Writing family stories

Tonight’s twitter chat was looking at family stories and how to write them.

StockSnap / Pixabay

What is your ultimate goal with your writing? Does the title of your story attract readers?  A subsidiary question given people are saying they write for their descendants: How do you make sure your stories will be preserved into the future?

I try to write biographies of my direct ancestors to add to my blog and also WikiTree. But when I use photos it is usually about that event or person.

inspired by you @tasteach, I started writing biographies of my ancestors recently and it is fantastic for finding all the gaps in my research 🙂

Very true. I’ve indirectly shared data with WikiTree through my #familyhistory website & WikiTree users have copied and referenced that data

I think the ultimate goal of my writing is to record my research for posterity/my descendants. I’m not sure if the title of my story attracts readers. If you mean the title of my blog – well I hope it’s memorable!

my goal when writing my family history stories ( blog posts) is to record the stories of my ancestors, show how I researched and to share the stories with others and hopefully attract cousin bait!

Yes, hoping to attract those cousins too Sharn. To that end I listed in full names and dates of particular branch of interest on my website, but nothing so far – although by trawling through Ancestry trees I’ve done better on that line

my goal is to have a family narrative story for each of my immigrant ancestor couples. It is being written in Word and then I will PDF a copy for my website.

Two goals – writing as an alternative form of research/thinking, and sharing with others

I include the surname in the category of the post, but maybe I need to use more tags to help with readers finding posts

I always feel I never give this enough attention but usually by the time I’ve finished the post I’m so exhausted I just want to get it out there and am too tired to think of a decent title.

or place names perhaps – I often search on a surname in connection with a place

my ultimate goal is to tell the stories of my families and ancestors for their descendants. I don’t really ‘have’ story titles…

My goal is to record my family stories on the blog so they are archived for the future as I have nobody to take over my research.

I write biographies for my profiles on @WikiTreer, so there is no title, just the profile name. I do it to preserve the research that I have done.

Some of mine would be several pages in length. But what is stated is backed up by sources wherever possible, even for my own profile. I add personal stories whenever I can. My father (and more to add) wikitree.com/wiki/Dickson-4…

my ultimate goal when writing anything about #familyhistory is to leave something for my descendants. I really hope they get to see what has been recorded either via Pandora or the Blog to Books I’ve prepared.

Titles are always hard but I am trying to indicate who I am writing about and where they are from. I am not necessarily trying to attract readers, more to capture all my research into a readable story.

I have not started writing anything other than short pieces on my blog I would like to start writing more about those people I knew personally

I had my first article published in the NZSG last year “Felonius, Wicked and Diabolical?” Writing it helped me clarify the story of my 4X G-Grandfather

that’s a fabulous achievement Catherine and I love the title – very engaging 🙂

I have written parts of my life story, and want to write more once I finish my current batch of profiles. I have been asked to write an article about my famous Piper MacKay ancestors. Still thinking what to do for that.

does the title matter? It does to an extent. For a published book I think it’s useful to select a unique title…check libraries and Amazon. For a presentation it is more useful to have an intriguing title, if the subject matter suits it.

I do try to use catchy titles such as “ Who Killed Great Grandpa” and “ Kitty Keefe, Salad Oil Thief”. I find good titles attract more readers.

Documenting the research process is very helpful and is a dynamic citation as well. Cousin bait is a bonus!

I’m just lucky that mine has been preserved in Pandora but if it wasn’t I guess I would think about buying a domain name et al yes?

I think the way we write family history tends to reflect our reading preferences. I rarely read fiction although I have been known to get lost in the time and place of historical fiction from time to time but generally I read for information so …my predominant motive for writing is to pull info together and document as a narrative for my own benefit and for anyone who has a research interest in what I am writing about … that is, to inform rather than to entertain

We tend to focus on looking far back rather than in our own memory range. When we leave this mortal coil, those stories will be lost if we don’t record them.

To share stories I find about my family, and also to encourage others to write about their own stories. I often try to think of good titles to intrigue/entice readers, and sometimes it works!

Alex have have begun linking my blogs to my own domain names but I’m too am grateful that they are archived by The NLA Pandora website. We are very lucky

My titles vary from the obvious e.g., ‘Thomas Coop – The Roxburgh Years’ to the less obvious ‘All for Twelve Dozen Buttons’

Question about Pandora @nlagovau – do Pandora results come up in general Google searches?

Paul has written a great post about what happens when you become a death certificate.

My goal is to have my ancestors be gone but not forgotten.

An ultimate goal would be to find relatives interested in copies of the expanded research. 1927-1966: 3/4” in a wine-coloured duotang. 1982-currently: 19 binders of varying thicknesses

To make my research interesting to others and make sure the stories are shared.

My little goal is to turn research into interesting stories that people (particularly my sibs & nibs) *want* to read on my website. My big goal is to publish historical fiction based on my research.

Andrew has created a video and included in blog post which is actually the vocals from the video

Tumisu / Pixabay

What do you think the best medium is for telling family stories to include young people? Are Instagram, video clips, or podcasts more appealing than writing? Pros and Cons?

hahaha…maybe TikTok?

actually, this worked pretty well (excuse that it’s my first attempt so not perfect)… myhr.tg/1qhdnDoc

oh I am super impressed with this Chris. You must tell me how you added the extra photos. I feel so dumb. I just used the talking head and think adding other photos makes it so much better.

I loved the idea when I saw the moving photos in Harry Potter…so really want to do more. I just wish I had the right voices.

