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I have just been reading a blog-post by Yorkshire Pudding.
He is sorting out all the old photos his parents took way back in the 1940’s and is throwing most of them into his blue wheelie-bin.
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He said……
“If the great PhotoGod were to look down upon me I would have to say "Guilty!" for throwing away so many memories captured on little rectangles of photographic paper.”
I had to, just had to, leave a comment.
“I am saddened to hear that they end up in a blue wheelie bin YP.
My Dad took hundreds too, but I have been scanning them into the PC, labelling them with names, location and date where known. They are then downloaded to a memory stick.
I suppose if there are dozens of the same or similar, it doesn't hurt to have a 'pruning'....but once gone, always gone.
Regards. B.”
He replied:
“The process is partly philosophical. How do we see life? How do we see heritage? How do we feel about looking forward and moving on? "Once gone always gone" is right but that could be very much a positive.”
Here, we have to agree to differ.
To throw away what is yours, may seem acceptable, and if it is of no concern to others, maybe the right course, but how is he to know what future generations may wish to gaze at and get that all important link with the past.
I have met many people who have said “I wonder what my great grandparents looked like?“ They have no photographic links.
Either, no-one owned a camera, or any photos that were taken have been lost (or, heaven forbid, ended up in a ‘blue wheelie bin’.)
Thankfully, our family saved everything; and I can sit here - and on this photograph below, see my Mother, my Grandparents and my Great Grandparents. (to say nothing of many other related great uncles and aunts).
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(Click on the photo to enlarge)
If this had not been saved, I would have felt that I had been ‘robbed’ of a chance to see an extremely important link back to me actually being here at all.
This is just a few of the people on my Mother's side of the family.
My Great Grandfather is seated in the centre row, with Great Grandmother in the 'stripy top'.
My Grandmother (Nan) is standing right behind her with Grandad (Pop) on her left.
My Mother is the lovely teenager sitting on the floor at Great Grandmother's feet.
(I have only just noticed that Mum, Gran, and Nan are vertically 'in line').
Only one person is still with us today......the little girl in the bottom right hand corner.
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My thanks to whoever took the picture and
my thanks to my family for not relegating it to the wheelie bin.
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I couldn't agree more, as the family historian I could ring my Grandmothers neck (if she wasn't already dead), for burning all the photo albums when she moved house in the sixties. I have no photos of my father as a child, and no photos at all of my Grandfather, or previous generations.
ReplyDeleteNobody should throw away photos! That's why we have no room in our cabinets for anything else; we save them all. We have early photos of our grandparents and parents, but not nearly enough. Bernard, the Calliope was indeed playing Dixieland Jazz, as were the over 80 bands of all sizes and abilities. They even had the 2nd generation youth bands...quite nice. It was a lot of fun.
ReplyDeletePhotos are so very important and we have much to be grateful for when they are saved.For adoptees they have enormous significance as you can imagine.
ReplyDeleteI do believe a good clear out is sometimes useful.When I was scrapbooking the family history I used many, sent some to public collections and had to throw away a few which had no names and no connections or were blurred and not worth saving.It was an invaluable exercise.
Well I suppose different people have different feelings about these things. I wouldn't throw them away but we're all different.
ReplyDeleteYorkshire Pudding. Should we try some matchmaking and try to pair him off with Devonshire Dumpling? Hee hee hee!
When mu husband and his siblings were young, they cut up many photos of themselves, so my MIL tells me. You can imagine the 4 of them (the 5th was just a baby) egging each other on, whispers and giggles from behind the closed bedroom door. She must have had her work cut out with that bag of monkeys!
ReplyDeleteI have to stand firmly on your side with this one. Photographic history should never be destroyed. I firmly believe if it is no longer required it should be passed onto the local records office for the benefit of future generations who study family or social history.
ReplyDeleteSome of mine can be found here. I have many more photos and my aunt has an even bigger collection, which I borrow from time to time to scan in to my PC.
I must admit I shed a little tear when I clicked on the link and realised that only the bride is still with us. I had forgotten that was the picture on the front page. But the fact that I have the photos makes me feel much more happy than sad :-)
Eliza:
ReplyDeleteIt is very sad to hear about that. :(
Some people have too many photos and some people end up with none.
I’m sorry.
Myrna:
When you say “...but not nearly enough”. Did you mean not nearly enough photographs, or not nearly enough cabinets to house them? LOL
:)
That is the first time I have come across a Calliope playing Dixieland jazz.
It does sound fun.
Von:
Yes, you are right. I throw out photos that mean nothing. We all, I expect, take pictures which don’t turn out right….heads chopped off, out of focus. It is these that are not worth keeping. There is of course a balance to be struck.
Foody:
True, people are all different, and have different views on whether to hang on to something or not. My point is that by throwing thing out - or as in the case of Eliza’s
Grandmother, burning the lot - future generations will lose out.
I’m not sure about dumplings and puddings getting mixed together! :O
Kath:
Another sad story. :(
We weren’t allowed scissors at that age - we had to go and ask to borrow a pair - and Mom wanted to know what we wanted them for.
Cherie:
I agree. I didn’t know that you could give them to the records office.
They must end up with millions? Do they have a sort-out or keep everything?
Mind you, at least they would know what is worth retaining.
I also scan mine in, but they are not always as secure as ‘hard copy’.
I have read that in todays digital age, so many thousands of images are being deleted, erased or lost, accidentally and deliberately, that we are in danger of not saving anything of life today. Not many people print out their photos any more.
Cheers.....Bernard.
Yep I agree with everybody on this one unless of course no-one knows who is in the photo. Tony's grandmother threw out all the photos of her late husband after he had been dead 20 years so now we have no photos of him to show his descendants.
ReplyDeleteHelen
No, we never have enough storage for all our stuff. However, we only have pictures of our family going back to our grandparents, and nothing much of our many cousins. Nevertheless, the photos we like the most are up on the "Family Wall" adjacent to the staircase, and we have good feelings about that all the time.
ReplyDeleteHi Helen,
ReplyDeleteYes, you are right. I have started writing on the back, the names and dates where I know them.
I only wish my granny had done the same. I can easily recognise her, but have no idea of who she is with.