Old Photographs...what to do with them...

[nikon_sam]

I thought I'd ask you all a question about a situation that's new to me...and I'm having a tough time as to what to do...

I've been going through a bunch of old photographs that were at my parent's home...we were looking for any photos of my mother (who passed away in June)...I've come across a bunch of photos of people and I have no idea who they are...the ones that I can recognize (aunts, uncles, cousins) I've given those back to them...for their families to enjoy...
I was at my aunt's house last night and she went through some of them too and was able to identify a few...I left those with her...we separated the ones where the subjects in them were dead and no known contacts...some of these photographs are well done, professional, large format somewhere around the 1950's...

I have no use for them...don't really want to keep (store) them...but having a hard time destroying them...now, I know why there are old photos at thrift stores or antique stores...

My question is what would you do with them...would you keep them, throw them out, give them to an antique dealer or thrift store...my aunt suggested that I burn them...

Pretty sure I'll be finding more old photos as we go through more of her things...this was just the tip of the iceberg...Thanks for any ideas...

 

[Dwig]

Perhaps, scan them and share them on a photo history site like Shorpy.com

 

[Mackinaw]

I faced the same situation a few years back. My 90 year old father died and, on cleaning out his condo, we found many old negatives and prints that we never saw before. Some were 4X5 glass plate negatives that were a 100 years old (taken by some distant relative), others were from WW2, and others yet of us kids taken in the 1950's. I went through all of them, scanned the ones I liked (which were many), and then put everything in a large plastic storage box. They're currently sitting on storage. I don't have the heart to throw them out. No idea where they'll go once we pass away.

Jim B.

 

[Ko.Fe.]

?...some of these photographs are well done, professional, large format somewhere around the 1950's...

....
My question is what would you do with them...would you keep them..

Scan, share and give away.

 

[Vics]

http://www.scancafe.com/
It's a bulk scanning service that I used twice and found very useful in the same situation.

 

[MrFujicaman]

This is always a tough one. Back in 1983, I was given the 35mm cameras ( Nikon M and a LTM Canon) of the uncle I'm named for after his death, along with a box 12 by 24 by 10 packed full of prints and negatives. I kept the cameras for a while and finally sold them for cash and a Nikon S2 . I tried to interest the rest of the family in the photo's and got no response at all. Late in 1993, after having them stored for 10 years with no interest, I finally threw them out.

I had the same problem...a large number of photo's where we didn't know anybody in them, etc.

This kind of makes me wonder what will happen to my pictures when I die...

 

[Dralowid]

Just put them in a box, leave it at the back of a cupboard and one day you'll want to look at them. Don't chuck 'em!

 

[Gareth Rees]

As Dralowid says, please do not throw them away.

 

[Spanik]

Just got 6 boxes of glass negatives at a junk shop. Been going through them and while I don't know anyone on it they are just great. Just trying to find out where they were taken for instance can fill an evening.

 

[Roger Hicks]

Stick 'em in the attic.Let someone else decide.

Cheers,

R.

 

[pagpow]

Same problem here. But fortunately I am in touch with a network of cousins.

So, I'm scanning the ones from my branch and will use them to illustrate a family tree (programs available) to which theirs can be added for other branches. I have found it possible to reconstruct (through notes) the identity of some previously unidentified subjects. This makes for a very interesting quick overview of he rise and fall of families across generations.

Prior to passing on, my mother-in-law culled interesting from uninteresting photos she had. Unfortunately, due to some age rested memory problems, she then had the interesting ones tossed out -- wrong bag. And with it went the pictorial record of a whole branch of the family.

But maybe history of that sort is less interesting to you than it is to me.

Giorgio