I think I just did it in the editing phase. I already had collected them for my family history. I also tweaked the script to make it flow a little more naturally. Go back and try to edit yours to see what you can do.

that is not something I have considered. Those are mediums that I am not used to using. I would have to spend time learning and then I’m not sure I could capture all the information I want. I would hope that young people would still read about their ancestors.

Well having done some research recently I can confidently say that it needs to have video and audio – a powerpoint presentation will do but the more dynamic the better to attract/include young people.

my personal preference is writing as it suits my style and more detail can be shown. For younger people who are used to quicker grabs maybe not.

I’m a big fan of short books with lots of pictures, including social history pictures. My children have read them time, and time again.

1. Publish books through a service that adds ISBN numbers. 2. Donate them to libraries / societies around your country. 3. Make the copies available to family members for purchase. 4. Submit a digital copy to FamilySearch’s book collection. 5. Submit a digital copy to the Internet Archive.

it really depends on how young. Our GenZers are vocally social; so make it like a phone message. Older? A series of old letters in IG, an informative blog post, a call out on FB to identify old photos. Younger? A photo collage turned into a puzzle.

re privacy. I’m currently writing about my relative & his involvement in the death of another man. I’ve decided there’s no need to go into the details or name the deceased, in case his descendants see it.

There’s a lot to be said about oral history and telling younger people stories. These can range from bedtime stories based on fact to discussions around the kitchen table. Ideally with a print copy for future memory keeping.

Like people of any age group, won’t young people have a variety of preferences? Many young genies blog and clearly enjoy writing, while others also host podcasts/YouTube videos

TikTok or Instagram are probably more suitable for younger people to engage with family stories. Not sure where videos or podcasts fit. Cons: older gen family historians are less comfortable with those media.

Maybe we need to try and offer a mix? Write the blog posts, but also link to them from a ‘quick bite’ on instagram or Tiktok?

Brilliant suggestions Maggie. I think this is the way to go moving forward. A bit like appetizers and then a main course if people want to know more.

Young people? I’ll be happy if my younger brothers & sister listen to our stories. During lockdown, a captive audience, I prepared a PowerPoint presentation & invited them to a Zoom meeting. Went well. Instagram, FB, Twitter, etc are links to website

My nephew has started working on @WikiTreers after reading my profiles. Today he has done two. He reads stories to his young children. I will suggest he reads the profiles to them. Hoping his daughter, my one-year-old namesake, has the genealogy gene.

Personally I prefer writing blog posts but sometimes I have included slideshows in the post or an actual clip from an interview eg soundcloud or equivalent

The best way to engage young people is probably podcasts, YouTube, Instagram. I don’t think they are interested in reading blogs these days. Generalising here.

I think there is probably a range of preferences within any given age group with regard to preferred medium so I don’t think there is necessarily a best medium as such.

I would say podcasts but remembered my daughter once fell asleep at the lunch table while I was in full family history sharing flight…

my children don’t read my blog posts online but they do read my blogs on book form when they visit and I leave them on the coffee table!

How do you write about emotions or place to make your stories and ancestors more engaging? How do you deal with ethical and privacy issues that arise as you write?

To add emotions to my story, I reflect on what was I thinking and feelings at the time an event happened. To add emotion to a story about an ancestor, I add family context and social history.

I.E., Imagine a woman on her wedding day seeing an empty pew where her youngest brother should be sitting. The sibling she helped raise after her mother’s death was in the Pacific Theater during a bloody battle. (Instant emotion.)

Not sure I have the wording proper: I try to put myself in the situations. For example, I am “Tommy” writing to my sweetheart, fm Amiens during #TheGreatWar not knowing this will be my last letter to her.

I tend to be more focused on getting the facts and context right so do pay attention to time and place … Not so focused on emotion or motive … don’t want to impose my 21st Century view of the world on people from another time and place.

I agree Jane! It may seem obvious to us how they’d have felt but maybe it was wildly different eg they may have been thrilled to leave a difficult family dynamic behind, or get away from the claustrophobia or a village. We can’t know with any certainty.

I am finding this discussion about emotion very interesting as I get the points about not knowing/editorialising/projecting – but at the same time, can’t escape thinking about emotions/motivations

Place is a lot easier. Descriptions and using pictures to get ideas of how it looked at the time our ancestors lived there. Ethics and Privacy – this should be at the forefront of any writing and getting permission of those written about.

100% agree! Place is easier too because we can refer to historical records or other sources.

I have deliberately not included material that I have found even though it is in the public domain as I am writing about distant cousins often. Their close family may not know. I lean to the cautious side for information

My #AtoZChallenge family stories this year are mainly fact based, Recording research works in progress. Stories will be added to the facts later

I don’t tend to include emotions in my blog posts unless it’s to point out how someone might have felt experiencing something. Or unless they left a diary telling me!

Visiting an ancestral place either virtually or on the ground can help when writing up a story. Using sensory descriptors can really help. I’m personally cautious about attributing emotions which will be coloured by our own views.

It’s a tricky line, isn’t it? I tend to err on the more factual side, but perhaps that makes the stories a little duller?

Leslie Albrecht Huber does this brilliantly too in her book The Journey Takers – imagining her ancestors at the time, as well as following with documented events, and her own research journey.

I was very pleased with my imaginary story of George Kunkel’s last day before emigrating. Even got a thumbs up from the local historian. I could explore emotions, smells etc.

Yes that’s what made Devotion by Hannah Kent so great huh? The attention to detail and the excellent imagination combined with thorough research.

Yes I agree it was very good and a non-genie cousin commented on learning about the migration. Even so, need to know that not all experiences were the same: era, place, religion etc.

