# What to do with old photographs?



## Son Jester (Nov 1, 2020)

Hey all, 
So we are moving in the spring and trying to declutter which includes old photographs.  We have no kids and are conscious of the fact that one day most of our “stuff” will be of little interest to our existing relatives, so what do we do with our “holiday snaps” and other such momentous for that matter?


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## Aunt Marg (Nov 1, 2020)

What a shame it would be to let that sort of thing go before their time.

My vote is for you to hang onto them until such a time you can no longer maintain your lifestyle, and have to look at downsizing or moving into a care home.

I've always persevered when it comes to hanging onto certain things, and in the past it's paid off. So nice to be able to go through old photographs on a cold winter day or when the weather is the pits (rain, etc).


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## needshave (Nov 1, 2020)

At the very least, I would take a good quality digital picture of them and store them in the cloud. At lease a reference copy is available to ever whom you might like to give access. This works pretty well as I use it for storage of pictures I share with the family.


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## Aunt Bea (Nov 1, 2020)

When it comes to an accumulation of anything I've found that it is easiest for me to dispose of things in stages.

Go through the photographs and while you are enjoying the memories quickly sort them into the ones you need to keep and the ones that you are comfortable with letting go of.

In a few months or years go through the same exercise and continue to do it as your situation changes over the years.

Hopefully, you will be left with a few possessions that capture the spirit of your life and your adventures over the years.

Good luck!


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## bowmore (Nov 1, 2020)

After my wife died, I had albums full of our trips and other activities. We had no children, so nobody else would be interested in them. When I remarried, I ended up tossing the lot out.
It was time to make new memories.


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## AnnieA (Nov 1, 2020)

If you know of family interested in genealogy, let them know of the older photos you have.  As far as vacation and holiday photos, pick a few of your favorites and scan them for the genealogists in your family.

Some people even create a Find A Grave entry while alive and include a few favorite photos.  If you're not familiar with the site, it's a worldwide catalogue of grave sites that includes space for photos, obits or other memorials, a linking feature for other family members' memorials.  Once someone's obituary is published, there's usually an entry created by a family genealogist or a local family historian.  If you've created yours in advance, someone will edit it to include the date and place of death and burial when your obituary is published.  Sounds a little morbid if you're not into genealogy, but it's extremely helpful to those who are.

https://www.findagrave.com/


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## Sassycakes (Nov 1, 2020)

I am a hoarder when it comes to pictures. If I were you I would just look at any that had meaning to me and toss the rest of them away.


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## Geezerette (Nov 1, 2020)

I understand the need to do that. My experience is that when I want to downsize or thin out papers, pictures, etc. is I need to do it a small group at a time, not try to tackle a big mess all at once. Too large at once and I end up feeling like I want to either keep or toss the whole mess.


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## Aneeda72 (Nov 1, 2020)

I have found old stuff in shops, like photos, and on genealogy sights mention stuff and low and behold some distant researchers were dying for that stuff and I sent it to them.  So, look up your family name on Ancestry and contact some researcher and offer to let them have the photos mailed to them upon your deaths.

Perhaps a 100 years from now someone in your line will treasure those photos.  I have a postcard that was sent to a relative in, hmm, 1922 or so with a picture of my dad and his sister on it as babies.

The guy came across the postcard in a shop, put it up for sale on line, and I bought for 20 dollars.  You just never know.  I am thrilled with it and now have given it to my nephew.  He will pass it to his girls, and they to their children.


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## AnnieA (Nov 1, 2020)

So true, @Aneeda72 !  Same experience here when I purchased an antique frame from Etsy that had a vintage photo with the woman's name on the back.


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## DaveA (Nov 1, 2020)

We have many old photos as we still live in the old home where my folks and grandparents lived.  Sadly, many of the early photos are unmarked or dated leaving us (and our off-spring) in the dark.  We have started writing names, dates, and places on the photos that we took and the older ones which we can identify.

As we do have a large and nearby family we have also started handing some of the photos off to those interested.  I'd suggest offering them to relatives who might be interested, before tossing them.


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## ClassicRockr (Nov 1, 2020)

Ok, it's printer/scanner time, along with a large capacity USB (flash drive). I used the scanning part of our printer, scanned in all of our loose photos (old-to-very old-to new) and transferred onto USB's. We had three rather large plastic storage containers full of boxes of photos and now they are most on USB's. Still have a few photo albums, but only a few. 

