Identifying photos for future generations

[fifer1947]

I have boxes of them!    I am the last in my family so I have all the photos from everyone, and it suddenly struck me that when I pass away none of my children will know who the people are in the pics. 

Can anyone suggest a way to identify the people on the photos (preferably without writing on the photos directly).

Thanks!

[Cell]

Hi,
  The quickest way  with hundreds of them  is to use the good old  pencil on the back of them. Pencil will not harm the pictures .
 The Pencil  writing  will be there   for years to come   if they are not handled much.

If you want a slow way without writing anything at all on the photographs is to  scan every one and name them , or put them into photo albums and write in the album beneath every photo.


Kind regards

[Little Nell]

Having recently acquired lots of photos of varying ages, some with ID on the back and others not, I can understand your dilemma.

Some of the photos were marked in pencil on the back, which sounds OK, except that it was a hard pencil and the writer pressed rather hard.  There are pressure marks    Other photos have recently been marked with identification - in blotchy biro which has then transferred itself to the photo surface underneath it in the pile 

I have been scanning them and adding the id to them in a spreadsheet which describes the photo, its location in an album (if that is the case).  It is time consuming to say the least.

Previously with large groups, I scanned the photo, printed it and then imported it into Word and added vertical lines to each face, printed it and then wrote the name of the person against the line.  Useful if you can then get some other member of the family to confirm the ID or give their own version.

I'm sure there must be other ingenious ways of doing the same thing.

Nell

[fifer1947]

I'm sure there must be other ingenious ways of doing the same thing.

Nell

That's what I'm looking for 

Many are already pencel marked on the back but not in a way that clearly identifies the individual ie "Meg 1921" !! Some are marked with a whole story but do not identify the individual except as "William" and this is a family of 10 children who each had a William, I'm reluctant to add even more or spoil the original tale.

Thanks to you both for suggestions.

[Dave the Walrus]

Hi Fifer,

I cannot add to the sound advice that you have been given, but your thread has inspired me to find the old family photographs and keep them for posterity.

Isn't it just typical: my father used to go through them every once in a while and say who they were, but we didn't pay much attention, and now it's too late. 

However, I think that it is important to "catalogue" them from a historical point of view and these days they can be saved on computer and possibly downloaded to other websites that want to keep them, as a record of the times lived in.

Best wishes,

Dave the Walrus

[fifer1947]

Good idea Dave! 

[Ray T]

I wouldn't recommend using a pencil. Whilst a soft one won't necessarily harm the photograph, pencil isn't necessarily that durable.

One of my other interests is in musical instruments. Certain instruments from the 1920's and before have serial numbers written in pencil (inside so the numbers weren't susceptible to wear) and one regular topic of discussion on musical instrument boards, is how to make faded numbers readable.

[Mark1973]

Why not just write on a small sticky label and then put it on the back of the photograph.

[fifer1947]

Why not just write on a small sticky label and then put it on the back of the photograph.

I considered that but have sometimes found these labels come "unstuck" and attach themselves to the next article (in this case it would be the front of another photo!  )