Posts Tagged ‘photos’

Why Our Things Are Important to Us: Guest Post, Melissa Mannon, ArchivesInfo

Thursday, November 10th, 2011

A guest post from my colleague, Melissa Mannon, author of The Unofficial Family Archivist.

Some of what you keep has more significance to you than other items. You know the materials I mean — the lock of hair from baby’s first haircut, the photos of your first Christmas together, the love letters you sent your husband before you were married. People spread these keepsakes through the house in closets and bureaus or we try to store them together in a shoe box under the bed. The objects symbolize some of the things that are important to us and we keep them because we have a sentimental attachment to them. As an archivist, I help people explore the idea that it is worthwhile to give more thought to what we are keeping for the long term. I help people determine why they are keeping these items and how to keep them safe.

We intuitively know that our personal “archives” are different from our other possessions. The materials we create in the course of our day-to-day activities help mold our own personal story and highlight our place in the world. The information that we record about ourselves helps us wind our way through life and can be part of our personal legacy. Some of these materials are used over and over. For example, a favorite hand written recipe passed down from one generation to the next might be pulled out to help celebrate during the holidays. Other recorded information might serve to remind us of something that occurred in our lives that made us happy. The material might not be actively used, but is tucked away until you want to recall or share an event.

When viewed as lone items, these materials do not necessarily highlight what makes us unique. Many people have a passport, but when examined with vacation photos, and a travel diary, the passport gains a new dimension. Together, the objects tell about our own personal experiences and perhaps our own world view. Archives that relate to each other can be gathered into a collection that highlights your story, making them more meaningful to you and to those with whom you wish to share your memories. When we think about these possessions in terms of the stories that they tell, we can more easily organize them and our thoughts about them. Possessions are imbued with additional meaning when we step back and consider their role as symbols of activities.

You might keep materials related to events that were meaningful to you. Or, you might keep information that highlights specific times in your life. You might keep your school report cards with your student art work alongside your varsity letters. Understanding what you are keeping and what part of your life it highlights can help you give order to your belongings and to your life.

The materials that you identify as worth keeping should be kept as safe as possible. All organic items, such as those made from paper, will decompose over time, but one cannot easily predict the rate of deterioration of materials. Their deterioration relies on a combination of factors working together: heat, humidity, light, pollution, pests, natural chemical reactions and chemical reactions resulting from improper storage are prime culprits of damage. Different types of items may require different storage supplies for their safekeeping, but there are some general rules to follow. Store materials in a place where temperature and humidity remain as constant as possible and keep items away from the elements. Purchase boxes for storage from a reputable archives supplier such as Gaylord Brothers, Light Impressions, Metal Edge, and University Products. These companies conform to standards and test products to ensure that they are safe for your materials. People often purchase items in stores that claim they are “Preservation Safe” or “Archival,” but these terms are not necessarily to be trusted.

Giving a little thought to your significant papers, photos, and other family information sources will help keep your treasured family memories safe. Focus on what is most meaningful and get rid of the clutter. Carve out your legacy by making sure your family stories are documented and preserved.

 

For more on how to organize and preserve your family papers, take a look at Melissa’s new book, The Unofficial Family Archivist

Follow her on Twitter, or subscribe to her wonderful and fascinating blog. You won’t be sorry.


 

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Posted in Interviews and Guest Posts, Memories, Papers | No Comments »

Organizing Memorabilia

Tuesday, June 7th, 2011

Before you dive in …

Before you dive in to organize your memorabilia, think about your reasons for wanting to do so. Some typical possibilities are:

  • Connect your present with your past. Honor the past, without getting stuck there.
  • Pass along the key memories, the treasures.
  • Understand which belongings are important to your family history.
  • Understand how your memories fit into your broader community and culture.

Organizing is usually not just about getting things organized. If you reflect a bit on your project, you’ll often find a motivation for organizing your memorabilia. A reason, a theme, or a value – something you stand for.

