Save or Toss ?
Jul 1, 2022 14:34:46 #
I am in the process of scanning old photographs that my parents had in albums, some picture going back to the early 1900's with pictures of my parents when they were in their teens and my grandparents, plus other members of my family back in the early 20th century. After I scan and label this pictures, I am torn as to weather I should toss the pictures, or continue to save them. I'm pretty sure when I'm gone, my kids will inherit these and most likely will throw them out. I will be transferring these photos to various forms of digital storage; SD card, flash drives, external hard drives etc. So, should I save my kids the job of throwing these pictures out or should I hang on to them for a little longer. We're talking hundreds of photos by the way. Trying to purge as much as I can. Thanks.
Jul 1, 2022 14:37:40 #
If you pass them to your kids, they can throw them out or not. If you throw them out, they have no choice.
Jul 1, 2022 14:39:45 #
rplain1 wrote:
If you pass them to your kids, they can throw them out or not. If you throw them out, they have no choice.
I agree. Plus what happens if the medium holding your scans fails? Hopefully you have back ups, but I still agree - keep them.
Jul 1, 2022 14:53:12 #
Another thought along the same lines - I have no children but I have several great-nieces that are interested in family history and love any family photo they can get their hands on. And the older the better.
Jul 1, 2022 14:53:51 #
Jul 1, 2022 15:15:48 #
I will keep them. Your kids may not do anything about it but your great grand kids may know how to scan them way better than you can now.
Jul 1, 2022 15:24:22 #
greekd214 wrote:
I am in the process of scanning old photographs th... (show quote)
I cannot say what you should do. Only you can answer that question.
However I have a suggestion and that is, don't base your decision to keep or toss on your kids, do what works best for you.
Jul 1, 2022 15:24:55 #
bebop22
Loc: New York City
I sure would keep them. You can play with, scan, photoshop, etc. and spread the joy to relatives. There is nothing as satisfying as reminiscing.
Jul 1, 2022 15:33:37 #
rplain1 wrote:
If you pass them to your kids, they can throw them out or not. If you throw them out, they have no choice.
My philosophy with the old ones I scanned.
I DID remove mine from albums and put them in labeled envelopes, which are now in a box in the closet.
Takes up less space and weight.
Archival backup...
Jul 1, 2022 15:34:06 #
BebuLamar wrote:
I will keep them. Your kids may not do anything about it but your great grand kids may know how to scan them way better than you can now.
Jul 1, 2022 16:09:10 #
greekd214 wrote:
I am in the process of scanning old photographs th... (show quote)
Hundreds, then they can't take up that much space. Keep them. The history department at many colleges and universities take donations of old photos that they go through for research so after you are gone the kids can always donate them if one of them doesn't want the images.
I have a few hundred old prints and a few negatives passed down from my mother and other family members. Even a few "tin types" of my Great Grandfather's date for his senior prom back around 1880 or so. My oldest son has them while I have them all scanned to digital. I also have a couple of document storage boxes of photos & negatives from my wife's family and several file boxes of prints, negatives and slides of mine dating from 1966 when I got my first 35mm while in the Army (I brought back 3000+ images from two years in Vietnam and culled them down to 600 slides plus the negatives and a few prints.), a few thousand prints, negatives and slides from the 70s to the early 2000s (including one case just from a Geography/Anthropology Field School in Mexico in the early 70s). Then since I got my first digital camera in the late 90s I have nearly 48,000 digital images on various hard drives etc. And I cull without mercy - you get a lot of images when using burst for birds and other moving subjects.
Jul 1, 2022 16:30:44 #
awesome14
Loc: UK
Always err on the side of preservation. Once they're gone they're gone for good! But they can always be disposed of. I really don't understand where all the work comes in in disposing of hundreds of photos. It's just not a very difficult task no matter how you look at it. That is one medium-sized box that must be carried to the trash! What could be simpler?
Your concern for your children is admirable, but don't sell them short. I don't think they would consider one box of trash a major inconvenience! It's hardly even worth mentioning! So, I think you're after a different answer such as, "Do adult children typically value photos of their ancestors?"
Yes, they typically do, unless the parent has been the worst parent, and indulged the child in every way! Spoiled rotten brats care about nothing but what they want in the moment, no matter what that is! They have no nostalgia, because they couldn't care less about anyone but themselves, and others only to the extent that they demonstrate some utility in whatever manipulative game the child wants to play at that moment!
You could do like my father. Pass on mementos--things once owned by deceased members of the family: trinkets, memoirs, photos, figurines, books; insignificant in objective value. In his will he stipulated that for each item of this sort, from a list he supplied to the executor, that each child could produce, (s)he would receive $5,000,000.00 from his portfolio.