Lots of questions here. Emotions if they are not your own stories and reactions are hard to convey as we tend to put our own emotions on our ancestors stories. We can only imagine the emotions our ancestors felt.

Depends on where writing. In this article for PROV I noted ‘I have omitted the real trauma behind [their stories] because it would feel like exploitation to share everything I have learnt about my family.’  prov.vic.gov.au/explore-collec…

To which I add that I haven’t worked this out in the in-depth writing I do hope to share publicly. I have a book on my TBR pile called ‘Privacy and the Past’ & I really must read it

Getting signed privacy permissions from every living person in my book was one of the two biggest nightmares along with copyright. I’d tend to cut it off at the grandparent level if doing it again – fewer alive.

I wrote about how my g g grandmother would have felt as she undertook the long journey to Qld from Germany unmarried and pregnant

I don’t write about current generations and generally stop with my great grandparents. That way I feel that I can write about their struggles and help family to understand why their lives were so hard.

My stories are more fact than fiction so rarely gets emotional. I try to add more description by having researched place and time.

Ethical and privacy issues are tricky. I try to think how I would feel if someone wrote something like that about me. You need some distance between you and your subject – I’m talking time. Hopefully those nearest and dearest have left this mortal coil

Emotions are hard unless you have their own words to describe them. Ethical & Privacy are easy, follow the ISOGG guidelines.

such a good question. I don’t know really. I guess I try and put myself into my ancestor’s shoes. I try and think about all the senses to make it authentic.

I like to use photos where I can to help visualise the story. Diaries can also do that if you find one written by someone else who was on the same ship or lived in the same place.

Before writing anything about a living person on my blog, I get their permission first. Most don’t mind and then they read the post and tell others about it.

dweedon1 / Pixabay

What techniques or tools do you use to get your creative juices flowing, find time and get motivated? What stops us writing about our ancestors and overcoming road blocks with our story-telling?

I’m looking forward to learning some (from the others here). I’m very slack, and have only written a few blog posts. My problem is that I always have too many projects ‘on the go’, so not enough time.

I realize that there’s no such thing as writer’s block in family history writing. With a timeline and the correct focus on the writing process, my problem is time, not a lack of creative juices.

I follow 2 mottos: 1. It is what it was. So, tell it as it was. 2. Know your audience (during the editing phase). Older audiences can tolerate more specific details so long as it’s not a hit piece. Younger audiences need truth but only enough to get the sense.

What stops …? Work, family, yard work, car repairs, medical appointments, power outages, and no ink for printer

After doing the family history diploma at UTAS I knew my stories would be factual rather than fictional.

My family stories are factual Sue but I do enjoy writing fiction as well. There’s just never enough time!

Some people are very good at fictionalising fact without crossing the line into fiction but, like you I am more comfortable with fact … sometimes including assumptions but clearly identified as such

Use a theme to collect the stories around for publication. Time… Well that’s a whole nother thing and I wish I could make some more. Most of my writing is talks, so I try to include family in these.

I used NaNoWriMo to get started on my novel #TheOnlyLivingLadyParachutist got a jumble of 20,000 words down in a month and then spent years finishing it

It seems harder for me to write my own story than to write about others. I have an outline, but keep changing that.

I tend to write directly on the blog what information I already have. Then I research more to find the bits that make the story more interesting using newspapers etc.

I’ve written more since I decided I don’t have to be ‘finished’ researching someone to write up what I have. I’m very visual, so having a photo or a map to get me started is easier than words on a page sometimes.

Thank you for raising this VERY important point Lorna. Many people have mentioned PLACE tonight and yes, sometimes I can’t get going with my writing until I’ve looked at a map or photo of the place.

Joining a non-genie writing group or doing a class can be a great help I think

I have a goal of 2 profiles a day at present as I work through my 700 @WikiTreers profiles again adding to them. After that I could add new ones, but I have other tasks I want to do – scanning my overseas slides (NZ ones have been done) and writing my story.

I overcame a recent roadblock by changing my ancestors’ names to something completely different. I’d written about my grandparents and found I was too emotionally attached to write about them, so I detached by making them “different” people.

I also focused on the 7 people with the ‘best’ stories, all interlinked. Having thought about them as ‘characters’ with emotion helped me a lot. I did a ‘character’ workshop with fiction writer @KateForsyth – brilliant help!

I tend to be inspired to write while researching something that interests me and I think would make an interesting blog post

I had a major mental roadblock when writing my book. I solved it in the end by writing an imaginary description of my ancestor’s last day before emigrating, using what I knew of the village, and clearly said it was fiction.

Perhaps a possible road block is the desire to have it complete and of course that never happens. You can always add more later just get something done before it is too late.

Yes I agree Shauna. We think we have to wait until we’ve solved every gap and answered all the questions. Better something than nothing. I can imagine how much more nuance I could have added to my book if Trove had been available – but I just write it on my blog.

I tend to write directly on the blog what information I already have. Then I research more to find the bits that make the story more interesting using newspapers etc.

When I had more time, I loved the Geneabloggers prompts – useful for coming up with shorter blog posts. Now, it might be a brickwall I have, or have broken down, or a story, or a photo, though I find it more difficult to set aside the time to write

Having a regular time to write probably helps though doesn’t always work for me. Motivation varies and sometimes accepting that and working on another aspect is a necessary diversion. Having a clear idea of your goal and why you’re doing the writing helps.

