sharing

Family history photos

Miss W. Twitterchats , , , , , , , ,

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?

Cousin collaboration

Miss W. Twitterchats , , , , , , , ,

Part of the discussion was whether this should be called Cousin Bait as originally mentioned and on the question slides or perhaps a better title was Cousin Collaboration. You can see what I decided by the title of the post. But some answers still use the word bait.

fernandoalmeida / Pixabay

How do you share your family history online? ie blogging, trees, social media?

Also share with immediate family via email as many are older and this is their only online “place”. I have created separate email folders and labels, gmail is good for that – I used to forward emails to Evernote but have dropped back to basic now Evernote’s price has skyrocketed

Yes … agree re gmail … I also make use of folders and labels to organise family history emails from cousins and research contacts etc.

I mainly use blogging for sharing my family history online. I do have an online tree on Ancestry and some other subscription sites. I need to get better at using Facebook I think.

I also print off hard copies of any biographical narratives … they are available to immediate family via a folder on my bookshelf

Does anyone find they get much contact via online trees, either through paid sites or their own? (Other than when DNA is involved)

I get quite a few messages via Ancestry. Most are in response to DNA connections but some are tree related … I do quite a lot of descendant research so have lots of collateral lines in my trees … that helps to prompt tree related messages

I get quite a lot of messages on Ancestry. Not all who contact me are actually related but some have ended up being amazing collaborations! Betsy first found me on Ancestry. Look where that took me!

Just remembered I made some cousin contacts through a local history group on Facebook

I am trying to put my research in as many online places as possible. I am writing biographies on WikiTree and copying them to FamilySearch. I have trees on all the big sites.

I have done the same. Pretty much anywhere my tree can go you’ll find it. I don’t get much interaction anywhere but Ancestry but I live in hope

I’ve had some wonderful people contact me with offers of photos of my grandparents siblings – oooooo!!

I’ve (slowly) come to the realisation that trawling the trees for the cousins themselves (not their data) is a great way to find them and connect. Need to get moving with more of that!

Share my research mainly through blogging then emails once a connection has been made via tree on Ancestry etc

ISDiva / Pixabay

Do you have an intended audience when you share your family history online? Are you looking to collaborate with others?

Sharing my family history online is about telling our stories for future generations, and to encourage older generations to tell their stories.

Encouraging older generations to tell their stories so less history is lost is a great outcome. Takes effort,

We need to write down our own personal memories too so that they become written remembered stories for our descendants

Years ago there was a blogging challenge called The Book of Me. Doing that I recorded much of my childhood experiences. We all need to leave our own for the future

I tend to write mainly for myself (to organise my evidence, thoughts etc. and find the gaps in my research) and for my immediate family so I tend to fly under the radar with my blog

ooh an intended audience…that is such a good question. Well in an ideal world I do try to cite my sources thinking that other family historians would be pretty cranky if I didn’t. But I am hoping to catch cousins too.

I’m a bit naughty when it comes to sources in my blog. I do list these sometimes however it makes the blog post less visually appealing and added work so will go for a “contact me for more info” plus if they are really interested they might contact me

I make use of lots of endnotes

Google alerts are quite useful

I’ve been thinking about audience for the blog lately – some good points here genealogystories.co.uk/how-to-go-from…

@geneastories has lots of good advice about family history story telling (in addition to the linked post above)

My intended audience is mixed. I want to preserve the stories for my family and retain via Pandora. It’s also a way to record my discoveries as a kind of research library

Am finding LivingDNA is getting better with replies to messages and then having to work out how related

I have had an uptake in messages from LivingDNA recently and have been able to connect some by cross referencing to other databases but some are only on LivingDNA and not very forthcoming with detail. Hopefully, it will get easier once trees are added!-?

In the early days of researching I drove for almost two hours to meet up with a cousin who found me through the blog. I gave her all my information and never heard from her again. Learned my lesson then and there

Sometimes it can be very frustrating. I’m talking to a 3C at the mo. (DNA) I’ve connected her to her Irish family, who she did not know, and shared everything with her back to her GGGs. And, she has one birth cert that I’d like, but no…

Ack, that’s disappointing. 🙁 (Which reminds me, I must share some birth certs I ordered recently with a 4th cousin LOL)

I have found my blog is great for non family history contacts. This is because they can Google a name or place and find you if you are fortunate. Even if they are not interested in family history some send a note with a few helpful details.

I mostly share family history information online with the intent to find people related to me. My blog posts are both to record stories and research but I do see them as cousin bait. Tags ensure they are easily found by subject, places, surnames etc

I also wonder about menus and categories. Having a navigation that attracts readers to go deeper takes thought and planning.

I use surnames for categories but I also have a menu for my posts when researching my hard to find Irish great great grandmother

I want to share what I know already and also learn from others. I had huge gaps of knowledge a decade ago and have learnt SO much from wider family members about my ancestors. Always looking to collaborate, as there are still a few mysteries to solve.

My intended audience is just whoever comes after me. I don’t have children and don’t know anybody in the family who would be interested in it, so want to make my research available for the future generations.

Collaboration is best when you can share and exchange with like-minded people. Collaboration doesn’t just flow in one direction.

Not sure if all understand how collaboration works and want information however do not share back

I guess we who have benefited have to model the behaviour we want in others (can you tell I’m staying with my 3yr old grandson just now)

As long as I can catch the cousins then the sharing usually follows!

