An uncle, an aunt, three siblings, three cousins, eight nieces and nephews—no help.
I was always going to digitize the archive, but it can sometimes take a family to explain what you are looking at. Part of this project involved asking friends and connections about how they did this—a little homework, if you will. Is one person in charge? How do you get other people to participate? How do you find all the important bits of lore? When seeing a picture or thing triggers a memory, did you record the crazy uncle telling their stories?
Speaking with 10–12 people from five different families, a few things stick out.
Most of all, one person carries the burden. With the very notable exception of hobby genealogists like my friend Bill H, these “archivers” are typically male, mid-50s to early 60s. A number of motivations drive this, and no one motivation stands out. Some look to sum up their life for their grandkids. Some just want to digitize as a way to free up the physical space taken up by boxes of old snapshots. Most folks’ focus is around scanning all the vacation pictures and all but the most valuable things so they can free up space. People die with a lot of papers and a lot of not very meaningful vacation photos. Nestled within that are some keepers.
Families contribute when they see a picture or have a conversation. A specific ask or task works best: Reggie, can you help identify who is in this picture?