When I was doing well (pre-pandemic) I set myself a small goal of 200 words a day, every day, c.1400 in a week. Didn’t make it the first day, but sat down on day 2 and didn’t end up missing a day for 6 months. I LOVED writing & seeing the word count go up

Setting dedicated writing time and sticking to it. Trying not to do additional research but that is often difficult. Get a first draft down quickly and then edit and improve from there. Don’t think to hard, just get it down.

I wish I could claim professional sounding techniques but I just love researching and blogging. If I get stuck I use memes. You never think you have done enough research and of course, you are right, but time waits for no woman. Just do it.

I tend to reflect on a topic I want to write about…either mud-map it or just cogitate. My subconscious helps to tie it together overnight. The hazard is lying awake with ideas surging around the brain.

 

Family history photos

Many comments on this topic were similar to those mentioned in our post on organizing your research and documents.

DariuszSankowski / Pixabay

How do you currently store your family photos (traditional and digital)? Have you started sorting, organising and digitising them?

Save your photos as TIF files, not JPG. JPG is lossy, which means we do not get back the same quality we put in. There are more losses every time it is saved as JPG. TIF files are not lossy and much higher quality images.

I tried to do some TIFF scanning but it was so awkward with our scanner/software combo. JPG is more useful.

Check with your local library if you don’t have your own scanner. Many have good photocopier/scanners that you can use to scan photos and save to a memory stick or email to yourself.

Been sorting/ digitizing #photos for years! Identifying them is the challenge! Originals (not scanned) are in archival boxes, while scanned ones go to interested family. Scans, IF known, are in digital folders & cited in research notes! Liam

older family ones I’ve scanned & identified where possible. My own photos I’ve gone back & written names, dates and places on the back.

Someone contacted me on FB recently as she had a photo with my name on it – taken waaaay back in my late teens, with a group of mutual friends. Was fab to see,

I went thru my own photos from school/college & was ruthless. If I didn’t remember the people in it, I threw it out, unless it was a good pic of me! I’m very unphotogenic, so anything half-decent must be kept!

It was mad, I barely recognised myself! It was the top I was wearing that I remembered

I found some old pics in mum’s stuff recently, scanned and sent to the children I grew up with. They were thrilled as they didn’t have a family camera. Fun!

We’ve scanned my grandmother’s photo album – she has captioned them all, and include wedding photos of friends. Would be lovely to share them with their family.

Our Buchanan family was from Airdrie, but I think they left from Glasgow #ANZAncestryTime The album is so beautiful and I guess the family kept it safe to remember the relatives that they never saw again #Keepsakes

I have had such problems with the new(er) Photos – so irritating to use. The earlier version iPhoto was better. I found a whole heap of “lost” photos that hadn’t migrated from one to the other – was distraught thinking they had disappeared somehow.

I’m thinking of taking my photos from the Apple photos software. They hide them away so I find it easiest to copy any I want to use in blog posts or other applications. Then I have a mess of duplicates. For work I just file in Finder as it is easier.

Maggie, know what you mean. I preferred iPhoto as well. I had some trouble migrating that I add my back up to photos. Then some reappeared. Now I have to open each one and check for the most metadata and delete one. If you find an alternative, pass it on. Thanks.

I bought a FlipPal years ago but very rarely use it.

What can I say about my photos – NO! Physical photos stuck in albums and digital ones lumped in my computer. I do back up. I have scanned my Father in Law’s photo album and selected many for a photo book for his children. They loved it.

I love using photobooks both for family and events but also family history. Who knows what will survive.

We do Christmas photoletters (like a comic strip format) and these are wonderful to look back on. I think the photobooks would be the same – and more likely to survive, hopefully.

Try to use a common naming pattern when saving digitally but otherwise they are in a box labelled Family Photos

I am trying to label every photo and document consistently. For example, Surname_firstname_event/place_year. Any other examples?

I use surname first name year then event as it keeps photos in timeline order for that person

My method too or almost :)) Surname_first nameYear_event_place if known. For group photos add the names descriptions in metadata or use a simple program like Paint to add white canvas to picture and put all the information there

Have some in Flickr albums flickr.com/gp/crg_flickr/… some in shared Google photo albums depending on where families lurk.

I’m saving some in offline programs like Google Photos…in case. I have a Flickr account but don’t use it anymore.

I have finally transferred almost all of my iphone photos to my computer. I have started using the Forever storage that I paid for at Rootstech a while ago but it takes time! That’s the plan

Well I do wonder why I’m bothering as there is nobody coming after me to take them on. Might just be better off to put them up on Flickr. Haven’t decided what to do yet

FastStone Image Viewer. Before that Picasa, which was very good and easy to caption

I started archiving our digital photos years ago. Have left a set of DVD data discs at my parents house as a backup. Whenever I visit family I’ll scan whatever I can get my hands on. Physical photo archiving still to do. File/folder naming important.

Did anyone else fall into the trap of buying tow of each copy when you had photos developed? Meaning to send them to relatives and then never doing it? I have way too many photos. It seems a daunting task

Purchased some archival folders and sleeves from @GouldGenealogy and as I digitised wrote on back in pencil, and added the photos – 2 albums for my side of family, 1 for husband’s side, photos with metadata in surname folders

My father has all our family photos and every now and then he scans some and sends to me. Especially if they relate to a blog post. He is super organized with hundreds of photo files on his computer

One thing I do as I’m scanning is write the names on each photo but anything I scan I write an S on it so I know it’s been scanned

everywhere – albums, my computer, my phone, Google photos – no organisation whatsoever

My family photos need some sorting. So many in old albums and dare I say shoe boxes!

