Purging again--old photos

 It was not my intention to look through old photos.  Old framed photos.  Old, dusty and moldy framed photos with glass that had to be washed.  I was collecting Christmas dishes to go to the resale shop and opened a box.  There they were.  

After I got the Christmas boxes moved we (Bob had to help me move things) also found two big storage boxes of memorabilia from trips; but that will be another blog.

In the middle of the night it came to me.  I'd remove all the portraits from the frames and donate the frames.  After a very long nap today that left me too groggy to tackle this job, I first found an album that had no photos in it, and the open slip was at the top of the pages so it would take large photos.  So I took it to the basement and began removing the photos from the frames, wiping and washing as I went. Things were going well until I came across a church directory photo of my parents, about 5 x 7 and somewhat faded, and a very unattractive hair style for my mom. When I turned it over to remove the backing I discovered it had been glued.  I had to get several tools to separate the backing from the wood frame, which had glued brown paper under it.  When I finally got that separated from the wood, I discovered that the photo had been nailed in!  Yes, 10 thin nails about 1/2 inch then pressed against the photo. In a thousand years, this 45 year old photo wasn't going anywhere. Obviously, this had been done by the directory company.  Without breaking the glass, there was no way to remove the photo. So, I've scanned it and will have to throw away the photo.  The frame is raised, so I couldn't close the lid of the scanner making the image fuzzy.  It's painful to throw away photos, and I still have boxes to go.  I've labeled it 1973, however, until I find the church directory, I won't know for sure.

Twenty years plus

Earlier in January it occurred to me that I should write something on the 20th anniversary of my mother's death, but the 24th came and went and it wasn't until today when I was looking at my bunny coffee cup which was hers, that I recalled it had been twenty years. She died on the 24th of January 2000, her mother on the 25th of 1963 and her father on the 26th of 1968. The bunny cup has a mommy rabbit and eight little brown and white bunnies, and is my favorite cup.  I use it almost every morning.

Today when photos are a dime a dozen and people just whip out a phone to capture the moment, it seems odd that I don't have a photo of the three of them together, except in larger group pictures, like this one from 1949 in Wilmington, Ohio. Grandpa is between his older sister, Alice (b. 1870), and grandma, and then my mom.  My brother Stan and I are squinting in the sun. I'm wearing my most favorite dress of all time--it's yellow, but only I can tell when I look at the photo.  We were on our way to the Church of the Brethren Annual Conference in Ocean Grove, New Jersey, but stopping along the way to visit and spend the night with relatives. As I found out years later from talking with Mother, this was not a happy trip--my grandparents were trying to find out information on the death of their son who died in 1944 in WWII. My mother who was doing the driving was suffering debilitating headaches and my brother got sick from the heat.  But, being only 10, it all went over my head and I remember the highpoints with relatives, the tourist spots and the ocean.

 Uncle Edwin Jay, who apparently took the photo, was president of Wilmington College from 1915-1927.  (I looked through the website for Wilmington College and found this about his 12 years there: "The so-called "period of expansion" occurred under the leadership of President J. Edwin Jay, under whose tenure Lebanon Normal University merged with Wilmington College and teacher training was introduced into the curriculum.")  I think he probably died in 1964 and may have been 95, but I have no idea what he did between 1927 and 1964. He and I corresponded, and we never discussed his life. If his writings and letters are archived where he taught, there will be a group from a teen-ager in Illinois.

 

Annual Conference of the Church of the Brethren, Winona Lake, Indiana: Panoramic Photograph, 1913

I don’t have a scan of the photo, but I would be able to see it if I went to Manchester University (formerly Manchester College) in North Manchester, Indiana at the Funderberg Library college archives.  I only note this because I think the archivist was very clever in finding a method to preserve it—a hot humid day.

