The Neglected Task: Why Labeling Family Photos Is Crucial For Preserving Your Family's Legacy

[@12234nic11234]

I did this years ago with all of the family photos that I acquired, as well as backing them on several different platforms up so they won't be lost. I didn't want future family members to be left wondering who the people in the photos are. A relative of mine lost many photos in a fire but I was able to give them copies of the photos that were lost

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

I am SO PLEASED to hear that you've accomplished this goal. Way to go. May you be an inspiration for others.

[@pamselinski]

I agree and wish I had did all those things you mention. Unfortunately for me I don't have anyone to ask and that is so sad. Now I am the grandmother and one of a few elder people in my family. I try to write on all photos but must dedicate a time to catch up with that task. Hopefully 2023 will be the year. Thanks Devon.

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

My pleasure. I'm not the grandma, I'm just mom. I don't have anyone left to ask, so it touches me deeply. Let's both make 2023 be the year of memory keeping and genealogy research.

[@debnraleigh6062]

Excellent advice. Sometimes I just rush through adding pics because I know who they are.

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

You're fortunate to know who everyone is. I remember a cousin says she didn't include the names because she'll be around to tell everyone. Sadly, she's not around any more and no one knows who is in the photos. I think we should all take time to record the names rather than rushing. Thanks for inspiring me to do the same.

[@randywallis9624]

My father passed in 2005 & my mother in 2015. I eventually wound up with my mother’s pictures that consisted of her mother’s and her aunts and uncles. I spent the winter on 2021/2022 scanning 5,000 pictures and labeling the ones I could ID about 1/4 are marked as unknown. I have sent flash drives to cousins and nephews and nieces with all the pictures hoping to get some Identified. Thanks Randy

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

CONGRATULATIONS on accomplishing so much!!! May you have the luck you need to identify the 1/4 unmarked photos.

[@robins8769]

Thanks for this prompt! I am the oldest of two daughters. When my dad passed in 2018, my sister and I were going through photos. She recognized me as a child but didn't know who the older woman was in so many of my toddler photos. It never occurred to me that my sister wouldn't recognize our maternal grandmother, who passed when I was 4 and my sister was 10 months old. As my mom was an only child, I'm the only one who knows who the woman was in those photos. Happy 2023!

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

Thanks for sharing your experience. People are surprised who is known and unknown by their family members. You're experience definitely should be read and action taken thereafter.

[@msphoto9]

This is excellent advice! I helped clean out my grandma's house and found over 1,000 documents and photos. I sat with her many times and she was able to identify 99% of them. I also made some videos of her stories while she talked about the photos. I'm so thankful I did all this before she died. I have photos from the other side of my family and many aren't identified so I'm trying to work on this.

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

Thanks for watching. I'm so glad you had that time with your grandma!

[@epocheo]

When I started doing genealogy last year I asked my father and mother to share with me any photos they have to do just this. However, they have yet to find the photos; I might have to do it my self. One thing that terrifies me as a genealogist is people dying that may have information that would help solve a brick wall before I can speak to them. This is why I message EVERYONE when I notice they are a family member. Who knows how much longer they have.

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

I can relate to so many points you mentioned. I did have people die (or the house fire that destroyed) answers to my brick walls. Divine intervention is my greatest wish.

[@KevPhD]

Finally was able to get my brother to send the unidentified photos from my grandparents. Scanned and posted to an Amazon photo share folder, which I've started sharing with cousins who have begun to identify a few, which is better than where I was previously.

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

That's FABULOUS!!!! I hadn't considered Amazon photo share before. That's a great tip for many to consider. Thanks for sharing your success.

[@KevPhD]

@@FamilyHistoryFanatics it's really useful. You can create a group based on email addresses (so the others don't need to have an Amazon account), and any member can comment on the posted photos in the group drop.

[@ajalicea1091]

@@FamilyHistoryFanatics Can you please do a video on this. I'm not the greatest with technology and internet. Slowly learning. This would be great for some photos in my dad's home made album of when he was in boot camp and duty station. He is no longer around to ask who these people are. Would hate to dispose of them. There may be relatives who would love to have a photo of their airman.

[@DonaldTingle]

My Dad labeled hundreds of photos, before he passed away. I have them and they're digitized and labeled. Now.

[@ajalicea1091]

You are so blessed to have someone to do that.

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

Your Dad is a hero!!!!

[@DonaldTingle]

@@FamilyHistoryFanatics That he was in more than one way!

