Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Well Worn With Love

Have you seen those old Victorian
Photograph Albums?
Unfortunately they are eBay and in antique malls for sale.

Pictures of loved ones at one time so valued by their family.
It may be the only memory they had of the person.
I am sad when I see discarded pictures for sale.
No names written on the back, just a face in the crowd now.
Why did someone not rescue from this fate?

As I have told you before I am the recipient of all my 
Great Aunt Annie's things.

I was so thrilled to find this in a box. Oh how I longed for one of these old
Victorian photo albums. This one is not as pretty as some, and the velvet is 
oh so worn.
But how honored I am to have it, it belonged to my Great Great Grandparents.
Their picture is the first one I see when I open it up.
The picture was taken about 1880.
They had 13 children and there are pictures of all of them
in the album.
the clasps is now broken

daughters Ann and Martha circa 1870
family portraits of the children and grandchildren

and just like the ones in the antiques stores........
no name and I do not know who it is.
same thing with this one, I have a clue I may know this one.
I think it is a cousins MIL and child?

I think of how many of my family members have flipped 
through the album to look at these pictures, enough
that the velvet was worn.
I can remember going to my Mom's parents house,
pulling out the modern album they had with pictures of my
brother and I growing up, Easter's, Birthday's and Christmas pictures.
I still love flipping the pictures in it and the flood of happy memories.
With such a large family I imagine the same thing happened
when they had visitors in their home.

Cherish your pictures
Make sure you write on them
Scan them to preserve them and most of all share them with others.
You never know when there is a distant cousin out there that has never seen a picture of their ancestor.



14 comments:

On Crooked Creek said...

Ann,
I love that you have your Aunt's album with the photos preserved inside. We have the photos...but no album. I am grateful that my beloved Mother~in~law wrote on the backs (some on the fronts, oh well...at least we know who they are!!!). One gift I searched for at Christmas was a ready made Heritage album for "Mr. Ed" so that he could put the photos inside and do a journaling on the side. No luck. Guess we'll be doing this without the aid of ready~made. One of our indoor projects for Summer 2013!!! Thanks for sharing and reminding us to date and name those in our photos!!!
Fondly,
Pat

NanaDiana said...

What a treasure to have, Ann. I am like you-it saddens me to think that family albums are lost to the families they once belonged to....and I have some pictures and have no idea who they are...that, too, is sad. xo Diana

Jill said...

I too have a bunch of old pictures taken of relatives, not marked and I don't have a clue who they are - so, sad....

Susan Freeman said...

What a wonderful treasure Ann! Wow ~ thirteen children. I can only imagine the work that must have taken to handle laundry and cooking etc with a family that large. Yes, I do wish family photos were dated.

Big Hugs,
Susan and Bentley

Have a Daily Cup of Mrs. Olson said...

Ann, whenever I see unmarked pictures I realize how important it is that we mark who they are. These albums are precious. So happy that you received them. Thanks for sharing them with SYC. I have to tell you, I don't know how or why, but I was commenting on another blog and suddenly I was taken to your cottage mantel post of Oct. 4, 20ll. Oh what a delight! I enjoyed it so much the first time and I never tire of it. One of my most favorite all time posts!
hugs,
Jann

Unknown said...

I love old photos! I don't have many of my family..but I am making sure that our children have plenty! I am very picky about making sure each one is labeled and dated! Your album is beautiful! Such a treasure!

Darlene said...

I love the velvet album. You are so right. Label the pictures of who they were and where it was taken and the best word is SHARE. I do genealogy and some people share and some will not no matter how much you ask. Then if that person doesn't have any body to pass them on to or they are not interested they will end up in the trash. take care, Darlene

Lottie said...

My mother always told me when my two sons were babies 22 months apart to write their names and date on the back of the photographs. I thought it a silly request because I knew I would always remember everything my little ones did! But now, thirty years later I can't tell which one was which unless they are together in the photograph. My mistake!

My mom wrote names, dates, and national events (such as who was president, man on the moon, etc.) on back of all our family photos.
Adds a lot of dimension and makes it interesting to look at old albums.

Lottie said...

Ann, I forget to thank you for sharing the velvet album. Those pictures are precious!

LV said...

Yes, I see many of these at antique malls. Makes you wonder why some generation did not keep them. Guess the younger ones,not interested in their heritage.

Rose H (UK) said...

What a sweet post dear Ann :o)and such a lovely family treasure.
I could cry sometimes when I see discarded photos for sale, some ones family images, unknown that somebody else would have treasured if they'd have known they existed.
We have an old album from my husbands family and we can only work out who three of the family members are, but we treasure them.
Thank goodness I went through Mom's photos with her before her memory problems started and wrote on them all who the family members are. I'm trying hard to do the same to our photos :o)
Rose H
x

susie @ persimmon moon cottage said...

I so enjoyed seeing your albums. Love antique pictures. You are so correct in saying how they should be marked. It is something I know, and yet still do not always take time to do. I am wondering about the pictures everyone is taking at this time in history and storing on their computer, and that is as far as it goes. It's great to have them on the devices, but I think there also need for paper copies of the most important photographs. Something else I am guilty of, having some very good pictures only available electronically.

Does anyone remember slideshows of family pics, vacations, holidays, etc. In the 1950's my parents had hundreds of pictures that could only be viewed as what were referred to as "slides" . One had to use a slide projector to see them.No one has seen those family pictures in years. Times change.

I hope we will always have paper photographs available to us. How lucky is the commenter whose mother wrote dates and current events on photo backs!

Susie said...

Ann, You seem to the keeper of your family's history. I feel the same when I see discarded photos, rather sad. Stay warm and safe, enjoy the weekend. xoxo,Susie

Unknown said...

So charming...I love the photo's and the album. I love how special everything was back in the day..thank goodness you own this. It will be preserved for many more years I'm sure..