Over on the The Online Photographer there has been a lively discussion (here, here and here) about how photographs can best be cataloged and preserved in the digital world. Opinions differ on how to insure that photographs will survive and be accessible in the future, and on how many of the literally trillions of digital photographs in existence are worth saving.
For most of us, the photographs that will be valued in the future are photographs that show our families and how we live. I have a couple of boxes of photos from my own family, most from the 1930s through the 1950s that I treasure for the story they tell of my family through several generations. And while physical preservation of these images is important, documenting their contents is equally important, for much of the historic value is lost if there no knowledge about the people and places in the picture.
So if you have a stash of family photos, make the effort to find out what you can about them while there are still people around who know and remember. One day, it will be too late to learn the history told in those pictures because the people who lived that history will be gone, and the photo, no matter how well it has survived, will lose its meaning.
I happen to agree with what you said about finding out the history behind the photo, the little stories that only those people and a select few will know.
ReplyDeleteI wish I had old photos of my family like you do. I wish I knew the history behind the people in them, but I don't. My dad is now 85 and even his memory of the people and events are fading.
Thanks for the reminder to get the "history" while we can.
Yes, I would love to be able to sit down with my mom and dad and aunts and uncles and go through that box of photographs but the opportunity has passed.
ReplyDeleteThere are many "blanks" that will probably never be filled in. It's sad, but I am thankful for what has been preserved.