I am amazed at the number of photographs that I have - I shouldn't be, but I am.
It is a collection of family photos mostly, fueled by an interest in photography by my dad, brother and I. As well as my grandmother documenting things, and my great-grandfather who loved to take pictures.
Primarily, these photos exist as prints, with negatives appearing in little pockets, like ore deposits in the strata of history.
My goal is to scan them, document them as needed, dispose of the ones that have little or no use to me, and donate materials to whatever archive or museum will accept them. My reasons are partly altruistic, I would like to preserve the history in the photos; partly logistical, I don't want to carry all this material around until I die just to have someone throw it all away; and partly hubris, I would like to attain a small toehold in history.
But the real work is in the research. I have already found several things that I didn't know about my family. I have also discovered there is material relevant to my interests already i museum collections and archives. And I've discovered how fragile personal history is.
I have found photographs of family members in other archives by searching for local professional photographers of the past who had their own archives of material. Sadly, many of the photographs have been lost to the ravages of time and improper storage.
As a result, we don't even know what we have lost - pictures of local people and places that would have been a professional photographers stock in trade. Not to mention people who pass daily, and have family throw out all the old pictures that they find - with no effort to document or preserve them.
I'm trying to do my part.
No comments:
Post a Comment