I love old photos...but then I'm not telling you something you didn't already know. I haven't exactly kept that a secret. The faces, the clothing, the background...I study them all, willing the little rectangle of black-and-white paper to revel the answers to all the questions I have about the picture but it never happens.
The photo above is a great example. The bearded gentleman in the middle is Wayne's great-great-grandfather, John Gottlieb Pippig, and the men to his right are two of his sons, Lewis and William who Wayne's great-grandfather. That's Wayne's grandmother there on the front row, the girl second from the left seated next to her little sister with her older brother a bit farther down to the right. Beyond that it's a mystery. Wayne's dad and his only cousin on this side of the family are getting together tomorrow to put their heads together and see if they can come up with the identities of some of the others in the photo. Judging by the size of the children we know, we're guessing the picture was probably taken about 1908 or 1909, long before either of them was born but we're still hopeful.
We're lucky they both still live in the town where they grew up, making a meet-up like this an easy possibility, but that isn't always the case. I think that's why I was intrigued by the 1000Memories website designed to make organizing and sharing old photos easier. You upload your old photos, add dates or other information then share them with others who can supply more photos and/or information from their resources. It's sort of like Facebook for yesteryear. There's even a feature that will let you create a family tree with pictures so future generations can easily see how Aunt Ruth fits into the whole picture.
I did something similar for a lot of the old photos my Dad had given me, sharing them with my brother and cousin via Picassa and while it worked, there were some frustrations too. I can't say 1000Memories is better but I'm certainly eager to give it a try. The site is free, there are no time limits on how long your photos will be available nor are there limitations on the size of your online album. You can make your album private so only those you invite can see the photos or you can make them public. I must confess I spent more than a few minutes scrolling through the recent uploads to the public galleries, mesmerized by both snapshots from the 60's and family portraits like the one above. And if I had a newer iPhone with a better camera, I'd be all over the Shoebox app they offer to make getting the photos on the site easier but I'll stick with my scanner for now.
They're talking vintage photos over at Write.Click.Scrapbook this week too. Follow the link then scroll down to Monday's entry so you get all of the ideas of what you can do with photos from days gone by.
Obvious, there are lots of other people who love old photos too.
Definitely have to go back and check out all the posts about vintage photos! Lots of cute ideas in the first post!
Posted by: Suzeyq | March 01, 2012 at 03:06 PM