Four benefits to choosing a reason, theme, or a value

  1. You gain focus. There’s a purpose, a goal, an event, or a theme behind what you’re doing. I like to ask the question this way: “You’re organizing your memorabilia so that …. “
  2. Knowing these answers will motivate you when your inspiration is a little short one day.
  3. As you start your walk down memory lane, you’ll be searching for the treasures which support your reason/theme/value … and spending more time on these memories, rather than on every single item.
  4. It will be clearer what you might let go of, or find another home for.

We are all story tellers to some degree although some of us don’t think of ourselves as “good” story tellers. Some people consider themselves the family historian. Some remember stories well which our earlier generations told us. Some of us take our inherited items and re-purpose them. We write, paint or quilt our stories.  So how we each tell our stories is different and is a personal choice. What IS important is that we record them in some fairly permanent ways to preserve our memories, legacy and personal history.

Melissa-older-pictures-border

What do you have to say and to whom?

Melissa, was about 70 years young, when she decided to start writing her memoirs, potentially a daunting task to some. To start herself, she took a writing course. She told friends what she was doing, enlisting motivational support. She narrowed her focus slightly, to only those stories and memories which mattered to her. This was instead of a chronological recounting of her life. And even then, she got stalled; life got in the way.

Her 50th wedding anniversary was coming up, so instead, she turned her focus  to organizing her photos, writings and memories around this event. She had a goal – the anniversary party – so she could organize her photos with the end goal in mind. The goal was to share photos and memories of their life of 50 years together. A focus, an audience (close family/friends at the party), and a deadline! Instead of  “someday,” she had a real date.

Melissa and her son, a web site marketing professional, designed an easy-to-update web site and he taught her how to add content. This gave her a way to share her memorabilia, as she went through the photos — and I’m sure our comments on the posted memories were inspirational to her. She created a community through her memories. She had focus. She had the support around her she needed.

Today, Melissa has a website with annotated photo albums, poems she’s written, her paintings and some writings. She is a creative sort, an artist, so organizing her memories in this fashion suited her well. Additionally, she is all about family, so having a web site where people could connect and write their own comments – well, imagine how that made her feel about organizing her memorabilia! So at this point, she has recorded many memories,  and if she wants to, she can give away the objects – the writings, the paintings – because they are all permanently recorded for the future viewers and new family members.

Where, how and when will you start … and keep at it?

Consider where you’ll work on your organizing of memories.

  • Do you need a special dedicated space or not?
  • Are you inside or outside?
  • Is it quiet or do you have music or other noise?
  • Are you writing? Recording? At a PC? At an art table?

And consider how and when you’ll organize your stories and memorabilia.

  • To get inspired, choose a time of day when you are most energetic or creative.
  • Think of other projects you’ve started for clues on how to start this effort.
  • Do you like to get into a project and stay focused on it for awhile?
  • Or is it easier to get started for a short period of time?
  • How you start and how you continue may be different.
  • Once you get going, if you find yourself feeling burnt out, take a break. Work on something else or just do nothing for a while. Come back fresh.
  • Decide whether you do or do not want to work on this alone. Some take classes (We are working on a webinar around this). Some work with family or friends in a group. Some prefer working on their own.

Look backward to move forward.  Decide what to keep in your story and what to let go. Think about what you want to carry forward into your next chapter of life.

If you’re interested in putting your life in context, please consider joining our Facebook group, located here

We are  sharing stories around themes, like food memories!

Sharing, so we can get a sense of what’s important to pass along … and therefore, what we can let go of.

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Posted in Memories, Next Chapter | 5 Comments »

Ideas for Organizing (Some of) Your Photos

Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010
Lupines, Mt Washington Rail Trip

Lupines, Mt Washington Rail Trip

A friend mentioned she was going through her photos and it’s been a walk down memory lane… but also a rough road at times. She’s a creative, renaissance type of woman, actually writing her memoir. If I know her, this will be a combination of writing, paintings, sketches, photos and more. I can’t wait. She mentioned going through photos and looking for ideas to organize them, so today, she is my inspiration for sharing photo organizing ideas with you.