I have mine backed up on an external hard drive, on Forever (well they are getting there) and on USB’s

Organised, moi? I think not. No, I save them in folders by event (travel), or family name and within that by generation. I do have way too many photos of my own. like Sharn I’m a shutterbug.

Clker-Free-Vector-Images / Pixabay

I have my mother’s photos – years ago I got her to get all negatives printed & photos into photo albums with labels – I’ve started scanning some of them & use them on my family history blogs – but still long way to finish scanning – I keep getting sidetracked

I haven’t had a play with Adobe Bridge yet (I’m on a Windows laptop). I’m curious about what else is out there. I was thinking of re-importing pic files from 1 drive to another because the photo import apps have some bulk naming capabilities.

I have many albums of my own family photos and boxes of loose ones. I think I overdid it when photographing my children, holidays etc. I probably need to get rid of some

I find digital images are the hardest to control. They proliferate and it’s too easy to ignore managing them. When I do them I categorise the same ways I do with traditional pics.

They are saved in surname files eg maiden name till married then under married name for women

I have them saved on flickr as well as on home computer and many in Google photos but they are harder to add to blog posts.

I have scanned the old albums and they are on my computer. The originals are in my safe. I will give them to my nephew. I have suggested he should install a larger safe (as he has inherited from several people) in his renovations. Then he will get mine.

I’m afraid the trad photos are in boxes & old albums. Digital photos are roughly grouped into family lines. I give myself a C, definite room for improvement.

Digitally – I save them in specific family folders on my hard drive and backed up on my portable hard drive.

Traditional photos have been in albums but as I scan them I’m storing them separately and dividing into people and places. My favourite slides have been digitised, stored and backed up.

My family photos are a project to do still. I have digitised Many of my old ones but not my own family photos. Some are uploaded to Forever but I have boxes and boxes of photos that need attending to.

While on Covid leave for 12 months I digitised all photos. But that’s all I’ve done.

It’s one of the next jobs on my list, but so far I haven’t started 🙂

fotshot / Pixabay

Do you have a plan or any tips for organising and preserving family photos into the future?

Hoping that many unknown #photographs can be identified, then grouped within the family units.  @Photomyne has proven very helpful copying pictures trapped in (too many!) glue-striped, cling film albums that were popular in the 70s-80s

I recently got sent some photos from mum’s oldest friend’s family. Even included a photo of my parents’ house when first built. Best of all, they all have info on the back incl my baby photos.

Excellent, one of my sisters friends had a photo of her mother as a nurse holding me at a few days old outside the hospital where I was born.

The main thing I do to ensure my photos survive is put them into blog posts. My blog is archived so I’m hoping somebody comes across them in future years.

Photos from our trips (remember those 😒) go into photo books from Snapfish. Otherwise they just get forgotten about on a hard drive somewhere. #ANZAncestryTime Could do something similar for the family history photos.

I also organise all my digital photos (travel – family) in folders by date & event – I transfer photos from my Android phone to these folders. I also keep camera sd cards. I accidentally deleted some pics from my hard drive but found them on sd card

i inherited a bundle of photos of Perth, taken by my grandfather in the 1950s. I got in touch with the WA State Library & they said they’d be interested in taking them. As you say Pauleen, they do reveal many changes.

I use as many old family photos as I can to illustrate blog posts. And I make photo books. That way they are hopefully preserved for some time to come

My files on my computer of digital photos are organised. It is the boxes of photos that need sorting and scanning that is my problem

I do plan to sort first & actually discard some old photos. Scan. Then put them in archival albums. I have so many of my grandmothers’ photos.

A great tip I got at a writing seminar (for research docs, but works just as well for photos) is to put words in the file name that you would search for & let the computer’s search engine do the rest. So if its a group photo put many names in, etc.

I want to recaption my family photos – these date back to the 19th century. My own digital photos from 2005 have yet to be gone through to see which should be kept. Then I have the many boxes of slides from the 1960s to 1990s to scan plus the colour negatives

My parents and I had lots of old family photos scanned professionally, which has been fantastic, so they’re preserved in case anything happens to the originals. Plus easier to share with wider family. Haven’t got to the organising part, though.

A key preservation strategy is to share photos with others, especially heritage photos, present them in an appealing way, and keep backup copies off site where possible.

My fear is that in the coming decades we will lose a lot of history from our digital photos. I used photobooks for particular activities but that’s ironic -preserving digital in traditional ways.

Hoping that this #tweetchat will inspire me to get organised. Just realised the images on my computer are in an even bigger mess as I started filing them a while back so need to figure out where I am presently, create measurable goals, etc.

congerdesign / Pixabay

Share where you have found the best advice about organising, storing and preserving family photos ie books, conferences, courses, websites


The photography studio will at least you give you a place to start from and date range when they were in business. Perhaps then post on local area history site/society?

Perhaps back in Scotland where they originated – family history groups or facebook groups, or maybe they were families who came out together to Australia, so check where they settled here

Do you have access to the records of people leaving from Glasgow? If you can search for Buchanan and see if any families come close to the ages or age differences of the people in the photos…. Good luck!!


Contact Sunshine Coast Libraries they probably would digitise them, Noosa has done that for folks up here, borrowed old photos from locals and added them heritage.noosa.qld.gov.au anyone can login and add

Yes they have a promotional collection online that they gave us access to for the Waves in Time conference so they will probably be happy to add to the collection. Also I have heard they are working on an archive/

My best advice has always come from attending RootsTech. Though I have been tempted to employ The Filing Fairy who I met after speaking at the Botany bay FHS

About 10-15 years ago I came across a book Keeping Found Things Found – booktopia.com.au/keeping-found-… – it really helped my organise my files professionally and then my family history

somewhat off-topic. So you preserve your images in archival quality storage as recommended by the experts? I confess I don’t though I do have some stored safely apart from that

The best advice for scanning and saving photos is invest in a good scanner. The scanner in your printer is likely to be not as clear as a dedicated scanner. I like Epson scanners. Save photos across multiple devices and mediums..