If going to do this, make sure you fill the scanner screen with photos..........with a small space between each. 

As for all of the loose photos I scanned/USB, those photos were sent to my wife's sister and some to another relative. There were some photos that my wife wanted to get rid of, as pics of her first husband and her, pics of her second husband and her and pics of an old boyfriend and her.


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## jujube (Nov 1, 2020)

I made my mom sit down with me a few years ago and go through the "mystery" box of really old pictures.  Any picture she said "I don't know who that is" or "Oh, that's my Uncle George's second wife's two daughters from her first marriage" went directly into the trash.  

That leaves me with only about 10,000 more pictures to figure out what to do with.  Think I'm exaggerating?  Not by much....


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## Ruth n Jersey (Nov 1, 2020)

A couple of years ago I went through all my old photos mainly because the albums were falling apart. Pieces of black paper everywhere. I was surprised at how many I was able to discard because of the subject matter. Who needs a picture of some poor old bear in a zoo dated 1929. 
A lot of scenery of where, I had no idea. 
I was surprised how doing this lightened the load.
Then I labeled the others and put in boxes according  to date.  I liked the albums better but these stack nicely.
My kids have no interest in them at this point. Maybe that will change, 
In the mean time I will cherish what is left and will keep them until I die.


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## Aneeda72 (Nov 1, 2020)

Ruth n Jersey said:


> A couple of years ago I went through all my old photos mainly because the albums were falling apart. Pieces of black paper everywhere. I was surprised at how many I was able to discard because of the subject matter. Who needs a picture of some poor old bear in a zoo dated 1929.
> A lot of scenery of where, I had no idea.
> I was surprised how doing this lightened the load.
> Then I labeled the others and put in boxes according  to date.  I liked the albums better but these stack nicely.
> ...


My dad took pictures of water.  The water upon the beach, the water on every dang lake we saw, water, water, water.  Nothing in it, just water and waves.  . Tossed them all.


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## CarolfromTX (Nov 1, 2020)

Digitize them.


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## Rich29 (Nov 1, 2020)

When my parents passed away I inherited a large box of old pictures (some back to the 1920's). As a result of covid, I have lots of time  go through them. I have been scanning a lot of them to my Apple computer. Apple allows me to create albums and label the pictures with names and dates. I have enlisted my cousins to verify some of the names. I plan to send them to Shutterfly or another provider to make photo albums for my kids. It's a little slow but nostalgic.


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## MickaC (Nov 1, 2020)

I'm afraid i'm the end of the line when it comes to photos.
Photos of grandparents, parents, aunts and uncles........no one for these to pass on to.
Have several pictures of some of the fosters kids we homed, they will go to them, for the ones we can find.
Photos from life in my first marriage, we went through them, each got some.......but the life for those pictures after will probably be death of the photos......nowhere for them to go to.
The photos of step kids will go back to them
Photos from life in my 2nd marriage......uhhhhhhh......go to step kids, will they want then. probably not.
There will be some that will just be burned.......bad memories.......ashes.


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## fmdog44 (Nov 1, 2020)

About a year ago I decided to toss all of the photos I had kept including my HS Yearbook. They were of no use and i had viewed them enough.


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## Ellen Marie (Nov 1, 2020)

DaveA said:


> We have many old photos as we still live in the old home where my folks and grandparents lived.  Sadly, many of the early photos are unmarked or dated leaving us (and our off-spring) in the dark


I hear you.  I have a huge box of pictures to go through sometime to date and put names on....I've begun to give pics of cousins and other family to them when they visit.   Wish I had taken better notes when my parents were still living... but I was so occupied with life and work then


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## IrisSenior (Nov 2, 2020)

Keep a few special ones for yourself and dump the rest.


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## Lewkat (Nov 2, 2020)

I've scanned many onto my computer and tossed  those I knew would have no meaning to my son or nieces, nephews, etc.


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## DaveA (Nov 2, 2020)

Lewkat mentioned nieces and nephews, and I would only add "close" cousins.  When I was a child, we vacationed for many years at my uncle's farm in New Hampshire.  Many pictures were taken which included some of my other aunts, uncles, and cousins.  

I've already sent vacation photos to some of them, both original and copies.  And as Ellen Marie said, wish I'd chatted about the photos with my folks when they were still with us.


