My Photo Inheritance and My Legacy Plan

What I am about to admit will most likely make you gasp and sputter, and then consider reading me the riot act. And I truly beg your forgiveness.

On a chair in my front room sits a white cardboard box. It is filled to the top with envelopes and Ziploc bags chock full of photographs. I keep meaning to clear the table off and go through them all. 

Family Photos

But life just keeps getting in the way of that, day after day. Until this coming week, that is. As of next Wednesday, I will have five days off in a row with no immediate plans...except to remedy this situation!

My encouragement into not procrastinating any longer actually came from the Twitter #Genchat that I try to participate in with other genealogists. I had missed last Friday's and read through some of the discussion.

There were two questions in particular that made me give several sidelong glances toward the white box.

Q.1.) Did you inherit a jumble of family photos and documents?

A ~ Although I inherited several documents also, it is this box of photographs that I I truly consider a "jumble".  After my father's death several years ago, my four siblings and I emptied the house o ready it for sale.  As there was a lot to do in a short time, we split the photos quickly by sorting them into the Ziploc bags that we could each take home.

Boxful of Family Photos

Q.2.) Should you give any old photographs or artifacts to relatives or institutions now?

A ~ I actually have all kinds of plans for many of the photographs, some I have no idea what I will do with them, and lots of questions  for anyone that can help!

The Legal Question

For starters, I know that any of the photographs that were taken by a studio or professional photographer will have to be researched in regards to the copyright rule. If I am sending them to a more appropriate relative or institution, the research is not required. 

However, if I would like to publish it on the blog, my first stop would be a visit to Judy G. Russell's The Legal Genealogist  (legalgenealogist.com) article on "Copyright and the Old Family Photo". This is a wonderful resource for understanding the basics in an easy-to-understand format.

In July, I will be hosting a family reunion. I have started a private FB group page to pass on reunion information and to get to know each other better. I will be sharing some of the snapshots there to start identifying the subjects, other than my mother, uncle and grandmother.

I will mail a few to the families that would benefit more than I from having them in their possession.

I will be sending some to my hometown historical society to use as they see fit. The subjects in these photos were contemporaries of my parents, and I cannot identify them.

My Creative Side

I have already started using a few of these photographs in scrapbooking pages and craft projects.

Scrapbook Page for a New Album

Seven Generations Photo Collage (right
side edited for privacy)

Digitalizing

I have taken smartphone photos of my snapshots to add them to the blog, However, I have not had the chance to learn proper digitalization. When I am ready for that step, I will work my way through the whole box one photograph at a time.

A Few last questions

I have shared with you my sad tale of neglecting my photo inheritance, and my plans for rectifying the situation during next week's mini-vacation.

Now share your stories with me! What have you been able to accomplish with your photographs so far? What is your plan for the future?  

And one last nagging question 🤔 🤔 🤔...What do you do with the originals you do not want, no one else wants, and you have a hard time just throwing away.