I am a bower bird when it comes to collecting ideas about this….no one site. Sometimes tips from other genies can be as helpful as other experts’.

OpenClipart-Vectors / Pixabay

Suggest tips for maintaining family photos, ensuring image types remain current and preparing for disasters both digital and natural.

I started to write a blog post about my plans to preserve & digitise, but so many others have done that already. Q. What do you do with photos of friend’s weddings? A. Friends, keep an eye on your mailbox.

A great way to slim down your photo collection and give photos to those who would cherish them and pass them down in their own family!

For photos that are not my immediate family, I have sent them to cousins and friends of the family who I feel would treasure them more.

Regular backups: thumb drives, external drive, share originals (after scanning) to ensure an off-site copy. Upload to your website/blog: “Gramma took these vacation pictures; do you recognize any bunny?” Liam

I wonder how many of us have a disaster plan for our photographic archives? Bushfires, cyclones, storms, floods are real risks. When I lived in Darwin I was much more attentive to this.

It’s a good question. Grabbing the NAS hard drive is in our Bush Fire Survival Plan. It has everything backed up to it. Our most precious albums go into plastic crates during bush fire season.

Good strategies Greg. At least with cyclones there’s usually more notice and we kept plastic tubs for that purpose too.

I will give FOREVER another plug. For a one off payment I have a personal and business account. It’s just time I am short of!

I must tell you my family photos disaster: Egged on by my uber-organised-scrapbooker-sister I made an album of my first-born’s baby photos. Was quite proud of myself. I left it on the floor & the cat peed on it 😳

Scanning will save the information. I back up and store one PHD in the safe. I put photos on my WikiTree profiles. I had to add new photo corners to the oldest album and rethread the pages to hold them in place

Another of the great challenges for the future which is another reason I like including images in photobooks or blog posts. With thousands of images how do you ensure you keep the standards current let alone your inheritors.

Not really as I don’t have a huge lot of photos. House fire! Also digitised all paperwork. Was a relief to get it done

I don’t have many from my life growing up Jennifer. I lost them in the 1974 Brisbane floods, My mother lost hers in a house fire.  For years I have had a selection of photos packed and ready to evacuate which we had to do several times for bushfires. I still have those boxes ready.

We have an emergency ‘run’ box too. Haven’t had to use it yet. But we are surrounded by heavy bush so it will happen one day. There was no warning for our house fire so even if we’d had it then it wouldn’t have been taken

My dad has been really good at getting copies of photos from cousins, or borrowing them and scanning. I’ve been lucky!

I wonder how many of us have a disaster plan for our photographic archives? Bushfires, cyclones, storms, floods are real risks. When I lived in Darwin I was much more attentive to this.

Our oldest photos

My great grandparents in Melbourne. Before June 1868 as that is when she died. The first in my grandmother’s album which went from Victoria to New Zealand. Most not named or dated, such a shame. #ANZAncestryTime

Brooke gave lots of posts to help with looking after photos

Tame your photo collection

Digitizing your family collection

Organize family photos

Blog posts relating to photos

Marian: Those duplicates,

Carmel: Adding Flickr photos to Trove,

Brooke: Who is in the wedding photo?

Sue: Photo essay, using images,

Readers: How do you look after your family history photos?

Crowdsourcing and NFHM2021

Fantastic topic for #ANZAncestryTime chat especially with National Family History Month in August.

Free-Photos / Pixabay

What do you think is crowd sourcing in relation to Family History?

Genealogists or family history type groups helping each other and working together for a common cause

Excellent definition Sue – succinct and yet comprehensive 🙂

For me it’s about asking for support for a collaborative project

I put a callout on the blog for guest bloggers to write about our shared family members. Maybe that’s crowdsourching? Btw I didn’t get anyone take up the offer

Some societies use guest bloggers to write posts weekly eg @gsq Yet another type of crowd sourcing. gsq-blog.gsq.org.au

Curious fox website curiousfox.com

I’m a member of a number of FB groups, occasionally I will ask for help when I’m stuck but I usually ask for help on How I can find the info I’m looking for so I can find it rather than ask someone else to find the info for me

There’s nothing like making the discovery yourself, that to me is what #genealogy is about plus you learn on how or where to find what your looking for

help from Ireland Reaching Out is a type of crowdsourcing where locals who know the place help researchers from afar.

Morning! Not sure that I can contribute a lot to the topic today but you’ve just quoted the one example I could think of. #ANZAncestryTime Although @duchas_ie also uses crowdsourcing and this can also be a great assistance to 20thC #FamilyHistory research – just ask

Also digitisation has overtaken some earlier indexing. Of course correcting Trove texts and adding to lists fits this category as well.

In NZ there’s the 1893 suffrage petition database nzhistory.govt.nz/politics/women… you are able to contribute a short bio

this event (Twitterchat) is an example of crowd-sourcing n’est-ce-pas?

I would argue that the 2 ancestryhours we participate in are a type of crowdsourcing as well.

There is CSI: Crowd Sourced Indexing available to genealogy societies and special interest groups for indexing their records. It is a free, web-based program I saw at #RootsTech a number of years ago. csindexing.com

The new versions of Rootschat email groups that I m a member of are definitely crowdsourcing with lots helping find info for someone with a question – mainly Tasmanian groups

not used crowd sourcing that much. I have a few FB groups for each of my family groups, in asking questions but hit and miss. Used wikitree but find mistakes.