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## ClassicRockr (Nov 2, 2020)

Lewkat said:


> I've scanned many onto my computer and tossed  those I knew would have no meaning to my son or nieces, nephews, etc.



Scanned into computer and then what? If kept on your computer, your computer performance will slow. That's why, from a previous post, I put all of them on USB's.


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## Lewkat (Nov 2, 2020)

My computer is performing just fine.  If it were a problem, my son would have advised me to use a cloud or whatever.  That's his business, so he'd know.


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## OneEyedDiva (Nov 4, 2020)

I have hundreds of old photos, many of my family on my birthmother's side. A couple of months ago, I decided that rather than just have them sitting in a box, I would start posting them in a group I created on Facebook, especially for family photos.  My family, mostly cousins are loving them and often blown away. My family is huge and widespread. This group is helping some of us connect and get to know each other's "branches". I have photos of everybody's parent(s), grandparent(s), aunts and uncles, siblings from way back in the day.

I'm not saying for you to start a FB photo group but maybe some of your relatives would be interested in some of your photos. No way to know unless you ask. Rather than hold on to the old pictures, which are now being stored digitally, I'll be mailing them to whoever asks for them. I gave all my husband's old photos to his daughters, sister and a nephew.


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## Manatee (Nov 14, 2020)

A few nights ago I turned on my desktop hard drive which has a lot of pictures in it.  I emailed a number of pictures to family and friends who are scattered around the country.  They all liked them a lot.
The picture of my wife talking to a ground squirrel in an Oregon forest was a favorite.


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## Linda Doc (Nov 15, 2020)

I have an old photograph of my grandparents' wedding from 1932. It's very big - about 48 inches high, and too big for my scanner. I'd love to get it either copied or restored for framing. Would a photography shop be the best place for this? I also don't want to spend a fortune.


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## Camper6 (Nov 15, 2020)

Linda Doc said:


> I have an old photograph of my grandparents' wedding from 1932. It's very big - about 48 inches high, and too big for my scanner. I'd love to get it either copied or restored for framing. Would a photography shop be the best place for this? I also don't want to spend a fortune.


You can copy it yourself for starters. You need a tripod for steadiness. You can use natural lighting. Basically taking a picture of a picture.And then you can edit it and save it. I just did that with a cover picture on the Satuday Evening Post of Kennedy . To get it done professionally visit a framing shop. They can give you a price.


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## Manatee (Nov 16, 2020)

I have a picture of my aunt on the wall next to my desk.  In it she is standing in front of a car.  The license plate is dated 1917.

She was my favorite aunt.


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## PamfromTx (Nov 16, 2020)

I have been procrastinating about going thru that huge box of photos of ours.  I don't have any children to pass them to and have no clue what to do with so many photos.  The thought of tossing away wedding, birthday, etc. photos breaks my heart.  And I know that no one (relative) will want these photos.  Not sure what to do.


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## Aneeda72 (Nov 16, 2020)

pamelasmithwick said:


> I have been procrastinating about going thru that huge box of photos of ours.  I don't have any children to pass them to and have no clue what to do with so many photos.  The thought of tossing away wedding, birthday, etc. photos breaks my heart.  And I know that no one (relative) will want these photos.  Not sure what to do.


But someone will.  I am on Ancestry.com.  Take the free trial period.  Look up who is researching your family line.  Offer the pictures to them, they will gladly take them.  You might not be as alone as you think you are.


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## Murrmurr (Nov 16, 2020)

Put 'em in albums. My grandkids go through my photo albums almost every time they come over. They think it's a hoot and I love hearing them say stuff like "Oh my god, that's YOU?" Beats watching them play video games.


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## Pixelfun (Jan 24, 2021)

Photos: of all the things we accumulate over the years, it’s the one most difficult to part with, yet for others, the memories relived in our minds and paper clutter seems pointless.
To answer what was asked, I would say you Can safely get rid of it with no remorse. Obviously, the milestones eg: wedding, births etc, you can hold on for a while but do you really need the ones from your first cruise.
Its bittersweet as I type because I too have boxes of prints, promising myself to scan and create photo books. The difference is that we have kids and grandkids, so it will be treasured by them. 
Good Luck with your decision and do what’s best for you guys


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## fmdog44 (Jan 25, 2021)

The OP does not read as the photos are precious so why not toss them? If there was any question then it is up to the holder but if I had to ak others what to do with them that is a pretty good clue they will not be missed.