[@Vector_Ze]

I use a good flatbed scanner to digitize every negative and print I can find. Negatives almost always result in a scan with a lot more detail. And the file name allows a lot of meta data, starting with the date for sorting purposes. Then, there's the software I use to organize, which allows associating keywords to each file. I use an old version of ThumbsPlus and it serves several other helpful functions, importantly being able to find similar images which are often duplicates with different filenames. It also has basic image editing functions. Trying to pin down dates is the biggest challenge. To start, I give the filename an approximate date. Sorting by filename puts the collection into rough chronological order, and from there it's possible to narrow things down a little. I also have a list of family members and their birthdates. Using normal development clues for children can get a big help when cross-referenced with the birthdate. I've been able to get dates from newspapers laying on a couch and from TV-Guide and other magazine covers. Therer's so much to learn and to DO. I'm afraid I'll be gone from this Earth before I finish. But, maybe someone will pick up where I left off. Which brings up a very important point when you're dealing with digital media; always have backups, preferably more than one and stored at different physical addresses.

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

Thank you SO MUCH for adding great tips to this discussion. I really appreciate it.

[@tomlee7651]

One more thing. Scan and upload all your photos to some website. Or external hard drive that can be put in a safe place. I had a house fire and lost totes full of old family photos.

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

I'm sorry to hear about the house fire. I can relate, as explained in the video, indirectly. I fully believe having multiple places of backup for our archive is so important.

[@marilyncarey7957]

I used to hate photos with things scrawled across the front - now I don’t care where the information is, or how bad the handwriting, just as long as it’s there somewhere. Of course neatly written full details on the back with photo safe marker is the best, but these days I’ll take anything from ‘Jessie was a tart’, scrawled across the front, to ‘Jessie Smith, mother of illegitimate daughter May born 1886, lived in Bealiba Australia’ neatly printed on the back. At least I have half a chance of working out who Jessie is. My handwriting is terrible, but these days I’ve let my perfectionist procrastination go and I just write whatever I know with almost whatever I can find to write with, whether I have time to scan it or not - but I do write on the back ( unless its in one of those awful albums that you usually can’t remove the photo without destroying it. Though I have been known to tear the pages apart and leave the page as a backing for the photo.)

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

Thanks for sharing how your perspective has changed. You have shared many comments that I can so relate to.

[@ksbrook1430]

You are SO RIGHT! I started doing that with my mother's photos. But, so many photos and so many memories. Plus, I did not prepare with the correct materials to record the info with the old photos. I did not dare write on them. I ran out of time and most remained unlabled.

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

Oh no. I hope you can restart the process with the right tools.

[@timschulze5789]

Thank you for reminding me of this important issue in my genealogy work. I recently received a inquiry from some one in Australia who wanted to verify individuals from 1940s from his fathers photo file. He saw that I had my step mother and her parents attached to my tree on Family Search. Since I knew the family since the late 70s I was able to ID her parents in the photos.

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

Yay!!!! I love hearing about positive genealogy connections

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

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[@cgaccount3669]

So many people think modern things like Facebook or Instagram make labels unnecessary. These accounts will eventually be disabled and even if they aren't the names on them won't survive.

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

You bring up a very good point. However, we could create a solution to the problem you make, and that is to occasionally print out our Facebook and Instagram posts into a book. It just takes time to consider the question of how to preserve before solutions present themselves.

[@elainefarr3155]

Thanks for this video! I started working on our pictures last year, then got distracted and haven't done any for a while. Once we get my Mom's funeral taken care of this month, I'm going to start again and try to get them all done this year.

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

My condolences on your loss. My mother passed away 10 years ago this past December. The first few years were difficult to be sure. My best wishes that you succeed in working on your pictures this year.

[@elainefarr3155]

@@FamilyHistoryFanatics thank you

[@bradh.johnson2113]

What I find really scary is almost all photos today are digital and stored on someone's computer, IF we are lucky. I know a lot of folks to take the picture with their cellphone and there is stays. No paper copies or anything else. One of my friends said they attended a family reunion, took hundreds of pictures with their cellphone, and then lost that cellphone on their trip home. No back up, no nothing. Gone! As well as all of the new contact info, etc. Scary stuff.

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

You are NOT wrong with the digital photos. I am a few years behind in our family scrapbooks and video creating. Okay, I'm a decade behind. I'm hoping to devote some time to making a dent in that scary prospect of losing all the digital photos. Thanks for the nudge.

[@bradh.johnson2113]

@@FamilyHistoryFanatics Decades is just about right. That was the last time I did a comprehensive dive into ALL of the old photos from my side AND my wife's side. Tons and tons of pics we had no idea who, or where, or even when. I was generally able to organize them by assumed/implied dates and into archive sleeves and 3-ring binders. Negatives...um, well, ALL of the negatives are at least together. Hey, it's a start. :)

[@France2107]

My mother died when I was eleven and we had only a couple of photos of her. When I got old enough, every time I visited a relative, I asked them if they had any photos of my mother. I acquired quite a few photos of my mother in her younger years plus other photos of older ancestors, which I promptly labeled, copied and shared with cousins and other relatives. I had several photos of g-g-g's professionally restored. Expensive, but well worth the cost in my book.