In the past I have been contacted by people who are only interested in what they can get from me. At first I sent the info and heard nothing more from them. I much prefer collaboration

Intended audience includes (un)known descendants and their collateral lines (latest was the son in law of someone). I’m always willing to collaborate but for the moment, it’s mostly one way as I help with Irish records

I dont write for a specific audience but I do have some followers from UTAS family history who often add comments. Also have some cousins who follow and add info

The audience I target is twofold. Anyone interested in family history that can learn from my experiences and descendants of ancestors. The best contacts are ones with photos. You have to love a photo of a person you have not seen before.

LoboStudioHamburg / Pixabay

What do you consider is your best source of Cousin Collaboration? ie blogs, trees, social media?

hmmm well over the years it has been online trees followed by my blog but I suspect if I used Facebook more I might get more bites.

I find twitter achieves more blog hits. Probably because more people follow me on Twitter. Also more regular posting on Twitter. Smaller FB audience and a lack of posting does not help

Don’t forget ancestorian.com … It is another avenue for engaging with others in family history research and doesn’t track you like fb does

The best responses I’ve had have been via my blog, especially when I was posting regularly. I think DNA + online trees have also been a good source of contacts from relatives.

The best thing I’ve found with DNA is the cousins who I “know” who help me separate one line from another. Getting specific people to test helps. I’m amazed how the random DNA inheritance will link one person and not others.

Agree, especially when a tree includes collateral lines in it and enables you to better support inquirers to understand where they connect

family trees with a broad base – that is, engage in descendant research to build down the collateral lines.

Undoubtedly, my best source of cousin bait is my blog. We also stay in touch far longer, as they may follow me. They occasionally email comments, and I’m often in their mind if they come across any new family stories, questions or photos. I love it!

My blog is by far the best source of cousin bait for me too Dara. I can’t quite believe the collaboration and information that has come out of blogging

Yes, on a couple of lines I have a long-term collaborator – and it’s so much extra fun to research those lines

I don’t seem to have much luck with this. Maybe I have too few close cousins. I have been in contact with quite distant cousins. Some are interested, many not.

Wherever you put your information there needs to be enough to “reel them in” too little and they move on

By FAR my best source of cousin bait is blogging. But also Twitter. I have put requests for information on Twitter and its amazing how quickly I get results.

I once asked if anyone knew a particular person and within half a day, the granddaughter of the person had contacted me. She gave me photos and information about the house I was researching in return for a copy of the history

For me it’s blogging for sure. Blog posts are out there forever and I’ve been contacted sometimes years after a post is published

Blogging, emails and family reunions are my best sources

the best source for cousin bait is somewhere that will show up in a search engine and free to access so @WikiTreers is my first choice to get someone found

So far Ancestry.com has been the most useful for me. No new cousins have responded on social media, but many have through Ancestry and later through email.

my greatest number of contacts has come through the blog and a few from facebook Aus. bloggers group

Free-Photos / Pixabay

 

What cousin connections or great finds have you made through sharing information online?

The producers of Coast Australia found my convict blog where I had written about my g g g uncle on Norfolk island. Next thing I was researching for them and flown to NI to appear on the episode with Neil Oliver

Forget the cousins! If I knew blogging could get me a meeting with Neil Oliver I’d have been working my little typing fingers down to the bone. Ooh, that voice…

I went to NZ for a holiday, visited a town where some relatives lived, took photos of some photos they showed me, put on blog with question about who were these people. Have had many comments so I can now name the people in photos

Marvellous photos and ephemera from rediscovered cousins in New Zealand, Australia, England and Ireland which aid research on both my paternal and maternal lines. Some people are incredibly generous

I am constantly amazed at people’s generosity Tara when it comes to sharing family history.

What I found was that the diaspora tended to cherish those mementos far more than those who stayed behind

Very true Tara. My grandmother born in Ireland seemed more attached to her mementos than the relatives back home. I guess her way of staying attached.

My very best cousin connection was my dear 3rd cousin Betsy in Chicago. Our g grandparents were sister and brother. She became one of my closest friends and we solved family mysteries together. Since her death this year I have felt quite alone

Have just managed to take husband’s family back one more generation due to an online contact thru Ancestry. We exchanged many emails and documents etc before making the decision it was the correct family

DNA has led me to make connections with quite a few people – mostly we have not yet found our link. They are now friends even though we have not and probably never will meet in person.

Some fab connections, including distant cousin with well-researched family history for a side of the family I had been wondering about. Most memorably, contact from a descendant of a “lost” sibling of my 2x great grandmother, and the research she shared.

My Irish and Bavarian blogs have drawn in people who are descendants of those I’ve written about.

which demonstrates the importance of place I think

I have connected with a number of cousins from 2nd cousins to further afield due to trees, blog, Facebook

I wrote a blog about my husband’s MacDonalds of Ord. A man commented that his g grandfather had been the gardener at Ord house and on a trip to NZ picked up two seeds for a palm. One went to Kew gardens and one to Ord House. The palm at Kew died

I’ve made good friends as well as cousins through blogging. Found unexpected indirect links to genimates. Gained information I’d never have known about.

I was in touch with a cousin who I collaborated with and visited in England many years ago and lost touch. He was much older than me and I was worried he had passed away. He contacted me through the blog this week. I was so happy to hear from him

my great finds have come through someone sharing thru My Heritage and another thru internet stalking followed by letter writing – found the American connection & photographs of my GG grandmother’s brother – the closest I’ll ever get to what she looks like

Blogs mentioned:

Jane – her own thoughts

Sharn – Sharing her thinking about her conclusion

Hilary – Sharing her stories and research

Readers: How do you make connections for collaborating with other family members?