What Supplies Do you Use for Family History LOs?

[Susan - s3js]

More and more I find I am using photo masks and templates. The templates keep my mojo going and speed up production of a page. As I approach my 70th birthday in October, I am more than a little aware that every day is a day of grace, especially those I share with my almost 90 year-old father. I have an old phone with a voice recorder app on it that is standing me in good stead in recording his stories. As the pages add up, I will have an album just about my Dad.

I also rely heavily on journaling. Often the journaling is on a companion page because I almost always have too much to say!

The other thing I rely on is physical scrapbooks. There are loads of thrift store here in Sanford and within a 50 mile radius. Tuesday I had lunch with a friend from my teen years. We met in 1970 and one of the school pictures she has up on her FB page is one I have in my memory box. She found me on FB and sent a message - Is that really you? We've had a ball having several lunches together with more planned. My oldest will be here next week and my youngest lives less than an hour away. We'll all get together one weekend so she can meet all my menfolk! One of the 10 brand new scrapbooks I found while antiquing and thrifting with her On Tuesday will become the album she and I will fill with our memories to share with other friends that I hope will add their memories. I spent $33 to purchase those 10 scrapbooks, a Vera Bradley purse, and book about the leaders and battles of the Civil War which will help me with my genealogical research. Like most Americans whose families were already established in the US by 1850, the Civil War figures heavily in my history on both sides of the battle and I am related to many of those leaders or have family that served under them. So books as well as scrapbooks are important.

Lastly is my computer. If not for Legacy Family Tree I would be lost and would never be able to figure out that someone was my 3rd cousin 3 times removed - whatever that means!

Please do share!

 

[Jeannette]

I do not scrap much family history, except for my kids of course.
When my oldest was born, we did have a computer, but I had no idea of digital scrapping. I did make a lot of photo's and put them in a album. Just like my mother did with my childhood photo's.
I wrote a lot in the album.
When my second child was born we I had less time. I did make an album for her, but wrote less. I regret this now.
When my third and last child was born, photography became digital. I don't have much "real" photo's from my son. I regret this too.

I did do three years project 365. Three albums filled with normal, ordinary life photo's. One for each child, but I have them all digital so they can each have all three years.

I love photography, I love making photo's from my kids and I have so many photo's I still can make albums for them. But with a fulltime job and too many hobbies time is a problem.
For documenting family history I rely on the photos and my journaling. When I did my 365 projects the photos were important and so was the journaling. I did add some elements, but just a little, so the attention and focus would be on the photo's.

 

[Celestine]

This is an interesting thread, Susan. Thank you for posting. I like to scrap around the framework of challenges, so my heritage pages tend to be a hodgepodge, but I don't really mind that. I also get inspired by the use of color in heritage pages, and feel I need to do more of that. While sepia gives that "heritage" feel, I also like those that say "color existed 100 years ago!" I save heritage layouts that I like in Pinterest and go there for inspiration. I did purchase a few highly discounted genealogy-based and kitschy 1950s kits before ScrapGirls closed (where I was active), so it is unlikely I will post those here on Oscraps. However, I really find the Oscraps gallery full of very interesting heritage LOs, and they always inspire me.

I've been doing a lot of genealogy, but took a few months break recently. I will get back into it, and it has been fascinating. I look forward to scrapping about it more at some point.

 

[bitzee]

@Susan - s3js @Jeannette @Celestine Photography and genealogy have always been my hobbies. Digital scrapping is the natural progression from those hobbies. I am 71 and my mom is 93 so I feel an urgency to get my stuff done. I started digital scrapbooking with my heritage pages because those were the only photos I had access to. My digital scrapbooking journey was the direct result of losing 22 cherished photo albums and other keepsakes in Hurricane Katrina. Because evacuation multiple times a season was becoming more frequent, I decided to get as much of my stuff as possible into digital format and to ditch paper scrapping. But I was only in the very beginning stages of doing that. Katrina was the only time I wasn’t able to take my photo albums with me.

After losing our home and almost everything else in the storm, all I had left of my photos was a couple CDs of scanned heritage photos, our portraits, and 2 big binders of 252 rolls of negative filmstrips that I was able to grab as we evacuated. It took more than a decade to restore most of my photos from the 35mm negatives. So, I am very far behind in getting my pages done. I want to continue with my heritage pages but I really want to scrap the everyday moments of my kids’ lives.