If you have kept years worth of paper (and now digital) photos, it’s a big deal to finally sit down and start perusing your memories. It’s also a big deal to sit yourself down if these photos are not just yours, but are inherited from your parents. While it’s a wonder to walk through our memories, it’s also emotional and I want you to be prepared for that. You’ll find photos of people who are no longer on this Earth with us — and  you’ll grieve, again, for your loss.  You’ll find vacation photos of fun times you might think of returning to. Children when they were younger are a joy, as is the growth you can see through the years.

If faced with many photos, or what feels like “many” to you, I’d first ask you to decide, as my friend has, what you want to DO with your photos? Who do you want to share the best ones with? Deciding on a fun project or goal is the first step to tackling those bins, boxes, bags – wherever they are. This will give you focus as you wander down memory lane.

Some ideas –

Have grandchildren? What about mom or dad’s history in an album? Or grandma/grampa’ s history. Share your photos and your stories. Check your local bookstore; there are hard bound books which will take you and your grandchild through an “interview” about your life. Add your words and add your photos.

Someone getting married in the family? How about creating a life history for the groom/bride?

Someone graduating high school/college? One woman created an album for her son’s graduation gift of his athletics during school.

At my 50th birthday, mom and dad presented me with a photo album, all about me! My life history, in photos, with some wonderful captions. I was also given the baby book my mom kept up during my early years.

50th birthday cakePaper photo collage for a big anniversary (50th coming up for anyone?), or an important birthday. What a great way to get to know someone!

Vacations/travels: Some people create a photo album (paper or digital) for each vacation. I took a trip to the Panama Canal last year and took hundreds of photos. A new camera, so many experimental photos (easy to delete later on, once I’d learned. Same idea as with print photos that don’t turn out; easy to get rid of.) At home, I chose the best 25 and printed those for an album, so I could share with friends. I chose 50 or 75 and put onto the digital picture frame that’s in the living room. How fun it is, during winter months, to see the beautiful waters of the warmer climates! Or to see the ship the day we went through the locks. Keeps memories alive.

Sue touches the walls of the Canal

Sue touches the walls of the Canal

Create a collage of your vacation – which allows you to pick and choose your favorites. The major drugstore chains have all kinds of neat gifts you can put the photo collage on, which can get you thinking, too, if you’re not quite sure what to do with photos. You don’t have to develop the photos at that store; you can upload your own. Create your photo collage, you mug of photos from your Nova Scotia trip, your mouse pad — all great gift ideas, and they help you focus on favorite photos.

Photos or slides: Scan the ones you want to share. The next generations are all digital, so scanning won’t be a waste of time at all. Easier to share across the country. On the Panama Canal trip, we bought a wonderful service/product. We took a package of ship photos of us and of the islands we visited. We uploaded our own favorites. Together, these made up a digital and a printed bound book we could share, in person, on Face book or via email. There are other services; this was helpful since it was the cruise line we’d been on. Or here’s Snapfish.com, one service to start with to familiarize yourself with your options.

Inherent in these ideas is that you’re not organizing or using all of your photos. You’re focusing on one project at a time; after all, at some point, if you have a lot of photos, you’ll want to get back to your family, your business, your gardening or whatever brings you joy.

Organizing the photos you’re not using right now for this project:

  • Use archival supplies for inherited, older items. My colleague, Melissa Manon, of Archives Info, has a preservation kit to check out first, with some fascinating articles about preserving family history.
  • Do a quick sort, to make it easier later on to find what you need. Examples of a “quick sort” would be: by event, vacation, years, child or family. This is to help later on, when you know what your next project will be. A quick sort is dealing out the photos like cards into separate boxes — which for temporary storage, can be boxes from Target, the Christmas Tree Shop, or if you’re an online purchaser, the Container Store.  Label your boxes by the quick sort groups you’ve decide on.
  • Ask family what they want you to hold onto (or give them a gift of at a holiday or birthday!). When you ask, it does two things for you: gives you focus; gives you permission to let go of photos you thought someone might want, but you’ve found out they don’t!

