What's to be done with a box of old photos and letters

I think if anything should be a wake-up call to all us oldies out there with boxes of stuff this is it!
I remember years ago helping my then partner clear away the contents of his parent's house and swore that I would never inflict this task on anyone, especially my own children.
Bit by bit I am throwing away anything I feel they will discard, and why would they keep it? Important letters and photos I am dating with info about when who and where- but most of it is going in the bin.
We are so selfish with our possessions/keepsakes aren't we? But we can't take them with us and what is golden to us will be nothing more than trash to our children/grandchildren.
I am starting now, before I see things that I feel are worth keeping get lost beneath a pile of anonymous images and papers.

Today I went through my jewellery. Dd happened to nip in for a cuppa and I invited her to pick what she wanted. She was told she had no obligation to take anything but she chose some nice pieces. It's in a bag for her to get when she clears space for it. I have other pieces ready for the charity shop. Another job done and I feel lighter because of it.

Grandmabatty
You are a far better person than me , re the photos at least 👌 I am an avid photographer & am always the person to of caught “ that” moment & the candid shots that no one else managed to see, at every event party or holiday.
I have slowly been sifting through these & have thrown out the work friends photos from jobs many moons ago . I have sorted into envelopes those to give to siblings ,nieces & nephews some of which I passed on a few week ago . The physical photos actually amount to many large albums , the process I am following is emptying the albums as that way I will also reduce the size of the huge storage ottoman they are in . Then I get to sort the ones that have never been in an album
That’s all a lot of work & on the way you go down that memory road & the job never gets finished .
The letters are another matter 😂
Oh then there’s the digital ones …at least I can carry on embarrassing every one on their birthday 🎁

The sad thing is that we are probably the last generation to communicate by letter (other than official letters or forms), or to have any sort of writing style. I think the only letters my DD and DS's have received or written are from me or to me.

I have a letter written by my grandfather in beautiful copperplate script which used to fascinate my young GCs and their friends. I photocopied it and for a short while they would spend hours trying to copy the words. They rarely write anything outside of school/college work now, although they may in future. They text and they email, mainly using smileys and acronyms. One has discovered calligraphy, but as an art form so not interested in writing. Some museums may be interested in old letters soon.

I have recently thrown out all the letters I received when younger. I have no desire to share them with the world and my daughter doesn't want them. Why would she? All photos have been thrown out or passed to dd.

With much interest I have just read a post that ended in January 2023 regarding ‘old letters & photos’
I am personally the holder of both given to me after
our Mothers passing aged 51 in 1981 . These letters were in a suitcase & preceded my own birth by at least 4 years plus a few years on .
Moving forward I have written my Mother’s biography with the help of these beautifully kept letters . They were in a suitcase & consisted of those written by friends, family and my own father .
They tell a story but not the story that myself and my siblings expected . I am still
Researching continues and to be honest I had started a biography of sorts years ago and then remembered the suitcase of letters .
I am the custodian for a reason but what do I do with them afterwards . I have 8 siblings . I’ll have to do a lucky dip or do I pass to one of my Daughter’s?

Grammeratto,
That is so sad to read ,My Brother clears houses for an auction house . He has told me some very sad stories re letters & photographs .
On the other hand ,I am also that person (although I do have family ) On my Mums passing some 40 years ago , my brother gave me a suitcase of letters & photographs that he thought I should have as they were from my birth father . they were engaged ,reams of them spanning 5 years .Also letters from other patients in hospitals when she was an inpatient recuperating from TB. What do I do I do with them . turns out my BF is not my BF as I received a DNA kit as a present & it is 100% NOT HIM ...🥲

Ro60

Failing your best plan, donate to a museum. Photographs and letters are a thing of the past & so (imo) important to keep.

I don’t think museums would be interested in letters to and by unknown people or old photos either, unless of the town and street scenes.
I would throw them out.I guess we’ll all have our share of these by the time we depart this earth.