With regard to kits to use for family history pages, I don’t always find what I need in heritage themed kits. My older family photos fall into 3 categories—Black & White, Sepia, and portraits done in oil. These oil portraits have a beautiful colorized look to them. Some of my pages include all 3 types of photos. It is challenging to find backgrounds that enhance all the photos on the page. I find that papers with very soft colors can actually be neutral and make a nice background to unify these different photos into a pleasing page. For me it is all about the photos and the stories. I want to enhance my photos, not overwhelm them with too many embellishments, especially not with a bunch of fake flowers.

I have an inspiration folder on my EHD. When I see a page that I really like, I save it to the folder. If it is a heritage page, I add HERITAGE in front of the layout name. The same goes for GARDEN, SCHOOL, BABY etc. for ease of finding what I am looking for. I use templates also. My time is very limited with caring for Mom and running after my 16-month-old great nephew a couple days a week. The templates are a real help. Does anyone have any time management advice with regard to having a regular scrapping routine?

Celestine, it is great to see you here! I hope we can all learn from each other.

 

[Susan - s3js]

I do not scrap much family history, except for my kids of course.
When my oldest was born, we did have a computer, but I had no idea of digital scrapping. I did make a lot of photo's and put them in a album. Just like my mother did with my childhood photo's.
I wrote a lot in the album.
When my second child was born we I had less time. I did make an album for her, but wrote less. I regret this now.
When my third and last child was born, photography became digital. I don't have much "real" photo's from my son. I regret this too.

I did do three years project 365. Three albums filled with normal, ordinary life photo's. One for each child, but I have them all digital so they can each have all three years.

I love photography, I love making photo's from my kids and I have so many photo's I still can make albums for them. But with a fulltime job and too many hobbies time is a problem.
For documenting family history I rely on the photos and my journaling. When I did my 365 projects the photos were important and so was the journaling. I did add some elements, but just a little, so the attention and focus would be on the photo's.

Yeah, real life takes a lot of time doesn't it? I too have fewer photos for my second child when he was little but more when he was in high school because he was a Bandie. Now that I am retired I thought I would have more time for my 2 favorite hobbies - other than sleeping. Not!

 

[Susan - s3js]

This is an interesting thread, Susan. Thank you for posting. I like to scrap around the framework of challenges, so my heritage pages tend to be a hodgepodge, but I don't really mind that. I also get inspired by the use of color in heritage pages, and feel I need to do more of that. While sepia gives that "heritage" feel, I also like those that say "color existed 100 years ago!" I save heritage layouts that I like in Pinterest and go there for inspiration. I did purchase a few highly discounted genealogy-based and kitschy 1950s kits before ScrapGirls closed (where I was active), so it is unlikely I will post those here on Oscraps. However, I really find the Oscraps gallery full of very interesting heritage LOs, and they always inspire me.

I've been doing a lot of genealogy, but took a few months break recently. I will get back into it, and it has been fascinating. I look forward to scrapping about it more at some point.

Celestine, I am so happy about your comments on color. While I sometimes scrap in neutrals for my heritage pages I have long said to people that our ancestors' lives were in full living color and we should not be afraid of using color - and lots of it. The Pilgrims did not, in fact, dress in black and white, or grey. Martha Dandridge Custis Washington was wed in purple. Yay! Another believer!

 

[Susan - s3js]

@Susan - s3js @Jeannette @Celestine Photography and genealogy have always been my hobbies. Digital scrapping is the natural progression from those hobbies. I am 71 and my mom is 93 so I feel an urgency to get my stuff done. I started digital scrapbooking with my heritage pages because those were the only photos I had access to. My digital scrapbooking journey was the direct result of losing 22 cherished photo albums and other keepsakes in Hurricane Katrina. Because evacuation multiple times a season was becoming more frequent, I decided to get as much of my stuff as possible into digital format and to ditch paper scrapping. But I was only in the very beginning stages of doing that. Katrina was the only time I wasn’t able to take my photo albums with me.

After losing our home and almost everything else in the storm, all I had left of my photos was a couple CDs of scanned heritage photos, our portraits, and 2 big binders of 252 rolls of negative filmstrips that I was able to grab as we evacuated. It took more than a decade to restore most of my photos from the 35mm negatives. So, I am very far behind in getting my pages done. I want to continue with my heritage pages but I really want to scrap the everyday moments of my kids’ lives.

