids, you gotta draw a line). I sent originals back to the appropriate family line if they didn’t pertain to ours.
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Early in our marriage, someone put a lot of photos on some movie thing. They showed it at a family gathering and it was at least two hours long. By the end, I was the ONLY person left in the room. Years later, they asked if anyone wanted a DVD copy of this stuff, and every single person…declined.
But at least saved digitally, they don’t take up much space. However, in generations to come, the digital format we have now is very likely to be different.
We are not scanning and archiving any pictures. Not one.
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“But at least saved digitally, they don’t take up much space. However, in generations to come, the digital format we have now is very likely to be different.”
THIS.
A select group of photos was printed, copies for each family. Sometimes people choose Artifact Rising or Shutterfly books, but prints are super cheap and compact. And eyeballs will always be tech-current for a hard copy
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I scanned all of my parents slides for their 50th wedding anniversary and played it \ during their party. It was a big hit.
We scanned the super8 movies during the doldrums of Covid isolation. (The big reels are waiting still). Of course e also kept the 50 little yellow boxed reels too. For now, no space savings there. But it would be emotionally easier to ditch them if we needed to downsize.
Our library has all sorts of photo/video machines that can transfer photos or movies. They charge a dollar to put vcr tapes on cds or it’s free if you bring in your own cd.
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My brother and sister and I all have some family photos. I have scanned some and retouched/corrected them also (I’m a graphic designer, so my forte). We have not gotten to all of them. If you want to share putting them up on Ancestry or other similar sites can be a great way. I have found some old family photos that way and we don’t know who posted one but it was our great grandad and our grandma and her siblings so pretty cool to see. When I scan I do include any writing in the original handwriting (I don’t retype it). My brother is in contact with a 5th or 6th cousin. Doug, who is big into genealogy and who emails us photos of distant relations. They enjoy corresponding. If your immediate family is not interested it might be worth posting the best photos on Ancestry or similar for the Dougs of the world to find them.
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Wow, I never thought of a library for scanning/transfer equipment - thanks for the idea.
We have tons of vcr tapes and photos just sitting in closets. Problem with scanning to CD is that that format is quickly becoming obsolete.
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I know but it is a step closer…
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Our public library scans photos/transfers videos for free (with a reservation) if you bring in your own usb thumb drive.
Once you get photos from library system to CD, you could use external drive (connected to USB) to transfer elsewhere
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=cd+%2F+dvd+external+drive&hvadid=557588597492&hvdev=t&hvlocphy=1014570&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=4817485872645043761&hvtargid=kwd-470835974130&hydadcr=18034_13447342&tag=googhydr-20&ref=pd_sl_7eysw4ww8i_e
We put our stuff in the cloud and share from there with relatives.
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Had two uncles who were both slide guys. They died close together so we did a big family slide show evening with everyone. That was a hoot - one uncle was a dead ringer for Austin Powers back in the early 70s. People asked for a handfull of slides individually, but the rest were tossed.
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I am always encouraging hubby to take enough people pictures. He’s a great photographer. But I have been saying for decades, “I can buy the scenery and landmarks on postcards” (and used to actually do that to intersperse in trip photo albums). The friends and family are what matter to me.
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