That is an excellent way to distribute an estate, because it separates the quality individuals who value their heritage from the greedy, selfish manipulators who will blow their inheritances like drunken sailors! But all without judgment. The descendants judge themselves by their own choices! At least one Bible from the past, of the disposition spoken of above, was given to each child at one time or another.
Those are a favorite of rotten kids to toss almost immediately! He also wrote a quiz regarding his maternal Grandfather's memoirs, of which each child received a copy. Depending on the number of correct answers, a sum was disbursed as a condition of the will!
Once again, children who care about their heritage, and are therefore interested iin perpetuating it, receive more, because the entire purpose of an inheritance is to preserve one's genetic legacy into the future. Otherwise there wouldn't be much point to reproduction. DNA survives or perishes. One or the other, nothing in between. And the goal of each man is to leave in the world part of himself, to make it a better place for everyone!
Famous artists, writers and composers many times forgo reproduction in pursuit of excellence in their craft. They leave behind the beauty of their artistic creations, whereas most people leave it with the beauty of their biological creations! And they want their efforts to have the greatest impact for good for the longest duration possible!
If we make one simple observation of who the most famous people are, they are Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary. The most enduring legacy is the Roman Catholic Church, with over 1700 years of continuous succession of Popes, and a body of law--The Code of Canon Law--in effect for the longest duration in history!
So, if people want their legacies to survive the test of time, they would be wise to emulate those who also have! It is written,
"I AM The Lord your God, Who brought you out of the house of bondage. I am a jealous God, visiting the sins of the the fathers upon the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing lovingkindness down to the thousandh generation of those who love Me and keep My Commandments!"
Which implies that the second group will go on for a 1,000 generations! So, we need ways to divide the wise children from the fools, and subsidize the wise while depriving the foolish! The only thing more laborious to bear than a fool's words are a rich fool's words!
But how does any of this tie into photography? How many times has one sought to behold the likeness of an ancient person, but none exists due to lack of drawing and painting materials in that era! Many people are famous for their likenesses alone, because it was preserved.
No one knows what the future brings. But I anticipate one day the entire gene pool back to the beginning will be mapped! We will be able to identify which individuals originated beneficial genetic mutations. It would be a great asset to that knowledge if the likenesses of these pioneers were preserved, so everyone knew what they looked like when they were alive.
I possess an impressive lineage chart of both sides of my family of origin, together with likenesses of many members, even ancestors who never left europe!
It is a fundamental longing to know who and where we came from, which is testified to by the popularity of gene mapping websites. A perfect fit for that is photographic records! Going into the future, seemingly insignificant personalities from the past may take on grest significence in the present time, and the photographic record is integral to the historical and biographical records!
Those who value not their own ancestral heritage neither value themselves, their country and police wnd military security forces, their race, or anything else of any kind, because they have no gratitude! Gratitude is the strong bulwark of humility, and only arrogance exists without it! Gratitude and humility are essential to truly love one's self and others! Love is what makes life worth living!
Therefore, without gratitude, life is only a series of encounters in which the individual tries to get more for himself than (s)he gives, so as to come out ahead in life! To these, old photos are so much junk, because they have no respect for others, least of all those they came from! Then, to place no value on the likenesses of those one came from is to lack gratitude in general, which is to mwke life not worth living, because one cannot receive love unless (s)he is capable of also giving love!
Maybe I answered a bit more than just the question. But now everyone has an understanding of the concepts involved. Knowledge is power!
Your concern for your children is admirable, but don't sell them short. I don't think they would consider one box of trash a major inconvenience! It's hardly even worth mentioning! So, I think you're after a different answer such as, "Do adult children typically value photos of their ancestors?"
Yes, they typically do, unless the parent has been the worst parent, and indulged the child in every way! Spoiled rotten brats care about nothing but what they want in the moment, no matter what that is! They have no nostalgia, because they couldn't care less about anyone but themselves, and others only to the extent that they demonstrate some utility in whatever manipulative game the child wants to play at that moment!
You could do like my father. Pass on mementos--things once owned by deceased members of the family: trinkets, memoirs, photos, figurines, books; insignificant in objective value. In his will he stipulated that for each item of this sort, from a list he supplied to the executor, that each child could produce, (s)he would receive $5,000,000.00 from his portfolio.
That is an excellent way to distribute an estate, because it separates the quality individuals who value their heritage from the greedy, selfish manipulators who will blow their inheritances like drunken sailors! But all without judgment. The descendants judge themselves by their own choices! At least one Bible from the past, of the disposition spoken of above, was given to each child at one time or another.
Those are a favorite of rotten kids to toss almost immediately! He also wrote a quiz regarding his maternal Grandfather's memoirs, of which each child received a copy. Depending on the number of correct answers, a sum was disbursed as a condition of the will!
