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Archiver > GENBRIT > 1998-09 > 0904690180


From: Gordon Johnson< >
Subject: Re: log off and lable your photos!
Date: Tue, 01 Sep 1998 22:49:40 GMT


(Karen) wrote:
>We have visited many known relatives, especially the elderly, and make
>copies of the photos in their collections {with consent of course} using an
>ordinary 35mm camera and a set of close up lenses.
>
>We ask the owner for identifications etc at the same time and record them as
>we go.
>We end up with a full set of prints {and negatives} which we then keep in
>albums fully labelled {both in the album and on the reverse {using a blunt
>2B pencil}.
>
>We can also provide reprints to other family members if required.
>Karen
>Sydney
*** All very good advice. When I lecture on family history, I advise
my listeners to visit all their old relatives, get the photo albums
out, and provide captions for every photograph just like in
newspapers: Names, left to right, front row, back row, etc.
This identifies people exactly in the picture, and allows for
comparisons with other photos found later which might have one of
these people and a note: "Uncle Jimmy and Aunt Ethel" - You would be
able to give Jimmy his full name and add his wife to the family
tree.
The other thing I advise asking is the date of the picture, even if
it is only "The year after they got married" - you can use other
records to establish the marriage date and work from that.
Finding another picture with the same people, you can judge whether
they are older or younger, and date them according as "After 1879",
or "Before 1879".
Get enough of these done, and the rest of the family pictorial
jigsaw starts to come together.
Gordon.

Gordon Johnson's homepage -
http://www.wintermute.co.uk/~kinman/
(With Scottish genealogical goodies)

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