So enjoy your trip down memory lane. Stay on the path you want to be on, and you’ll have a wonderful time.

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Posted in Downsizing Dilemmas- Solved, Harmony at Home, Next Chapter | 2 Comments »

The Tales and the Evidence

Wednesday, November 11th, 2009

“ I have learned that what the next generation will value most is not what we owned but the evidence of who we were and the tales of how we loved.” Ellen Goodman, The Boston Globe and Pulitzer prize winning journalist. And a columnist I never missed reading as I was growing up.

I start every class about downsizing with this quote.

“…who we were and the tales of how we loved.”  Doesn’t sound like it’s much about keeping the wok we want to use someday or the French books from college, does it?

But it IS the story telling tradition. Back again and in vogue!

This quote and its meaning are never more poignant, never more clear to us than when someone we love has recently died. It’s so clear that it’s not about our stuff and our toys, but the essence of the person, the tales of how the life was lived, what he/she brought to each one of us, and what we learned. There are always people in my classes who have quite recently experienced the death of someone they loved dearly. The classmates are a wise voice to hear for us all.

Emotionally, downsizing is difficult, but in different ways for each person. At first, the hardest part always seems to be: Where do I start? I have a whole house to go through. We’ve lived here, raised children here, worked and played here, for 30, 40 or more years.

Where do I start?  The understandable feeling of overwhelm is almost contagious, it’s so palpable.

Once we get past that and get started, the hardest part is living up to the quote from Ellen Goodman.

Downsizing is difficult because we’re reviewing our lives. Every object is judged and a decision is made about whether to …  for example, keep all or some of the Hummel collectionHummel embroidery.

We’d taken years to collect our statues. Each Hummel has its own story, so how can we decide? This one was the anniversary edition because we’ve been in the club 20 years. This one was from my favorite aunt, who enjoyed singing, just like the Hummel she gave me. And so on.

If you don’t enjoy collecting them as much as you used to, and if you’d like to pass along the “evidence,” how about taking a photo of the collection, or of you with the collection? You’ll have the visual for your memory. You’ll tell the stories about each statue. You could write down the stories or audio tape yourself. Or what if you went through your collection with the person you’d like to give the statues to. All of these lovely ways to pass along family stories the next generation will retell for you.

What a beautiful way to tell the “tales” of who you’ve been. Tell the stories as you gently pack each statue for its new home. Maybe you’ll keep one or two or a smaller group of favorites, reducing, but not eliminating. Reduce, don’t eliminate — watch words. No regrets decisions is what I espouse and teach.

Right after I give my classes the quote about “evidence” and “tales of how we loved,” we talk about moving forward. I use the phrase “rightsizing” for our next chapter in life.

Sure, of course, it’s necessary that that we tell the tales (and even grieve sometimes) about what we’re gifting to other people, about what we are genuinely giving up of our past.

But go at your own pace, not someone else’s. Take your time. Drop the word “should” from your thinking and language. Whose “should” is it anyway? Not yours, I’ll bet (from experience!)

But once we’ve done that, we need to look at our current life. Where are we headed? Why are we downsizing? What are we looking forward to? What’s coming up? What do we value?

It’s a new chapter, and just like in that book you just finished reading, the end of one chapter is a sad thing sometimes.

But then… remember how you feel with anticipation of starting a new chapter? Or a new book ? And all the excitement that goes with it?

Life is like a book, with many chapters. Live life in chapters.

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550 Billion Printed Photos in the U.S.

Tuesday, August 25th, 2009

Ah, technology. It comes and it goes.

Life was easier when we had just the printed photographs to coMlle. Crickette after Spa Daynsider. But now we have digital photos as well.

And you’ve probably saved years worth of printed photos thinking you’ll make albums some day for yourself or each of your children as they married, someday when you’re retired.

So much has changed. What to do with all those photos ? Let’s start with some ideas for the printed ones. (more…)

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