ORGANIZING FUN WITH PHOTOGRAPHS

Do you have a bunch of old photographs stored in shoe boxes, stuffed in drawers or aging in the pages of albums you never quite got around to completing? Maybe you have the sad task of rifling through photographs of a deceased relative and cannot decide who would like the picture of Great Aunt Maude with her prize-winning hog. This might be a good time to have a picture party.

If you have time, begin by sorting your photographs by decades. In a recent project we have boxes labeled by decade going back to 1920 and a box for all photographs prior to that year. It is difficult to do, but don’t take time to reminisce over the photos as you separate them. If you are stumped by the year, make the best guess you can. If you have duplicate photos or photos that can be identified as a particular event, put them together in an envelop.

Then comes the fun part. Set a time for the family to get together and look at the pictures. You may want to have more than one gathering if you have a lot of pictures and go through a few decades each time. Identify the folks in the picture and take time to share stories about the vacation, celebration or event. This is also a good time to catalogue the photographs in acid free containers, share duplicates, and identify ones that need to be scanned or copied for sharing.

Take a snapshot of your gathering and send one to all the participants to remind them of the fun you had together.

Beverly & Kristen
www.KeyTransitions.net