With regard to kits to use for family history pages, I don’t always find what I need in heritage themed kits. My older family photos fall into 3 categories—Black & White, Sepia, and portraits done in oil. These oil portraits have a beautiful colorized look to them. Some of my pages include all 3 types of photos. It is challenging to find backgrounds that enhance all the photos on the page. I find that papers with very soft colors can actually be neutral and make a nice background to unify these different photos into a pleasing page. For me it is all about the photos and the stories. I want to enhance my photos, not overwhelm them with too many embellishments, especially not with a bunch of fake flowers.

I have an inspiration folder on my EHD. When I see a page that I really like, I save it to the folder. If it is a heritage page, I add HERITAGE in front of the layout name. The same goes for GARDEN, SCHOOL, BABY etc. for ease of finding what I am looking for. I use templates also. My time is very limited with caring for Mom and running after my 16-month-old great nephew a couple days a week. The templates are a real help. Does anyone have any time management advice with regard to having a regular scrapping routine?

Celestine, it is great to see you here! I hope we can all learn from each other.

I am so sad about your losses during Katrina. My life changed differently than yours because of that storm - we were Salvation Army officers at the time - and didn't suffer the loss in the same way. I can only imagine your heartache, even now so many years later.

I'd like to hear on time management too. My Dad is still pretty active but in shorter amounts of time and I haven't yet found my rhythm. I also love templates. Just a thought for you - scrapping your children and every day life IS family history and will one day be heritage scrapbooks!

Like you, I've found keeping my scrapbooking digital and on an EHD at that makes it easy if we ever have to exit in a hurry. Just snap and go.

 

[bitzee]

I am so sad about your losses during Katrina. My life changed differently than yours because of that storm - we were Salvation Army officers at the time - and didn't suffer the loss in the same way. I can only imagine your heartache, even now so many years later.

I'd like to hear on time management too. My Dad is still pretty active but in shorter amounts of time and I haven't yet found my rhythm. I also love templates. Just a thought for you - scrapping your children and every day life IS family history and will one day be heritage scrapbooks!

Like you, I've found keeping my scrapbooking digital and on an EHD at that makes it easy if we ever have to exit in a hurry. Just snap and go.

We had so many wonderful volunteers help after Katrina. Thank you so much for your part. Yes, my kids' everyday life certainly is family history. I remember them pulling my photo albums down off the shelf and reminiscing about a particular time through the photos. They would laugh and say things like, "remember the time . . ." That is what I want from my digital pages when they are put into books. During tough times, reliving memories from easier times can be a big help.

 

[Celestine]

@bitzee Oh, goodness, I had no idea of the tragedy of Katrina for you. It must have been so difficult to lose to many photos. I know that if we had a tragedy like that it would be devastating for my family. My dad was a professional photographer, and died suddenly when he was just 51 nearly 30 years ago, and there are SO MANY PHOTOS. I inherited boxes of old photos from my mother, grandmother and great aunt. It has been overwhelming for me to sort and scan these images. I would love to hear how others manage.

My dad lived in a small town, and we attempted to sell his photography business intact, but eventually we had sell the equipment and the building. My mom ran ads for weeks in the local newspaper for people to come by and pick up the negatives (for free) of weddings, graduations, babies, family portraits, sports images. It was heartbreaking to finally throw box after box of irreplaceable negatives into a dumpster. Honestly, it was one of the saddest days I've ever experienced. Kathy, I can't imagine having to do that because a storm ruined our family history in images.

 

[Susan - s3js]

@bitzee Oh, goodness, I had no idea of the tragedy of Katrina for you. It must have been so difficult to lose to many photos. I know that if we had a tragedy like that it would be devastating for my family. My dad was a professional photographer, and died suddenly when he was just 51 nearly 30 years ago, and there are SO MANY PHOTOS. I inherited boxes of old photos from my mother, grandmother and great aunt. It has been overwhelming for me to sort and scan these images. I would love to hear how others manage.

My dad lived in a small town, and we attempted to sell his photography business intact, but eventually we had sell the equipment and the building. My mom ran ads for weeks in the local newspaper for people to come by and pick up the negatives (for free) of weddings, graduations, babies, family portraits, sports images. It was heartbreaking to finally throw box after box of irreplaceable negatives into a dumpster. Honestly, it was one of the saddest days I've ever experienced. Kathy, I can't imagine having to do that because a storm ruined our family history in images.