Perhaps something like hawkesbury.net.au/claimaconvict/… where you can not only claim a convict but also contribute information about them

A great result of crowdsourcing is FreeUK Genealogy @FreeUKGen with lots of volunteers

asking and receiving help on social media, platforms that provide input e.g text correction on Trove, transcription sites so many examples. i’ve had folks improve photos just by asking

I suppose that putting cousin bait out there on my blog could be crowdsourcing

I guess @BillionGraves would be another example of crowdsourcing yes?

using social media & message boards to assist both on and offline. Years ago a helpful person on Rootschat looked at some Welsh records for me, long before they were online.

Left a message on Rootschat 4 years after original post. Got a response and person was able to give me information about my Turnbulls Borders area of #Scotland going back to 1700s 😲 ❤️message boards / #Facebook groups / #Twitter threads opportunity to ask questions & #giveback

Another great example of crowdsourcing is @WikiTreers. From the growing well sourced trees to special challenges, the make use of the crowd to advance trees and familyhistory knowledge.

I had to google the definition “enlisting the services of a large number of people, either paid or unpaid, typically via the internet”…. So basically getting a group of genealogists together and seeing what unfolds! Hehehe.

Crowdsourcing is when a community helps to research such as on @WikiTreers

Indexing for @FamilySearch is one of the big uses for crowdsourcing in #familyhistory. At the other end of the spectrum is individuals asking for help on social media such as Facebook Groups.

I think it can be a number of things like when I go “Hive mind – what’s a good TV show to watch?” – it can be asking your peeps for help or advice or it can be transcribing a graveyard together.

Devanath / Pixabay

Discuss your crowd sourcing experiences from helping an individual’s research through to large indexing projects. (Or do you avoid crowdsourcing?)

Asking the crowd for help with getting material from paid for genealogical sites or free I think is wrong. There are copyright restrictions and these should be followed.

Yeah that irks me. Like, I’m paying this large sum money because I’m using their website for the research I am doing. And copyright copyright copyright. So many of them have free trials or a month payment if you don’t want to fork out more $$$

Or join a society, go to a library or @FamilySearch centre, etc. There are so many places you can source stuff than elect to break copyright.

I’m a contributor to both @IrelandXO and @duchas_ie The former involves helping individuals with their research and the latter involves transcribing the Irish schools’ folklore project from 1930s. I’ve also assisted individuals on other sites

I was very excited to be able to help with this using my knowledge of the excellent resources of bda-online.org.au

I’m about to start a crowdsourcing project during the Christchurch Heritage Festival in October, which I can’t tell you the details of yet… But stay tuned…

so far, only recently starting using social media for crowd sourcing, which have pointed me in the direction of new resources, especially with overseas research. Only started blogging which might help others in the future

there are lots of ANZAC sites that crowd source data on specific soldiers and war memorials.

The Online Cenotaph – Auckland War Memorial Museum is an example of that

Years ago I went to the research room. Probably my first exploration into checking out archives. A bit more specialist than the local library. With so much online I am wondering if the research room still exists. Could not see about it with a quick online check.

Kia ora, Pou Maumahara Memorial Discovery Centre replaced the old Armoury on Level 2 in 2016. The public are welcome to use the published resources and contribute to #OnlineCenotaph aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/o… We are happy to answer any questions

Another crowdsourcing opportunity is Scottish Indexes which is getting support from indexers .

I have just this week begun to transcribe records for @scottishindexes This is my first time transcribing

I was transcribing Naval records for the TNA there for a second too last year.

Just started my first page @scottishindexes They’ve given me so much in past 18 months – 11 free 8 hour conferences. I felt the need to payback a little

Another site I’ve been able to contribute to collection.nelsonmuseum.co.nz/explore collection of digitised glass plate negatives. Identified photos of gg-gparents

a bazillion years ago when I started I helped @GSQPresident with indexing deaths during JAn-June 1916. You can imagine given WWI. I suspect no one has ever looked at them

never underestimate how much you’ve helped dear Pauleen. I think that’s the tragedy is that much of the work is unseen/unrecognized and yet used all the time.

Like some software recognises the developers it would be nice to recognise the workers by adding to digital documents people that helped.

I suspect many people using #ancestry or #findmypast don’t realise the indexes have been created by societies as they don’t read the source info

I have made connections and found people who emigrated using @WikiTreers

I get family info requests on my Irish and Dorfprozelten blogs which helps others

I use FreeUKGen sites @FreeUKGen and have donated to them did start transcribing years ago but did not carry on

and I imagine to a degree that’s what @LostCousins might be all about too, yes?

I suppose a recent/continuing experience is being part of a Facebook group for my Gill ancestors and helping write up a document of all the descendants on my line from my 4x G Gparents down & assisting others with writing their line.

good result from crowdsourcing here 3 different versions of one photo enhanced by Rootschat folks after I asked for advice on FBook – see post below

Not a big crowdsourcing person. Really a lack of time as I work full time. I think it is a great idea although some of the questions I see on social media asking for help could be solve with a google search. Not sure they are lazy or what.

yes someone complained about that on my facebook knitting group today but I think it is just people want to hear from a human not a machine where they can find stuff or what they should be using.

I love transcribing Tassie convict records but usually get the person to type out what they can first, then I help with the unknown bits.

