Tea8 Loc: Where the wind comes sweeping down the plain.

I was looking at all them replies to why you got into photography thread. Several of the answers were to have the memories and that got me to thinking about something I saw awhile back. I was at an estate auction a few months back and there were lots of boxes piled together. I came upon a box that was full of photos, photo albums and cards a woman had saved for many years. I started to look through some of them and they were family photos. I know the person whose estate it was had children and yet that had just taken all those family memories of them and their parents and sent them to be dug through by whoever was the highest bidder. To me it was just sad that they would get rid of all those memories. (maybe they had scanned all of them or something, but I know I could never take any of my family photos and do that. To me they are too precious even if I have them scanned into my computer. )

ckcougar Loc: NATIVE FLORIDIAN

Maybe they were over-looked. I have known people who lost family pics in that manner... moved & left a few boxes behind by mistake,set box on wrong pile, etc. Very sad for them.

Roger Hicks Loc: Aquitaine

Yes, but what are you going to do? My will suggests that my pics should be hidden in a tin trunk in the far corner of an attic, in a tin trunk, in the hope that no-one will find them for decades. I have no children, but I have a sort of adopted daughter (the daughter of a very old friend, to whom I am a sort of deputy father) and there's no reason why she (or my actual nephews, nieces and great-nieces) should really be all that interested.

Besides, once you've popped your clogs, there's not much you'll know about it.

Cheers,

R.

RiverNan Loc: Eastern Pa

my 82 year old mother came to lunch today with an envelope of pictures for me....

on the other hand...I have gone through family photos and come across some of relatives that I have no idea who they are...When generation after generation puts photos in boxes with no labels sometimes, the youngest dont care because they cant identify the peeps.

Meanwhile if you like old pictures and have any you want to post I started a thread for just that a while back

http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-14380-1.html Maybe ill scan the ones my mom brought today...

nyweb2001

Before my mother died she gave my sister and I a box each of all her photo's !

rickyd Loc: Dothan, Al

indeed it is sad, makes me think about doing all I can to preserve all the ones I have, I just got my hands on a few old family photos myself,,,,

nyweb2001

We HAVE TO preserve them !! Family history !!

swampmatt Loc: Geneva, FL

Doesn't seem sad to me. And I'm a borderline hoarder. Maybe it's my mentality of making a conscious effort to get rid of stuff. It's the saving of things like this that is actually sad. And as mentioned in other replies, the saving of a photo without info about the content of the photo basically renders the photo pointless. So yes, that part is sad.

Also, maybe the box "they sent to be dug thru" was the outtakes. Maybe they each took a hundred photos - or ten... whatever was important to them. And the rest is what you found.

Tea8 Loc: Where the wind comes sweeping down the plain.

All of you have made valid points. I guess it was just sad to me because it was actual pictures of the woman and her husband and children so its not like they were people the children didn't know. I never really thought of them having so many that they would keep some and get rid of others. (I guess that is because I don't think there are very many of my family. I never met most of my grandparents and there aren't a lot of pictures of any of them.)

nyweb2001

The pics are a nice walk down memory lane for us !

Tea8 Loc: Where the wind comes sweeping down the plain.

That they are nyweb. I guess that is why I treasure all of the pics I have around. I like to look at the past. I tend to forget there are some people who don't necessarily like to look back at the past for various reasons.

nyweb2001

Well...the only family I have left is my father and sister....and I come from a big Italian family !! Once in a while I look through them for the heck of it !! Makes me smile !!! Kodak moments !!!!

vidvicar

Many years ago we had our last family reunion with my folk and siblings. I rented a video camera for the occasion. The main attraction was when my dad showed All the slides he had taken over the years. As each slide went up on screen I video's the full picture, then zoomed in on the individuals. The best part was that the video captured all the comments: Who it was, when it was, what occasion. All the memories and documentation in the audio. Now there is a tape backup of both the full slide collection and commentary on the background information. Still have the slides, but now I also have the personal memories.

nyweb2001

That's pretty unique !! What a keepsake !

English_Wolf Loc: Near Pensacola, FL

Great grand father died 40 years ago. In his basement over 2 ton(!!!) of chronologically ordered daguerreotype were found. My uncle cousins tried to give them away to the city museum, the regional museum... No takers. They were all kind of interested but they asked for everything to be delivered to them... It all ended up in a public bin. One case was left when I learned of it. I asked it to be spared so that I could pick-it up. I was not able to for 5 years and by then that too was gone.

He was the only photographer in this town (La Reole, France) so much history has been lost there... The only things I have from him is certificate of apprenticeship as a photographer dated 1879 and a notebook where he penciled his thoughts when in Verdun, during WWI. In it there are still dry flowers that he had collected at the time.

Nothing significant in his notes: It is cold, wet, food is never in time and always cold. Nothing about fighting or anything, just the daily grim reality of a foot soldier in the tranches.

His life resumed in a few words and an old picture that my sister has, him, holding a small black&white ratier.