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## Rich29 (Jan 25, 2021)

As I mentioned on an earlier post I inherited a large box of pictures from my parents when they passed
away more than 30 years ago. This past year I have finally addressed the box by sorting and then scanning
 a large portion into my computer. As a follow up to my previous post I downloaded the pictures to a company,
Snapfish, that generates  photo albums from the scanned pictures. I was pleased how the album came out
and gave one to each of my kids. The cost was quite reasonable, less than $25 per album. The following are some
sample pages.


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## Camper6 (Jan 26, 2021)

I was thinking of laying all the photos out on a tile floor and taking a final picture of them.
Maybe two or three sessions would do.
Then put them in a box and label the box with the date.
If you haven't opened the box after a year then dispose of them.
The other thought I had was sending all the grandkids pictures back to them.

Incidentally re putting stuff in a box and labelling it with the date.
A friend of mine does that with stuff he want's to get rid of.
Anything he hasn't used in a year is gone.
I have stuff that hasn't been used in 12 years since I moved.  I'm starting to shred it for disposal.
Expired insurance policies for instance.  Why keep them when you have the new one?


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## Chet (Jan 26, 2021)

I threw all my old photos away and store the memories in my head. When you are coming to the end of the line, it's going to be mighty sad to look at them and see what was and never will be again. Always look foreword; never back.


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## Happyflowerlady (Jan 26, 2021)

I have old family photos from pictures that my mom and dad took over their lifetime, and some from when my mom was a girl. My kids love those old pictures, and we have them scanned into my photo stream, and then put into family “share albums”. 
Some of the old pictures my mom had labeled, but some of them don’t say enough to help know what it is about, and we just had to guess. Once I am gone, my kids would have had no idea what some of the older pictures were , so I have been writing as much information as I can about each picture. 
The photos themselves, I sorted and put in labeled envelopes, to make it easier for someone else to go through if they want to do that, and the whole thing is in a large folder to protect the pictures. 
Since we had the dna done for Ancestry and 23&me, we have also put some of the family photos on the website for other related people to find. 

This picture is my mom and dad, on their trip from Idaho to California, back around 1929.


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## Buckeye (Jan 26, 2021)

I had over 11,000 digital pictures on my old tower machine, plus other unscanned ones in boxes/albums.  Any picture that did not have a person in it was pitched, which was a lot of vacation pictures.  Old family photos from my childhood or before were all kept.  My son will get all of these at some point.


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## katlupe (Jan 29, 2021)

I sold a lot of old photos on eBay. In the price range of $7.99 to $19.99. That is each picture. Many were taken by my mother and were pretty old. You know how boring vacation photos can be? Not to everyone. I sold so many of them I could not believe it myself. Pictures that have vintage items in the picture, such as old toys, cars, kitchen settings, etc. Even old black and white photographs of weddings or christenings. All photos of cars or old buildings, such as gas stations or stores. It is a good way to pick up a few dollars and easy to send.


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## MrPants (Jan 29, 2021)

I had to help my brother clear out my mother's place back in Oct.-Nov. last year as she had gone to a care home and her house was sold. We had a limited time to do the "purge". I swear my parents kept everything they ever had so it was a daunting task. Took a full month and there were about 6 large boxes of photos. I went through every one of them. I took a few that struck my fancy and for historical sake but the bulk of them ended up with my brother who said he wanted to look at them over the winter. What we'll do with them, I have no idea. Can't see them being of interest to generations that follow, other than a mere curiosity perhaps. 
It's great now that you can just store everything in "the cloud". That cloud must be getting pretty heavy by now!


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## bowmore (Jan 29, 2021)

I finally made a decision to toss a number of albums. These were all of me and my late wife on our travels. We had no children, and I could not think of anyone who would be interested, especially my current wife.


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## hollydolly (Feb 12, 2021)

All 70,000 plus, of mine are in the cloud. Most of mine are digital, but the ones I inherited from my childhood I took photos of and they're now digitally stored... although I still have several paper albums of my daughter...


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## Phoenix (Feb 14, 2021)

I'm hoping one of my grand nieces will take my mother's albums.  It worries me.  Mom went to a lot of loving care to create them.


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