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

I agree with you... well worth the cost.

[@AuntieJensFamilyTrees]

This is definitely my goal this year. I plan on digitizing my photos & adding the Metadata. Great tips! Have a great year!

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

Best wishes for success in your digitizing and labeling goals.

[@arlindanelson7928]

This by far is one of the most important tasks for anyone to do. You don't have to be a genealogist, just get them identified if at all possible. It will be helpful to someone somewhere down the line. This is on my to do list. Thanks for the reminder.

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

Thanks for watching, and it's so true, it's not just a genealogist task to do, to be sure.

[@RustyWalker]

If you use a document, you can create a UniqueID that you write on each photo that refers to your main notebook which contains the story. Both can also be digitized, and you can use the "properties" box for some info. The two relevant sections in the Details tab for jpegs are Description and Origin, which contain the fields: Title, Subject, Rating, Tags, Comments, and Authors; Date Taken, Program Name, Date Acquired, and Copyright respectively.

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

I'm not a fan of unique IDs that reference a separate file (such as your notebook idea). In my experience, the master index for the numbers becomes lost too often. Thus, I'm an advocate of the photobooks or other formats that have a photo on a digital page beside a story and that shouldn't get lost. However, if you've found this to be successful, then perhaps others can consider it.

[@wgd01121945]

I suffer from ADGD - Attention Deficit Genealogy Disorder. It is where you start researching one ancestors, but get distracted by another ancestor's record, which causes you to bounce around to different ancestors only to end up doing a lot of work with very little to show for it! Does that sound familiar?

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

Yep. Yep it does. My solution is research plans and/or going with the flow on occasion.

[@ennasus5964]

My late mother did this a few years before her death. She made lables and put them next to the photos of her mother's and then put them in a box. Unfortunately the box was too heavy for her to put away and it fell and all the content fell down in a great mess. She never sorted that pile. It seemed too much. So I inherited a box full of unsorted lables and photos starting in the 1920ies. I felt it too big a task too but perhaps I should at least try.😮‍💨

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

You have labels and photos. Sort out the ones that you can identify easily. Then establish a more permanent match between the identification and the photos. Sort those photos chronologically. Then, take the labels and the photos and attempt to put them in chronological order using photo type, colors, hair styles, ages of people in the photos and so forth to figure out when the photos and labels might relate. You may still have unlabeled photos and labels with no photos. But it's a project that can be started. Then reach out to other family members and see if they can help. Is it a big project? Yes. Is it a doable project? Yes.

[@Elke_KB]

Happy New Year! My sister-in-law has a family book full of old tin plate photos. I have an idea which family line they belong to, but identifying who of the 10 siblings is who will be a struggle. Ever since I started using digital cameras, I stopped printing photos. I have an album full of photos of my son, but hardly any of my daughter! I think I'll call my mom and plan a day to go through photos...and maybe I can convince her to do the dna test (fingers crossed). BTW, I had 2 breakthroughs! An ancestor on the India line, I found his birth in London and parents finally (except no maiden name yet for the mother). The other was while reading about the Loyalists and events leading up to and during the War of 1812, I kept coming across familiar names. I realised not only was my husband's relatives involved or married into these historical families, but so were my siblings spouses families. (including smuggling guns from the US to Canada for the 1837 Rebellion shhhh). Anyway, I found the original family farm and where they relocated to. The militia connections that lead to family/marriage connections and the land grants from Lt. Gov Simcoe, which explains how they ended up with property all over Upper Canada. It's been a sucessful week.

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

Please do this "! I think I'll call my mom and plan a day to go through photos..." I know you want to convince her to take a DNA test, but start with the photos. I have found when you plant the seed of memory keeping, it's easier to talk about the other genealogical gold (and DNA tests). CONGRATS on your breakthrough!!!! I'm super jealous of the Canadian discovers. One day I'll have more time to focus on researching my loyalist Canadians. Until then, I'm doing a happy dance with you!!!

[@Kay-Living-my-Way]

I am in the process of sorting and organizing photos, photo albums and scrapbooks. I was wondering how to handle the albums and scrapbooks. Do you keep the items in these and just take pictures (scan) each page and each photo? or do take photo(scan) each page and then take the items out of these. Thanks for any help you can give me or any resources I can look at to get an answer to this.

