Genealogy Clues Add Context for Family Photos

Daisy Schwartz (#1) and some of her Farkas first cousins, 1935

Continuing my scanfest in 2019, I recently teamed up with Cousin A, a Farkas 2d cousin, for a wonderful few hours of identifying genealogy photos and sharing stories. (FYI, Farkas was my mother's mother's maiden name. We had a family tree association from 1933-1964, with monthly minutes in print!)

Cousin A and I showed each other our mystery photos, and we made a bit of headway. I was impressed that he so carefully preserved the photos he inherited by moving them from those old black crumbling albums to new archival albums. He also wrote captions on the album pages, based on what was on the back of each photo or what he had learned from other family members. What a treasure trove!

Farkas Family Tree Photo, 1935

Among the photos he allowed me to scan was the one at top, marked "Summer, 1935." It was a Farkas Family Tree summer outing, one of two mentioned in the meeting minutes from 1935. Cousin A's aunt had already identified everyone in the photo, so I simply numbered the people, created a name key, and put it all into a .pdf file to distribute to more cousins.

My mother (Daisy Schwartz, 1919-1981) is #1 in the photo, which was taken the summer before her high school graduation. The rest of the folks in this photo are her Farkas first cousins. All except #9, who is not a Farkas cousin but a girl named Carol, a cousin of a cousin.

After five minutes on Ancestry, I was able to add her to the tree with the correct parents. There she was in the 1930 Census, age shown as 1/12 months. That corresponds to her actual birth date in March, 1930. I confirmed with a family member that this is indeed his cousin Carol. (The exact location of the outing remains a small mystery.)

Pelham Parkway Photos

What's interesting is that my few minutes of research into Carol's past solved another small photo mystery. Cousin A has a couple of 1930s/1940s photos marked "Pelham Parkway," which is a lovely area of the Bronx, New York. Nobody from my Farkas family lived there at the time, I know from Census and personal records. The photo shows a very rural area, as it was so many decades ago, not built up as it was when I lived in the area as a teenager.

When I looked up little Carol from the "Summer 1935" photo, I learned that her address in the Census of 1930 and the Census 1940 was--you guessed it!--on Pelham Parkway. Seems her cousins most likely visited her family and the photos memorialized that visit.

Context Adds to Family History

For me, the lesson is that the more we find out about every photo, the more clues we have to a well-rounded family history. "Who?" is not the only question. "Where? When? Why?" are also questions I try to answer. Answering more than one question adds valuable overall context for the photos and the family tree.

Decades ago, when these family photos were taken, a caption like "Pelham Parkway" instantly identified the significance of the place to the folks in the picture. But from our vantage point in the 21st century, the significance isn't apparent without a bit of added research.

Now you also know why my scanfest won't be complete when I've digitized my childhood photos. I also need to add the context that will make each photo understandable to future generations.

A tall order, to be sure, but if I start now, I can finish well before the release of the 1950 Census puts me into a new frenzy of genealogy research! (Hopefully before then.)

Scan-A-Thon 2019: Photos Tell Family History Stories

During this weekend's big Scan-A-Thon (thank you to #WikiTree and #GeneabloggersTRIBE), I'm continuing my scanning of photos from my childhood and into the recent past.

Each picture tells a story. I'm planning to not only name names, but also identify dates and places, and explain the occasions and possessions that add to #familyhistory.

This photo just scanned is a good case in point. If you recognize that cute-ugly doll being hugged by this little girl, you'll know the approximate year.

Yes, it's the early 1980s.

The actual year is 1983. It's a year I won't forget, because local stores were sold out of Cabbage Patch Dolls, and shipments were few and far between. Yet two young relatives were longing, longing for those dolls. After family members scoured toy stores and added their names to waiting lists, I pursued plan B.

At the time, I worked for a retail industry group with ties to big department stores. I called my contacts to ask whether anyone could help me put my hands on two dolls (regardless of price). Nobody had anything in stock, but they said they'd keep me in mind. So I waited. And waited. And waited.

Eventually, an exec called and told me I could buy two dolls (!) at the regular price ($30 each) if I came to the store at the instant it opened the next morning.

Bright and early, he met me at the cash register with two dolls, already in a bag so other shoppers wouldn't know that I was buying just before the shelves were stocked that day. I happily forked over the cash and thanked him profusely, grateful to have not just one but two dolls. Sis and I wrapped and hid those dolls until holiday time.

You can see by the photo how well loved this Cabbage Patch Doll was! Even after the fad faded, the girls had fond memories of these dolls. Now they can relive the memory whenever they see this photo.

Also in the photo are crewel embroidery projects made by moi and gifted to this family. Although a small part of the story of this photo, crafts are an ongoing theme in my family. My maternal grandma was a master of embroidery and crochet. My Mom loved to crochet, she did petit point, and tried her hand at decoupage.

