Every
family has them. Boxes of old,
yellowing, crumbling photographs. And in
quite a few of these old boxes are photographs in which there are people no one
in the family remembers. The information has been lost as older family members
pass on.
Decades
ago, most families kept old photographs in picture albums and knew who the
individuals were and what events were portrayed. But since the advent of
digital photography, old albums have gone by the wayside.
We, at Reel
DocuMemoirs, suggest that the best way to preserve your family story for future
generations is to digitize your photographs. It can be done with some of the oldest family
members present who might have memories tied to the photographs. The information they give can sometimes turn
an old photograph of unknown individuals in 1910 into a photograph of Great
Aunt Rosie and Great Uncle Manny on their wedding day, four generations ago.
And once
they’re digitized, they can be shared between members of the extended family,
some of whom can shed light on some of the unknown people and events in those
photographs. We have had great success
coming up with information for our clients using this technique.
If you’re
handy with a video camera, it might be fun to film the oldest family members
talking about their memories of the people and events depicted in the
photographs as they go through them. This way, you’ll be able to pass down those
family memories in the best way possible-by those who were actually there.
At Reel
DocuMemoirs we’ve been able to incorporate old videos and cassette audiotapes
of ancestors long gone into our family history video documentaries. There’s
nothing like the joy of recognition on the faces of today’s family members when
they see or hear Grandpa Tom for the first time in decades. In their minds,
he’s lived only in memory since he passed on. But for the youngest members of
the family who have only heard mentions of Grandpa Tom, seeing and hearing him
for the first time provides a connection to the past they will never forget!
Preserve Your Past...Inspire the Future with Reel DocuMemoirs!
