The Importance of Labeling Photographs

This is a guest contribution by Joan Gingras of Joan’s Shoebox Memories

The importance of labeling photographs:

It all started in 2006. My parent’s 60th anniversary was quickly approaching and my sister and I wanted to make something special for their party. We began our quest for pictures of their early years to make a collage for their memory table. It soon turned into something much larger as we began discovering more and more pictures tucked into shoe boxes, albums that were quickly disintegrating, and an old metal box from my grandmother’s attic! I felt like we had hit the jackpot! Thus began my passion with old family photographs.

The problem was that we had a treasure trove of pictures, but we were not able to identify some of the people. As I showed them to my parents, they really enjoyed the memories that came flooding back to them: The picture of the night that Dad had proposed to Mom at Cameron Park;

Dad in his Navy uniform; their high school basketball and football pictures, etc. My mother had interesting stories about some of the pictures. She remembered for them to play on the basketball team they had to make their own uniforms in the homemaking class. (I never would have made the team!)

Several years went by and I found a picture of some of the children at my father’s little one-room schoolhouse he attended as a boy, and this is where my heartache began. The picture was of 9 elementary age boys and girls.

By the time I found this, my father was 87. His memory was fading and he could only remember a few of the names. I called my uncle and told him about the picture and he said that he remembered seeing that picture long ago and knew all of the names. I was so excited! I live out of town and I would come to see them every weekend. My uncle’s vision was very bad and in order for him to see it clearly I had to enlarge it. I kept putting that off. Once I got the enlargement I kept forgetting to take it with me. Somehow I took for granted that my father and uncle would always be there to help me.

One weekend I went to visit my father in the nursing home and he wasn’t doing well. He ended up passing away that weekend. We were all heartbroken. At that time I accepted that my uncle may not be there forever either. But in the hustle and bustle of funeral arrangements, I totally forgot about the picture. I promised myself that the next time I went to see him I would bring the picture. As it turned out, the next time I saw him was a couple weeks later, under not so good circumstances. My cousin had called to tell me that he was going to have heart surgery, so we rushed to see him. Of course, I had not brought the picture. I was so confident that the surgery would be a success that I told him that when he came home from the hospital he could help me with the picture. Unfortunately, that was not the case. He never woke up. I mourned for my father, I mourned for my uncle, and I mourned for the memories that died along with them.

I share this story with my clients so that they understand the importance of labeling photographs. I recommend labeling photos with names and dates (if known), and to jot down a little info about each. Your grandchildren who later look at these pictures may not know who “Grangy and Mimi” are in their family tree. Procrastination crushed me. Don’t let it crush you, either.

I’m a “native Texan” and we currently live in Georgetown, just north of Austin, TX. I’ve been married to my husband, Santa Phil, for 33 years. We have two sons in their early 20s. When they were growing up we were involved in scouting, sports, and band. Needless to say I was drowning in pictures! As the years went by, I became overwhelmed with photos and that’s when I decided to become a photo organizer because I know many people in the same situation as I am. I also enjoy family history and I am fascinated by old family photographs and want to preserve as many of them as I can find.

You can reach Joan at Joan’s Shoebox Memories.