My sisters and I were all taught to crochet and sew at an early age. Sis was an ace seamstress, making her own stylish clothes. I quilt. We still enjoy crafting, and all members of the next generation enjoy crafts, as well.

By telling the story of these old photos, we can show the younger folks how many connections they have to their ancestors. In this case, it's a love of hand-crafts. And the memory of chasing after the toy of the moment for two much-loved little girls.

Scan-a-Thon 2019 - Making Progress!

Today is the first day of the "official" Scan-a-Thon 2019, held by WikiTree in coordination with GeneabloggersTribe and other #genealogy groups.

It's a fun opportunity to be part of a worldwide community scanning photos (and documents), posting to online trees, and/or sharing with family. You still have time to get in on the fun by scanning Friday through Sunday (and beyond).

I actually began scanning family photos last weekend, sorting and discussing with my sister. We will continue intermittently through 2019. So many photos bring back so many memories, and it's wonderful to have company and conversation while scanning. Making progress!

Today I wanted to describe the process in a little more detail. Even though I'm using a Flip-Pal, which makes it convenient to quickly scan snapshots from the past, there are a few steps needed to go from scan to finished image ready for the family tree or family sharing. (I do not post photos of living people, by the way, so these particular scans are intended for family sharing--a great way to preserve the past for future generations.)

After scanning, I pull the SD card from the Flip-Pal and load the images into my Mac-based photo management program. (Note: I use Picasa3, no longer supported by Google, although it may still be available. I'm not ready to change yet, because Picasa serves my needs quite well, but at least workarounds and alternatives exist if needed in the future.)

Sis and I completed 181 scans, including the full image of a snapshot from this batch shown at top. Note that because the snapshot is smaller than the full Flip-Pal scanning window, white background shows behind the photo. (I added the blue border digitally to clarify where the photo itself ends and the Flip-Pal background begins.)

My next step is to open each scanned image and crop out the white background, as shown just above.

Over time, snapshots fade, some colors can change...and if I can restore them without making material changes, that's what I prefer to do.

So after cropping, I decide whether to alter the colors, contrast, sharpness, etc. Neither of the above photo scans has been altered.

Now compare with the slightly brightened photo at left, where the sand is lighter so the kiddie stands out a bit better. Yes, I altered the sand's coloring a smidge, but I didn't change what the image shows.

Some people prefer to scan and leave the scanned image like the original. Me, I want my image to be more like the original original. In other words, I try to be fairly faithful to what the snapshot was like at the time it was taken. If the snapshot was originally too dark, I lighten it a teensy bit so the person or place is viewable. If things are slightly blurry, I try to sharpen the image. (I don't put people in or take people out. That's where I draw the line!)

Scanning and cropping, plus color or contrast correction, are not the end of the process. Next step is to caption each image. A picture is worth a thousand words, but I'll be much more succinct in my captioning ;)

Challenge: Personal Family History Scanfest 2019

Let Personal Family History Scanfest 2019 begin! This is the year my family's "modern history" photos (meaning since I was born, LOL) will be scanned and digitally organized and distributed.

I'm approaching the scanfest challenge as a process, to be accomplished little by little during the year:

1. Gather albums from multiple sources. [Plenty are on hand, more to be gathered.]
2. Rough sort photos by family, year, and/or theme (vacation, Christmas, etc). [Started.]
3. Discard damaged and irrelevant photos and negatives. [One bag tossed today--photos with rips or stains were scanned and will be digitally repaired.]
4. Separate good dupes to send to family members. [Going into the mail Monday.]
5. Extract photos carefully from those awful magnetic albums, preserving labels. [In process]
6. Scan a hundred or more at a time. (I love my Flip-Pal, set at high resolution, for speed and convenience.) Where appropriate, include handwritten label of place/date next to first photo scanned in a series. [One day scanned total: 181 good images!]
7. Keep scanned snapshots in order in a temporary storage box, ready to be checked and then stored in a safe way. [in process]
8. Arrange digital images into digital folders (again, by family/year/season/theme, etc.) and make digital dupes on flash drives for family members.
9. Create a few special photobooks with descriptive captions to send to family members.*
10. Have fun during the process, reminiscing and double-checking identifications and dates/places with family. 

Doing this little by little makes the scanfest and genealogical organization a lot less overwhelming. I highly recommend scanning with a family member, not just for the conversations but also for the extra hands ready to work with photos. Having my Sis partner with me doubles the fun--the time really flies by!

Have you been scanning your baby photos and other photos from "modern" family history, to preserve them and have digital versions backing up the physical images?

Thanks to Amy Johnson Crow for this second in the 2019 series of #52Ancestors prompts,  "challenge."

Special thanks to WikiTree for the Scan-a-Thon challenge, January 11-14, in coordination with GeneabloggersTribe.

Yes, I'm a bit early, but I'm also spreading my scanfest out over many weeks to share the fun with family!

*For privacy reasons, I will only upload selected photos of ancestors (not living people) to my online family trees.