I reckon some of the best crowd sourcing that has happened has been during the UTAS course – by sharing assignments for everyone to read, I got some excellent advice/feedback from other students. (Only shared after assignment had been marked – Ed)

I am very busy on @WikiTreers but have previously transcribed for Family Search

Just today I have a comment on my latest post suggesting I have the age and time period out by a decade – love that input!

I agree I get all sorts of unexpected info and requests from my blog

I love it when people make contact through the blog when if they recognise their ancestor in my post

geralt / Pixabay

Have you any plans or suggestions for celebrating National Family History Month in Australia & NZ?

I attended the opening talk by Zoom with @HicksShauna and plan to attend the closing one with @fiona_memories. Our group is running a talk with Shauna via zoom also.

Where do you find out about all these talks, etc?

good point Brooke. I think we should have some kind of national calendar like the NFHM calendar AFFHO did but for all the time. There is conferencekeeper.org/event-submissi… but I suspect a US focus.

Great idea – another thing we need a volunteer to upkeep? NZSG has an events calendar. Perhaps AFFHO could have n annual calendar. genealogy.org.nz/Events-Calenda…

Sharn’s talk was so amazing. I really do wonder at the value of having bricks and mortar if we are safer using zoom. It was always so hard to get people to use the library anyway – I think our efforts now need to go into digitizing as much as we can.

Hoping to get to a family history day next Saturday. Wellington Region #FamilyHistory event (combined Wgtn branches of NZSG)

Might see you there, Jane. I’m selling raffle tickets in afternoon.

ah raffle tickets. The funding lynchpin of many a society 😉

Auckland and Christchurch Family History Expos. Launching a new Plan to Publish online course plus some new guides to help with publishing and sharing your research.

When I can get back on the computer, re start my blog!!! Dormant since 2018.


I have joined in with @luvviealex #NFHM2021 Blogging Challenge to blog every week or more often in August


Am doing two talks at Rosny Library – will probably be half hour talk then hour and a half to do practical stuff from the talk

I’m going to a talk at my local Family History Society. This will be my first visit

The opening talk to Family History month in AUS & NZ discussed the future of #familyhistory societies. What role do you see societies playing in the future?

you can now have a speaker in London give a talk to a society in Cheshire watched by someone in America that’s the one good thing to come out of the last two years, but like archives, if we don’t use family history societies they will disappear

I really like locality chats eg run by #DevonFHS for a gp of Parishes, sharing real local knowledge, alongside FB for questions between chats. #RyedaleFHG have informal Zoom chat (how to peel a banana to detailed FH questions/sharing finds informally – is great too.

I have used #familyhistory societies in the past, and can be useful as they have inside knowledge of counties and towns, particular maps. They do need be more involved with social media.

#future very much depends on members/committees keeping up to date w/ #technology, making their resources available #Online / in #Digital format, changing mindset from pull to push ie as much if not more online teaching content & resources as #f2f engagement

Check out Part 1 of podcast from last week between Andy of @AFHpodcast & Margaret from @FHSofCheshire – who discuss the benefits of #FamilyHistory societies. Well worth a listen Link – amateurfamilyhistory.com/2021/07/28/epi…

Personally I think local Societies need to be more interactive with all members do combined meetings about local topics

Even still, a lot of online sessions are held during work hours. I usually sign up If it has a watch later option, but I always forget to watch it later.

And more flexible timing. I know I could only go at weekends or evenings when I worked and had a family at home.

very true. And if we got younger presenters that might suit them better anyway.

I (Alex) think more user-generated content is essential and I think that has been part of SAG’s success with Friday afternoon chats. I have been so impressed with members’ contributions.

The issue though is how many societies we can afford to be members of. How do you weigh up which to keep, which to join, which to leave?

I expect value for money especially when your already a subscriber to several other websites, plus other costs involved in buying Certs etc, #genealogy is not a cheap hobby and some people should not expect it to be freely given either

I’ve never been able to get myself into the society thing. Maybe because I’m younger? I’m not sure. Joining a society just hasn’t spoken to me. I love the online fam history groups – Maybe they could have a fb group if they don’t already.

My English ancestors come from 20 English counties but I’ve never really considered joining a Society mostly due to cost of joining so many, I would follow them on Twitter/Facebook so I could keep up to date with news from the Society’s

excellent point which I hadn’t considered before. You just can’t afford to join every society can you ? But Facebook is free 🙂

And don’t forget ancestorian.com That is free too

At least with following Society’s on FB/Twitter if I see a post made by the relevant society I can comment or send a message and make enquiries

I would join societies for areas my ancestors are from if I knew joining would be useful. If it’s not going to be helpful, why bother?

Which means that #FamilyHistory societies need to MARKET themselves. What is the value proposition for joining a society? (My idea of becoming a marketing guru for FH societies keeps growing 🙂

Agree, I think the majority of members are retired or have a lot of time. Often only open few hours during the day while others working. They can be useful but again hit and miss

The successful societies will weigh up the costs of going online with the number of members they may attract subs will reflect this

Local Societies know the peculiarities of their area and history useful for researchers from afar they need to promote this

completely agree Hilary. The most successful posts for QFHS Facebook page are about the local projects we have indexed or digitized.

Societies need to adapt to changing social & economic conditions. Change takes time to implement and requires planning. Might be too hard for many organisations when they might not have the skills to succeed at adapting.

In order to survive Societies need to encourage younger people and involve themselves more with social media

Societies need to upgrade websites and start getting younger people into their ranks

Blog posts

Carmel – Using photo enhancement as crowd sourcing,

Alex –  Genealife in lockdown challenge intro, Sum up after the challenge,