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What to do with old photos?

(8 Posts)
CoolCoco Fri 27-Oct-23 06:39:56

I have got a load of old albums including some of my parents and grandparents photo albums. I also have boxes of old photos and loads on my phone and iPad. “Sorting out photos” has been on my to do list for ages. It’s all a bit overwhelming and I don’t know where to start. Any tips for leaving something useful for the children in the future or will they end up in a skip or floating round in the cloud?

BlueBelle Fri 27-Oct-23 07:12:06

I have mine in (annual) albums and my grown up grandchildren love going through them I have thousands of photos and have made them into albums for individuals so when the time comes they can be passed to each individually and kept or thrown out by them each
I also have shoe boxes of old photos of my children through their lives, again I have divided them in boxes for each of my children, so they can make the decision individually what to do with them
Thirdly I have photos form my genealogy work These may be thrown out as no one seems to have my interest but I won’t know will I ?

Oopsadaisy1 Fri 27-Oct-23 07:18:36

Why not invite the children round and see which photos they would like to have?
Fortunately I scanned all of our family pics onto disks for our ACs years ago, so they have a copy each.

All very old family pics I’ve scanned and put onto the Ancestry site and onto my PC where I’ve saved them onto an external hard drive.

Most scenic pics from my parents have been binned as I didn’t know where half of them were, some I’ve posted onto FB on the relevant sites as they depict 1950s ‘Britain’ .

I still have a cupboard of albums though, most are still ok but I’ve found that many photos from the early 1970s have faded, but photos taken before and afterwards are still looking quite good.

I also have many pics on my iPad and laptop, it’s a modern ‘thing’ and I suspect the children will have to deal with them once we are gone.

Grannynannywanny Fri 27-Oct-23 08:10:55

I have a box of very old b&w photos that came to me after the death of my parents. My Dad had gone through them all and used a soft pencil to write names, dates and any other relevant info on the back of them. It was really helpful recently when my 10 yr old granddaughter was doing a school project on war time.

Katie59 Fri 27-Oct-23 10:05:22

You put them in a box and leave for the family to rummage through when you’ve gone, the best ones write the date and who is in the photo.
It’s family history either they are interested or they aren’t.

nadateturbe Fri 27-Oct-23 10:09:44

Agree with Katie59. Put information on the back if you can and leave for children.
We enjoyed and still do, looking through old photos/albums.

Germanshepherdsmum Fri 27-Oct-23 10:21:51

I agree with Katie. In my experience people tend not to be interested in, or have the time for, family history until their parents have gone. The photos, with as much information as possible as to who the subjects are, can be like gold dust then. On the other hand, if they never develop an interest then the photos might just be put in the loft and passed on to the next generation or dumped - but we will have done what we can to preserve them. We can’t dictate what will happen after we’ve gone.

Philippa111 Fri 27-Oct-23 10:29:45

People suggest keeping one or two photos from each 'event' and getting rid of the rest( difficult!)
My daughter makes photo books every year so all of that is sorted. I have given her the old family albums and its up to her to do what she wants with them.