About this blog and me.

After my parents died and I inherited the entire family archive of photos and documents, I realized that I had many questions but no one to ask.  My hope is that I can collect as many of the stories that my parents and grandparents told as possible for my own children and grandchildren.  I have also taken on the challenge of trying to share my journey managing all these things, especially photos, with the idea that others are at least as overwhelmed as I am.  With my background as a librarian and a data person, I should be better prepared than most to do something about it, though.

Memorial Day in Enid, OK
Me decorating family graves

So this blog will allow me to share both what I have gleaned from research and reading about managing photos and family information and some of my own experiences.  I admit that it is generally pretty self-serving.  My first and foremost goal is to get my own house in order.  I hope others can benefit and share things they have learned, too.  I will intersperse the pedantic stuff with interesting family stories, some of which were written by my father and grandmother and some that are my retelling of the oral stories that were never captured in print.

I will also include information shared at a three week workshop I am conducting this summer of 2023.  I plan on updating it as time allows.

Thanks for reading and please contribute any helpful suggestions in the comments!

Workshop Resources

A list of resources

Book recommendation

An excellent, up to date source that describes a well thought out process for managing your photos.  The author is a professional photographer who makes recommendations for a range of software and technologies.

Workshop slides

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• • Link to Week 1 slides  - this will take you to a website where the slides are saved.  Click the three dots on the upper right hand side and select Download to save them to your computer or print them.
  • Link to Week 2 slides - You can access the tutorial video about using the slide scanner here.
  • Link to Week  3 slides

Websites

• To create a shared album on your iPhone, you can use the photo app on the phone. On Android devices you can download the Google Photos app to share albums.
  This site provides step by step instruction about how to use albums and folders on iPhone.  PC Magazine is also a very reliable source for tech info.  Here is an article from PC Magazine with more general information about managing photos on iPhone.
• In the search for equal time, here is the help center for Android phones with instructions on how to organize photos using Gallery.  It has some confusing information about whether you have to download the Gallery app or if it is already loaded on Android devices.  It may depend on which generation of phone you have.
• Tom's Guide "The best photo storage and sharing sites in 2023" - tom's guide is a technology review blog.  This article compares the top 11 photo sites with information about cost, advantages and reasons to avoid in each case.  Flickr is the top rated site but number 2 on the list is 500px, a service I had not heard of.  This site is a good place to start if you are trying to determine which service will be the best choice for your needs.

Supplies (not intended as an endorsement of these vendors)

• Photo albums and scrapbooks - Pioneer Photo Albums, Inc. offers over 300 styles of albums, as well as refill pages and photo supplies. "Pioneer uses only quality, archival materials in manufacturing, ensuring our products are photo safe: acid, lignin and PVC emission free. Pioneer offers many patented products including memo photo albums that feature optically clear plastic slip-in pockets and durable washable covers...."  Pioneer products are available through Amazon.
• B&H Photo and Video is a large supplier of equipment and accessories for photographers and videographers.  A good online source for air blaster dust removers and lens tissues.  
• Archival Methods, as the name implies, is a supplier for archival quality materials of all kinds including photo boxes, pages for three ring binders and a variety of storage solutions.