What a heartbreak! I look for old albums in our thrift stores, too, trying to recuse the photos. It's so sad to find cabinet cards and old photos just thrown away by descendants who just see old pictures an not the lives behind them. Celestine, I'll bet your Dad was quite the character. Have you thought about just doing an album of his photos for posterity? I'll bet you have!.

 

[bitzee]

@bitzee Oh, goodness, I had no idea of the tragedy of Katrina for you. It must have been so difficult to lose to many photos. I know that if we had a tragedy like that it would be devastating for my family. My dad was a professional photographer, and died suddenly when he was just 51 nearly 30 years ago, and there are SO MANY PHOTOS. I inherited boxes of old photos from my mother, grandmother and great aunt. It has been overwhelming for me to sort and scan these images. I would love to hear how others manage.

I don’t know how I would handle boxes and boxes of photos in addition to my own photos. And with your dad being a professional photographer, those photos are probably really good quality. I don’t have it in me to discard perfectly good photos. I would get totally lost in those photos wondering who they were when the photos were taken, etc. Maybe you could hire a high school or college student to scan these photos for you. Kids today are so tech savvy. Maybe a neighborhood kid would like a little extra spending money to do easy work. With the scanning done, it might be less intimidating to start sorting/organizing. Just a thought.

 

[Susan - s3js]

I don’t know how I would handle boxes and boxes of photos in addition to my own photos. And with your dad being a professional photographer, those photos are probably really good quality. I don’t have it in me to discard perfectly good photos. I would get totally lost in those photos wondering who they were when the photos were taken, etc. Maybe you could hire a high school or college student to scan these photos for you. Kids today are so tech savvy. Maybe a neighborhood kid would like a little extra spending money to do easy work. With the scanning done, it might be less intimidating to start sorting/organizing. Just a thought.

Whoa! That's a great idea! Maybe a niece or nephew since I have no grandchildren yet. Hmmm, maybe even a son or daughter-in-law!

 

[bitzee]

I was babysitting week before last and a little girl in my nephew's neighborhood knocked on the door. Her family is going to Disney in August and she wants to have some spending money. She is too young to babysit alone or have a job, but my nephew's wife has her come over a couple days a week to play with the baby while she gets caught up on her business correspondence, etc. It is working out for everyone. That's where I got the idea.

 

[Celestine]

@bitzee What a great idea: Maybe you could hire a high school or college student to scan these photos for you. Kids today are so tech savvy. Maybe a neighborhood kid would like a little extra spending money to do easy work. With the scanning done, it might be less intimidating to start sorting/organizing. Just a thought.

Sorry if this seems weird. I haven't figured out how to quote in these thread boxes.

 

[bitzee]

@Celestine I know what you mean about the quoting. I have goofed a few times especially if I am using my iPhone.

 

[mimes1]

I've been reading all this with great interest too. @bitzee I am so sorry to read about how Katrina impacted your life. That must have been devastating to make those decisions on evacuation.
We have 42 boxes of my dad's photos here, plus more of my mom's side of the family, plus two entire boxes of my grandfathers, plus 6 boxes of Mark's dads photos. I can't bear to go through them for any other purpose than looking at them. It's overwhelming to me actually so I haven't started any formal process of going through them.

 

[bitzee]

I've been reading all this with great interest too. @bitzee I am so sorry to read about how Katrina impacted your life. That must have been devastating to make those decisions on evacuation.
We have 42 boxes of my dad's photos here, plus more of my mom's side of the family, plus two entire boxes of my grandfathers, plus 6 boxes of Mark's dads photos. I can't bear to go through them for any other purpose than looking at them. It's overwhelming to me actually so I haven't started any formal process of going through them.

That storm in 2005 changed our lives tremendously and even influences us today. One day I might fill you in on more of the details.

Amy, what you do with this huge collection of family photos will depend on many different factors. The amount alone is intimidating. If your father was organized and labeled his boxes with dates, events or other indications of the contents of each box, that is half the battle. Certainly, that would help you to start with the photos that matter the most to you like weddings or births. If they aren’t organized or separated in any way—YIKES.

