May I tell you a story?

As a young child, I was fascinated by photography. The ability of a camera to transform a live scene into a photographic image seemed magical. I could hardly wait until I had a camera of my own.

I received my first camera for Christmas when I was 12 years old. Since then I have had a camera in hand capturing the stories found in and around my everyday world. Over time, I created more than 6,000 film negatives and countless digital files.

Those images recorded life as seen through my camera’s lens and created a sense of permanence for the persons, places, and things that are, in fact, temporal.

Collection of 1950s photos with handwritten captions

Every photograph tells a story.

Photographs visually document moments and relationships across generations. Through photographs, the faces, events, and emotions that shape our family narratives are captured and preserved.

My dad was the first of the previous generation to pass away. When he did, we discovered many of his personal belongings, including his photographs, may not be shared with his children. A divorce and remarriage had muddied the waters of inheritance.

Faced with the reality that much of his family history is contained within his photographs, I realized without those photographs, we could lose the story of his life.

Family History
is a perishable commodity

Our stories may be lost to future generations.

Determined to prevent my father’s family history from forever being held captive, I visited my aunt and with a manual SLR, photographed many of her childhood photos. Following that first photo session, I visited other family members, copying their photos while listening to and documenting their stories.

Years later, we inherited large tubs of my father-in-law’s family photos and memorabilia. While I was honored to become the caretaker, I didn’t know where to start to bring contemporary meaning to things that have been saved and handed down for more than 100 years. But as I held one antique photo after another, I fell into the stories.

While gazing at an old photo it is as if a portal to another place and time opens and the lives of our ancestors begin to take shape. This experience ignited a passion for preserving the photos, documents, and stories that make up a family’s history.

1907 fKentucky amily group photo
1900s family photo working hops field in Yakima Washington
1900 Kentucky Family group photo
East Kentucky family group photo 1970

An Unintentional Family Historian

Photography was my segue into becoming a family historian. For months, I was myopically focused on identifying the faces and places in each of the old photos in our possession. Without anyone from the prior generation to turn to, I had to rely on genealogical research.

While I knew how to “do” research, my efforts were clumsy and ineffective. I didn’t know how to manage my findings and as my collection of photos and genealogical information grew, the volume of information threatened to overwhelm. I took classes in genealogical research to improve my skills and soon realized there is a difference between being a genealogist and a family historian.

I am not a genealogist. I am, however, an unintentional family historian.

What is the difference?

Genealogy” is the study of a person’s direct-line ancestors—parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, etc.—proving descent back in time, generation by generation.

https://familytreemagazine.com/general-genealogy/what-is-genealogy-family-history/

Family history” is broader, referring to the … study of the people, places, objects, traditions and stories associated with a family … [utilizing] a wider variety of sources, such as newspapers, maps, oral tradition and local histories.

https://familytreemagazine.com/general-genealogy/what-is-genealogy-family-history/

That’s all fine, but then what?

Even with a wonderful collection of old photos, genealogical information, and family stories, if the next generation family isn’t interested, there is still a threat of extinction. Most of us have been at garage sales or at antique shops where there are abandoned family photos and memorabilia, hoping for a new home.

As an experiment in engaging our NextGen family, I decided to take snippets of our family stories, add a related photo, and share it on social media.

I had no expectations. But I was in for a big surprise!

Placing bite-sized family history snippets directly in the hands of family members has proven an effective means of engaging them in our family’s stories.

Family stories are waiting to be told.

  • Are you the keeper of your family’s history?
  • Do you have boxes of photos and memorabilia?
  • Do you feel someone else could do a better job?

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