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

Great question. 1. If your albums are not the magnetic ones (which is a weird word), remove them but follow the process described in this blog post. framewarehouse.net/how-to-remove-photos-from-magnetic-albums/ (The post also explains what magnetic albums are). 2. If the albums are archival quality, then you can chose to leave the collections as is. Regardless of the final way you store the album, I would strive to scan the whole page of photos so long as they are of the same color type. Meaning, don't attempt to scan 1980s pictures with those from the 1890s. The scanner dislikes processing images from vastly different printing periods. Some photo editing programs will then take your scan and digitally divide the page into separate images so you can save them as single images on your computer. Does that help?

[@TESLblog]

Very good advice…!

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

Glad you think so!

[@MR-or6yv]

One area of strong disagreement: Please do not simply toss unknown photos! I had pictures of people whose identities were unknown for decades. My grandmother, the last of her family, had no idea who they were. After she was gone, there was no one left alive who could have told us. But.... I FOUND OUT WHO THEY WERE. I did the research. I discovered parts of the tree that were long abandoned in the crossing of the Atlantic, and now I know who they were. Don't give up! I discovered the family left behind in Europe, including generations lost in the Holocaust. It was only through years of research, but yes, it took a lot of time. Those photos are precious!

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

Feel free to disagree with not tossing unlabeled photos. However, this video pointed out a reality many people face. How can you justify paying for the transportation and storage of unlabeled photos? Again, in the story I shared how I didn't have enough funds to move that content, even though as a genealogist I know it's POSSIBLE to SOMEDAY resolve the question of who the unknown persons were. Instead, I used the limited funds that I did have to preserve family jewelry, special Christmas artifacts and so forth. By sharing my experience, I'm hoping people will take action now to resolve the unlabeled photo problem. As a genealogist, I felt terrible tossing out the photos. Imagine what happens for our non-genealogist family members who are faced with the same situations I was in.

[@MR-or6yv]

@@FamilyHistoryFanatics I didn't mean it to be an antagonistic stqatement, and I am sorry if it appeared that way. I am referring to photos in one's possession, which don't really require funds of any kind (for shipping, storage, or even preservation, really). Rather, I am talking about that old box of black and white photos or maybe the scrapbook that is hiding in the attic. I simply was encouraging people (in general) not to give up prematurely if they don't have the answers but may motivated to find them. (My most cherished findings were things it literally took me decades to find and had believed lost to history. I know I am not the norm!) I do not know about , nor was I offering commentary (much less condemnation) about any difficult decisions you have had to make. The only thing I was saying was that it is not necessarily "too late" when a picture is unlabelled and the people with the answers are gone. It was meant only as encouragement, not criticism.

[@ajalicea1091]

My goal is to buy a scanner and scan ALL photos in my possession. If possible I will be dating, location, and who is in photo. For our children I will be doing ALL photos on a CD. In turn I will be giving the original photo to the child who is the main subject along with a CD. This will not only get the photos organized but also help declutter stuff in my home.

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

Might I suggest you give them their photos in a secondary file storage format. Fewer computers have CD drives. Consider a second storage source as well.

[@ajalicea1091]

@@FamilyHistoryFanatics What do you mean by secondary file storage format? I am not the world's greatest with computers when it comes to storage options. In fact I still have the old form of storage discs before anything was known about a CD, the ones that are square.

[@Cynthia_G-NC]

I am looking for good archiving pens. I've found a few that are not true archiving tools for photos, so I'm still interested in recommendations or links to websites of information or even (dare I say it) sales of these items. Devon mentioned that they are important tool for labeling. I'm hoping for some specifics.

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

Check out these recommendation from archival experts Gaylord www.gaylord.com/c/Photo-Markers

[@sebastians2298]

I’m 14 about to be 15 and I’m getting as much information from my elders as I can

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

YES!!!!! My favorite comment. Best wishes.

[@sebastians2298]

@@FamilyHistoryFanatics Thanks, I started a tree a little less than a month ago and didn’t even know some of my grandparents names and now I have 144 ppl in it

[@suzannemcclendon]

Where did you guys go? I haven’t seen any new videos in quite some time and the emails stopped coming to my inbox. I hope you folks are okay!

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

We took an unintended sabbatical. I'm happy to FINALLY report that Devon will be returning to video releases on October 14th!!! Andy still has obligations that prevent him from making new videos. We're working on something that will let him make videos for Channel Members Only.

[@suzannemcclendon]

@@FamilyHistoryFanatics YAY! I hope that whatever caused the sabbatical is okay now and look forward to you to being back in full swing. I missed you guys!

[@cjwalker8701]

Unfortunately some of them thrown away by my great grandmother or so the story has been told. I also cringe a bit when photos are taken to the PBS antiques roadshow and discussed like they are a random antique. No, they obviously belong to the descendants of that person. Don’t sell them at auction, put them up on a genealogical site.

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

It would be nice to take our photos and share them in the places you mentioned. The key point is folks need to take action sooner rather than later. I hope that message comes across.