It might be helpful to get other family members involved with this. You are still grieving your mom’s loss so those pictures produce a minefield of emotions. It might be best to not look at them alone. Make this a shared experience to maybe lessen the sting. Are either of your daughters interested in photos? Maybe a couple of siblings would be interested in getting involved. Also, it might be helpful to start with Mark's family photos instead of yours.

Part of my motivation in dealing with my stuff is so that my kids won’t be overwhelmed or burdened with it. My oldest daughter is tender hearted and loves photos and anything about our family history. But she also would be the one to keep something just because it belonged to me or her dad. I don’t want her to be weighed down by my stuff. The only way to avoid that is for me to handle things myself.

Lastly, it might help to ask yourself a couple questions. How would you feel if those photos got lost for some reason? Would you regret not doing anything with them? I sure hope you can find a solution that works for you. Good luck

 

[Celestine]

@mimes1 I am the same way. Some of those boxes of photos have been in my house for years, but I find it difficult to go through them....by myself. I will dig for a photo that I know I have or need, but systematically going though them is just too sad for me. On the other hand, I know I need to do this. Many of these people are known only to me and my brother - even my kids won't recognize many of the people in the images, and as the last one who knows these people, I need to get on it.

@bitzee What wonderful, sage and caring advice you are giving in this thread. Just reading it made me feel better. You are the best!

 

[bitzee]

@Celestine Susan @Susan - s3js started this thread with "What Supplies Do You Use For Family History LOs". It has morphed into sorting, organizing and preserving family photos, both ours and those we inherit. I really like this direction. I am older than you and Amy @mimes1 and I can tell you that 20 years can fly by so quickly. I am sure that Susan will agree with that. We always put things off thinking we have plenty time to handle things. We do have time, but as time goes by life often gets in the way and not always in a good way. I hope we can all learn from each other. It is almost always beneficial to see things from another perspective.

 

[Susan - s3js]

I've been reading all this with great interest too. @bitzee I am so sorry to read about how Katrina impacted your life. That must have been devastating to make those decisions on evacuation.
We have 42 boxes of my dad's photos here, plus more of my mom's side of the family, plus two entire boxes of my grandfathers, plus 6 boxes of Mark's dads photos. I can't bear to go through them for any other purpose than looking at them. It's overwhelming to me actually so I haven't started any formal process of going through them.

I am green with envy! My Dad does have boxes of slides but I'm not sure how to convert them to usable photos. Beyond that, I have 3 small boxes of photos. I DO have a ton of digital photos and digital copies of old photos shared bt my cousins. I am so blessed to come from HUGE families that all have researchers willing to share.

 

[webfrau]

I am green with envy! My Dad does have boxes of slides but I'm not sure how to convert them to usable photos. Beyond that, I have 3 small boxes of photos. I DO have a ton of digital photos and digital copies of old photos shared bt my cousins. I am so blessed to come from HUGE families that all have researchers willing to share.

I scanned all the photos, negatives and slides belonging to my grandparents and parents on both sides of the family. I have a 20 year old Canon scanner that was able to scan everything. I got some wonderful images from the slides. It took me several years to do it. I haven't finished scanning my own pre-digital stuff but unfortunately the scanner will no longer do negatives because the light in the lid doesn't work and spare parts are no longer available. For those not familiar with the process for scanning slides and negatives, you need to have a light in both the bed and the lid of the scanner, for paper you only need it on one side. Ours has an insert that is removed from the lid to allow the top light to shine through and there are special plastic carriers for the different size negatives/slides.

You may be able to find a commercial service that will scan your slides for you.

 

[Susan - s3js]

I scanned all the photos, negatives and slides belonging to my grandparents and parents on both sides of the family. I have a 20 year old Canon scanner that was able to scan everything. I got some wonderful images from the slides. It took me several years to do it. I haven't finished scanning my own pre-digital stuff but unfortunately the scanner will no longer do negatives because the light in the lid doesn't work and spare parts are no longer available. For those not familiar with the process for scanning slides and negatives, you need to have a light in both the bed and the lid of the scanner, for paper you only need it on one side. Ours has an insert that is removed from the lid to allow the top light to shine through and there are special plastic carriers for the different size negatives/slides.

You may be able to find a commercial service that will scan your slides for you.

I have a couple of scanners. I need to see if I can do that with mine. My current one is a cannon as is a slimline I have stored somewhere. What a great tip!