My maternal grand-parents
"Mom has closets full of old pictures, without any identifiers. Old relatives and friends long since forgotten" my acquaintence told me. She plannned a 'great throwing away party'. I offered an alternative idea: sell them to an antique dealer.
Just a few days before, we were in a local antique shop and there they were . . . baskets of pictures of people in all kinds of attire, ceremonies, everyday life events. All of these with no or minimal identifications. Apparently, the items sell.
Still, there is something sad about this. My parents' albums contained images that others wondered 'who was that?' The above pictures of my grand-parents are an exception . . . for now. Hollie McKay in a recent Substack article about the losses in the California wildfire noted that " things" are more than possesssions; they are the tangible connections to loved ones, past chapters, and a sense of self. The family photographs aren't just pieces of paper --they are fragments of time, capturing moments you'll never get back." She continued "Even the most minor, most mundane items . . . are imbued with meaning."
Back to those images in antiques stores: I find it easy to conjure stories about those forgotten folks--- were they healthy, did they live rewarding lives, what were the occasions captured in those 'pieces of paper',etc.
It will take a biti of time but I plan to write identifiers on most of my important photographs so that some time in the s future, no one will need ask "Who was that?" Here are a few of those needing attention:
