Monday, October 13, 2014

Photographs and Memories

Okay everybody, I know what song is running through your head right now, so I'll set things up and you can have it playing in the background while you read the rest of the post...



My husband and I are both at that age where our parents are moving out of their homes and into the next stage of their lives.

This means that during our trips east to visit them we bring home stuff. Stuff from our childhoods. Stuff full of memories.

Sometimes it's easy to find new homes for the stuff.

The rocking horse my dad made as a replica of the one from my grandmother's childhood sits on a shelf above our stairway, along with a picture of my grandfather from the same era.



The calendar Uncle Tom made for my in-laws - and that sat on their kitchen window sill for close to thirty years - now sits on our kitchen shelf.



But then there are these....


Some of these were my mother-in-law's, and some came from my mother-in-law's mother-in-law when she closed up her house. All of them had been preserved in albums - and sat on the top shelf of the living room closet. My husband and his siblings had never seen most of them.

So we brought them home.

The first thing I did was to scan them into my computer, and then email copies to my husband's siblings so we could all enjoy them.

But we didn't want them to spend the next who-knows-how-many-years on the top shelf of our closet. Besides, we had this huge, empty wall. :)

So I got this idea....

I love the look of vintage photo albums. You know, the ones with black paper and those little black photo corners to paste the photos to the paper?

I wanted to reproduce that look. And that meant a trip to Hobby Lobby! We found matching picture frames in both 8x10 and 5x7 sizes with UV protective glass. And we found black acid free paper in the scrap-booking section.

(By the way, my husband is very glad I never took up scrap-booking. I could get lost in that section!)

The only things I didn't find at Hobby Lobby were the photo corners. So these came from Amazon:


From there, the hard part was deciding which pictures should go together - how in the world should we group them?

We ended up putting couples together - from babyhood and childhood. Wedding snapshots with honeymoon pics. The family dog with photos of the children. Our aunts and uncles. Our siblings. Our parents. We used photos from my mother-in-law, plus ones I already had from my family.


And some pictures we kept in their original frames. This picture of my husband's grandmother and her sister from when they were "in service" at the beginning of the 20th century has been in this frame as long as my husband can remember. Who are we to separate them?


And some we framed alone. This one of my husband's grandfather has always been a favorite of both of us. It sits on my blue shelf for now....



And here's the finished product:


Or maybe it isn't finished. There's still wall space left, and we have plenty of old photos....

How do you display your favorite family memories?

17 comments:

  1. I haven't tackled the pictures yet but trying to fit in stuff from my parents' house into mine..sigh..need a bigger house! some was from other generations and are special. I think I'm getting there though I I could ever get a break from work :-( long enough to accomplish things. and really sad is some I have no idea who they are...you can also transfer photos to fabric and make quilts and stuff out of the pictures. I haven't tried it myself - I like frames like you used
    Susanna

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    1. Going through the stuff is mind-boggling, isn't it? We know we can't keep it all, but knowing that my grandmother is the one who painstakingly cut out those paper dolls for my mom makes me want to keep them in the same box she kept them in. Someday I'll have to get rid of them, but not yet. Multiply that scenario by 100 and we suddenly have a storage problem!

      So we are disposing of things little by little. Or better yet, using them. That really is the best. Yes, they'll wear out sooner, but I'd rather have them out to enjoy them than turn my storage area into a museum :)

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    2. my fear has been making my place into a memorial. we still have the house but my taking a lot of out (thanks to 2 friends helping me) I think has helped my brother detach - he said he didn't want the place turning into an expensive shrine. now it seems more like a house than a home and so far my house doesn't scream their house even though I have the majority of the furniture...and ..shhhh...I'm actually USING the furniture! I think we used the dining room table a dozen - maybe 2 dozen - times in the almost 40 yrs they had it..my mom's probably pitching a fit up there with a sewing machine on it! I know I know I need to move it but my sewing area isn't set up yet- maybe I'll tackle that tonight on my one night off...I dd have one sentimental rocking chair break - sigh - the rocker broke off one side so I need to find someone who can fix it - didn't just come out of the hole but broke so dunno if it can be fixed but I hope so but it's sorta low on the priority list right now since I still have stuff piled in the back and now the front rooms that need space found!
      Susanna

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  2. What a great idea, Jan! I think that looks wonderful. I'm even more impressed that you got all those photos scanned and emailed off! What a sweet thing to do.

    We have something similar for our family photos. One wall in our family room is built-in shelves. It's FULL of photos. I love it! And it always catches the attention of anyone who visits us.

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    1. I love it when people come over and ask about the photos. For one thing, it gives us a chance to tell the family stories again - and the adult kids listen in and learn more and more about their family every time.

      And I sat down and scanned those photos first thing when we got home. I knew if I delayed even a day, it would never get done!

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  3. First...I didn't know anyone else knew Jim Croce but me. First year of college that got a lot of play time.

    I took all the photos and made albums for everyone and mailed them off. I keep some key photos in frames in all the rooms of the house. Even the bathroom.

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    1. My dad made copies of the old family photos for my brother and I, put them in albums along with the genealogies - AND with everyone identified. That was a LOT of work!

      But I treasure those photos, as I'm sure your family does, too!

      And doesn't everyone know Jim Croce? I mean, if someone hadn't heard of him before, they surely would have looked him up after seeing the "Time in a Bottle" skit on the Muppet Show, right? www.youtube.com/watch?v=XF8ZgguyQ3Y

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  4. What about the Drexler famly doily????? Our dining room is dedicated to our family photos. Such treasures. As hard as it is for parents to transition, I've been thankful for the things like pictures that we have inherited.

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    1. Isn't that doily great? That was a gift to my husband's parents from some of his cousins several years ago, so it isn't an old family heirloom, but it sure fits well with the photos!

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  5. It's wonderful you are displaying the old family photos. I always think it is sad to see wonderful old photographs in antique stores because there either wasn't any family to pass them to or they didn't want them. My teenage son even thought that was a shame! In your photo of the calendar, I caught a glimpse of a Dala horse. I live in a small town in Kansas that is also known as "Little Sweden, USA." We have Dala horses everywhere.

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    1. there's a small antique shop I like (they specialize in old sewing machines!) and they have a bulletin board/wall with old photos saying something about adopting a family or if you don't like the family you got adopt a new one'..there are some cute pics. makes me sad but I'm now in a situation where I have a huge number of pics and no idea who's who :-( I think my mom was confused too which is probably why they're still in a box. but like she did I'l probably keep them since I can't bear to toss out family!
      Susanna

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    2. Pam! You live in Lindsborg? I love that little town!

      And yes, we've lived in Kansas (twice - twenty years apart!), and my parents lived in McPherson for ten years. We bought the Dala Horse for my in-laws back in the mid-'80's. Lots of good memories :)

      And I agree about the old family photos in antique stores. Someone is related to those people, but there's no way to find out who.

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  6. Love seeing the photo display....thank you for sharing!

    mauback55 at gmail dot com

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    1. You're welcome, Melanie! Thanks for stopping by :)

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  7. I love it. I have always been a "pictures on the wall" person. I love all of the pretty ways people decorate their rooms, but can't give up my pictures. Trouble is not enough wall space. I love the old pictures, but my older sisters seem to have got most of mom's. But, one of my daddy's sisters sent me some old family pictures, so I treasure them. Maxie
    > mac262(at)me(dot)com <

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    1. Hi Maxie,

      A lot of the pictures I have from my side of the family are copies. My dad still has the originals, but had copies made for my brother and I. I really appreciate having them - and knowing that I don't possess the ONLY copy of a treasured photo!

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