When my mother moved to a small apartment 10 years ago, I inherited all her collected ancestral photos and genealogical documents. Five years ago, I decided to start organizing them into notebooks but after a good start, I got sidetracked. This is the year that I finish that project. That’s the story I’m telling myself anyway.
Part of me wonders what value these will be to anyone in years to come. Will it be worth my spending hours of time sorting, assembling, identifying and labeling? Will the next generation care for and keep these things?
The farther away you get from the people in the photos, the less real they are to you. I’ve studied photos of my great grandparents and the people in their generation, but never met them. My mother has very negative impressions of her dad’s dad. I look at his photos and can see a kind of severity there, but maybe my impressions are colored by the things she told me.
It doesn’t really matter if those who come after me will value these old photos – I could never throw them away. These are my people. They may not have been directly responsible for shaping me, but in raising my grandparents, who raised my parents who raised me, they certainly had an upstream affect on my life.
That’s my Grandma Lois as a young girl. I see myself in her. I see my daughter in her. She looks full of fun with just a hint of mischief. Sometimes photos tell a story, even if there are no words. I am often entranced by the unspoken stories I see as I pore over the photos.
I cannot throw them away.
I usually talk about deleting my posts in the morning, but I’m hoping one of you will say to me “You cannot throw them away.”
Lynniebeemuseoday 
You should not delete this in the morning. You should not throw the photos in the morning. No, you should not (could you?), No, please don’t throw them in the morning! (The photo TOTALLY looks like you and Ruth!) You never know when someone interested in history (if not in your family) will find these valuable. There is much more interest if photos are organized in a book (or something) rather than the boxes and boxes and boxes…. that are in one of our bedrooms waiting to be put into something! 😮
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I didn’t know you had boxes of that stuff, too!! Next time we get together, let’s compare stories. You bring some of yours and I’ll bring some of mine. How far back do your photos go?
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If you are referring to genealogical photos, I’m not sure of how many generations they are, but I would say mid 19th Century. Two paintings (portraits) hang in my brother’s house. I The boxes and boxes I referred to are of the girls growing up. It would be good to go over genealogical stories though- telling stories is a good way to get them cemented into our minds (and perhaps written down)! It sounds like a plan! 🙂
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Wow! I see Grandma throughout you, your siblings and your children. I know her face very well❤️
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❤️
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You sure do resemble your grandma. Aren’t years of photos overwhelming to deal with!? I’m like you in wondering if it’s going to mean anything to anyone in future generations.
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I’ve had to make peace with that. After I’m gone, it will be somebody else’s call!
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