❤️

Have you thought about hiring a professional genealogist to sort it all out for you? A qualified genealogist will be discrete with anything personal.
For the photos, you could select a few and post them on a genealogy photo archive like deadfred.com

Cute, Joseanne 🙂

If you look at old photos online of the area where you grew up, you may find some of your old schools or groups, complete with pupils!
I found one of me; all the other 5 year old look busy but I'm staring at the camera as if to say "what are you doing?"

I would Joseanne! You were adorable.
At present I do have space to keep the stuff but if I decide to downsize I will have an awful lot to dispose of

I haven't seen this box yet but have been told it's about the size of a typical grocery carton. Say a double shoe box so not huge

An archivist who was working locally was brought to my house to see the "archive" which my late DH had rescued from the cooperative society building before it was gutted
The archivist was thrilled and asked if he could spend a day here to examine everything.
He has never been back.
Nobody has space anymore for storage.

I mean who would want to keep a photo of my bottom!

Ha ha Chestnut, I'm rather hoping that all the photos of me will be VERY blurry in 60+ years time, especially the more dubious ones!

Joseanne

As an example, here's one a 9 year old did last term in Art from a 1930s portrait I had lying around. Of course the original was in sepia, and the child was allowed to imagine the colours of the clothes.

Well that's a nice photo Joseanne but I'm thinking more of random full length snapshots of one or two people standing somewhere unidentifiable like a beach, a wood, or in front of a building. Possibly rather blurry as old snapshots can be very poor quality. Some are completely useless, it just depends what the pictures are.

Theexwife I bought a family album once full of beautiful photographs. From clues on the photographs I traced the family tree and offered them on line in a genealogical forum to anyone in the family so long as they could prove they were family. No responses so far.

Joseanne I agree schools may be interested. I once did a couple of talks at my children's school (can't remember what subject we did it in, history I expect), taking in photographs that I had on my PC and the children were fascinated talking about the different eras and the differences in our lives and cultures. Wot, no phones??? How did they talk then?? Your Dad didn't have a car?? How did they go shopping??

I’m drawn back to this topic, for some reason, maybe because my mother has two very old letters in her possession that meant almost nothing at one time but since I’ve researched my family history have become significant.

I can understand wanting to destroy intimate/unpleasant letters but I have to say, I did a huge declutter of correspondence (not intimate, just that between friends) many years ago and I regret it now.

There may be a lot of letters and photos currently in existence but I’ve been pondering lately that I think they’ll eventually become a snapshot in time. People no longer write letters to each other and physical photos are dying a death too. The days of the camera never lying have well and truly gone!

How big a box are you talking about, Grammaretto? If it’s shoebox or office paperwork size, I’d keep it and stick it somewhere out of the way. If it’s shipping container size, that’ll need a different solution.

I regularly buy from auction houses, there are often old photos and letters in mixed lots.

I used to offer them to history groups relevant to the area they were from, libraries and traced family members, sadly nobody wanted them.

As an example, here's one a 9 year old did last term in Art from a 1930s portrait I had lying around. Of course the original was in sepia, and the child was allowed to imagine the colours of the clothes.

Without wishing to argue with you Chestnut, but as someone who teaches in schools, (going back in on Wednesday), you would be surprised what mileage can be got ftom old photos .... in History lessons, Art lessons, stories etc.
I think most posters are just giving suggestions for the OP to consider.

Without knowing what is in the photos how can anyone know whether schools, record offices or libraries would be interested? The OP must decide whether the pictures are historically relevant or just random snap shots of unidentified people or unknown places. Any decision depends on what the photos are.

It sounds like they aren’t of exceptional historical significance so I’d say it is up to your SIL what she wants to do. There might be a local archive who would appreciate them, but at the same time there are many many photos and letters in existence and we don’t need to keep all of them. Keeping or getting rid of would be equally fine options.

Write a novel?

Some junior schools might like them for KS2 History topics, especially if there are photos relating to WW2. Children are fascinated by old pictures of real people when put into context with their learning.