Once again, children who care about their heritage, and are therefore interested iin perpetuating it, receive more, because the entire purpose of an inheritance is to preserve one's genetic legacy into the future. Otherwise there wouldn't be much point to reproduction. DNA survives or perishes. One or the other, nothing in between. And the goal of each man is to leave in the world part of himself, to make it a better place for everyone!
Famous artists, writers and composers many times forgo reproduction in pursuit of excellence in their craft. They leave behind the beauty of their artistic creations, whereas most people leave it with the beauty of their biological creations! And they want their efforts to have the greatest impact for good for the longest duration possible!
If we make one simple observation of who the most famous people are, they are Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary. The most enduring legacy is the Roman Catholic Church, with over 1700 years of continuous succession of Popes, and a body of law--The Code of Canon Law--in effect for the longest duration in history!
So, if people want their legacies to survive the test of time, they would be wise to emulate those who also have! It is written,
"I AM The Lord your God, Who brought you out of the house of bondage. I am a jealous God, visiting the sins of the the fathers upon the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing lovingkindness down to the thousandh generation of those who love Me and keep My Commandments!"
Which implies that the second group will go on for a 1,000 generations! So, we need ways to divide the wise children from the fools, and subsidize the wise while depriving the foolish! The only thing more laborious to bear than a fool's words are a rich fool's words!
But how does any of this tie into photography? How many times has one sought to behold the likeness of an ancient person, but none exists due to lack of drawing and painting materials in that era! Many people are famous for their likenesses alone, because it was preserved.
No one knows what the future brings. But I anticipate one day the entire gene pool back to the beginning will be mapped! We will be able to identify which individuals originated beneficial genetic mutations. It would be a great asset to that knowledge if the likenesses of these pioneers were preserved, so everyone knew what they looked like when they were alive.
I possess an impressive lineage chart of both sides of my family of origin, together with likenesses of many members, even ancestors who never left europe!
It is a fundamental longing to know who and where we came from, which is testified to by the popularity of gene mapping websites. A perfect fit for that is photographic records! Going into the future, seemingly insignificant personalities from the past may take on grest significence in the present time, and the photographic record is integral to the historical and biographical records!
Those who value not their own ancestral heritage neither value themselves, their country and police wnd military security forces, their race, or anything else of any kind, because they have no gratitude! Gratitude is the strong bulwark of humility, and only arrogance exists without it! Gratitude and humility are essential to truly love one's self and others! Love is what makes life worth living!
Therefore, without gratitude, life is only a series of encounters in which the individual tries to get more for himself than (s)he gives, so as to come out ahead in life! To these, old photos are so much junk, because they have no respect for others, least of all those they came from! Then, to place no value on the likenesses of those one came from is to lack gratitude in general, which is to mwke life not worth living, because one cannot receive love unless (s)he is capable of also giving love!
Maybe I answered a bit more than just the question. But now everyone has an understanding of the concepts involved. Knowledge is power!
Jul 1, 2022 20:26:25 #
I'd agree with keeping and passing along in physical form to future generations. At least in physical form some descendant will look at and make a decision -- passed along as a scanned image on some digital medium will most likely mean no one actually looks at, it will just be another bit of electronic flotsam.
Jul 1, 2022 21:05:00 #
If your kids throw them out then you haven’t done a good job instilling an interest in your family.
However, most families have branches with some (or many) cousins, some of whom might be interested.
For the branches of your family it will be very important to document the photos. Make sure names are available on every photo so that future viewers will know whom they are looking at.
The current style is digital, which presents some problems with documentation. Jpgs can have metadata which could contain the documentation, but many people don’t know what metadata are, let alone how to read them. And when a digital photo is printed, the metadata are lost.
The easiest way to preserve the documentation is to add a white margin to the photo and add text there. A copy of that photo can duplicate the documentation and it takes som work to delete it.
https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/user-page?upnum=2991
PS: one way to help preserve history is duplication and distribution. It works for backup and for history.
However, most families have branches with some (or many) cousins, some of whom might be interested.
For the branches of your family it will be very important to document the photos. Make sure names are available on every photo so that future viewers will know whom they are looking at.
The current style is digital, which presents some problems with documentation. Jpgs can have metadata which could contain the documentation, but many people don’t know what metadata are, let alone how to read them. And when a digital photo is printed, the metadata are lost.
The easiest way to preserve the documentation is to add a white margin to the photo and add text there. A copy of that photo can duplicate the documentation and it takes som work to delete it.
https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/user-page?upnum=2991
PS: one way to help preserve history is duplication and distribution. It works for backup and for history.
Jul 2, 2022 02:56:26 #
Sit down with your kids and look at the photos together... try to get them understand why it is important to remember and preserve family history and why those old photos are important and meaningful. Tell them stories related to the photos, the people and places they depict. Maybe then they will learn to value the photos enough to not simply toss them out after you are gone.
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