“Many panoramic and oversized photographs were rolled up and stacked on a metal shelf in the photograph section of the Archives.  These pictures had become dry and were impossible to unroll.  The Archivist took the photographs outside on an extremely humid and hot summer day.  In about 30 minutes the photographs had relaxed enough to unroll and were brought back into the Library and pressed under books, using archival photo file folders as blotters between pictures.”

I think I remember my mother telling me about attending Annual Conference at Winona Lake, and at one time I had a post card of the facility. I may have even scanned it for the blog since it had been addressed to my mother, but after 13 years of blogging, and many tagging systems, I doubt I can find it [after checking I found a mention in a 2006 blog, and noted in 2005 that the Winona Lake post card was from her brother Clare]. 

There must be dozens of rolled up panoramic photos in attics and store rooms—perhaps they could be left in the bathroom with the hot shower left on.

I have a panoramic photo of the Tennessee Reunion, but I don’t believe it was rolled. Very difficult to store or frame.

Free stock photos

You can get in trouble using unattributed photos on your website.  But here are some free sites.  I always search the word “horses,” or “horse,” even if searching Library of Congress images.  Here’s one of me riding a horse downloaded from Pixabay.

http://bloggerspassion.com/finding-free-images/

This one is from Free Public Archives

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Free stock photos

I needed someplace to stash this amazing information.  What better place than a blog? 14 free stock websites for photos.

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/238646?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=pulsenews

Some require attribution, others not.

Shoot the old people

No, not that way, says Zoanna. Remember to take more photos of those important family members. A penchant for pens. When I go back and look at old photos, I'm so aware that when you only had 27 or 36 photos to a roll, you used them sparingly, and then perhaps didn't develop them until months later. Zoanna thinks that computer hard drives may be 100:1 kids to older relatives. No babies here to take pictures of, but if I were guessing buildings to people. . . it would be about that.

Here's one of my favorites of the "old folks at home,"--my grandparents with their nine children in 1972 (no date, but that would have been their 60th wedding anniversary). I used this on a family cook-book cover in 1993. Four in this photo are still living, and I sent them Christmas cards today.

The double whammy of aging

I've blogged about the verbs for death and dying used in obituaries, but I hadn't really thought about the photos. Most announcements don't carry photos, and usually I can tell from the eye glasses and hair styles (of women) the age of the photograph. And I'm not surprised when the subject or his children select a military photo--which sends several visual messages--youth, vigor, patriotism, camaraderie, history. This research at OSU on "ageism" and bias, did surprise me, however, I suppose in the conclusion. The last "formal" portrait I have of my parents is from a 1991 church directory when they were in their late 70s. They died in 2000 and 2002. It's a nice portrait, and informal photographs I have of them later are nice, but it's that one I keep displayed. Glancing around my office, I think that one may even be better of my father than the one taken in 1984 for their 50th--the year he was recovering from heart surgery and he was very gaunt and thin. And we have a family portrait of my father-in-law with his four children taken on his 90th birthday which is quite nice. My mother-in-law was in such poor health the last 25 years of her life I would probably select a nice Valentine photo of 1963 with her husband if it didn't have other negative memories (death of our oldest son same week).

"Results of the study showed that age-inaccurate photos increased steadily each decade: from 17 percent (1967) to 27 percent (1977) to 30 percent (1987) and finally to 36 percent (1997). The researchers found that each additional year in age at time of death increased the odds of having an age-inaccurate obituary photo."

The author of the research, Keith Anderson, Assistant Professor of Social Work at Ohio State University, says it's a double whammy for women--ageism and sexism. It may also be cultural--how often do you have a formal portrait taken after, say, the grandchild's wedding, or the 50th anniversary? And who's to say that person in the mirror at age 85 is more you than the one who used to be there 25 years ago?

What do you think? Do you have a photo in mind?

Updating my trip log

It's a bit tedious, but I am continuing the trip log of the cruise, "Steps of Paul," but I have redated all of them for March 18 so they will be consecutive. So you won't see them at the top of the blog page. Yesterday I did a print preview, and although I'm not yet to Israel, it was over 30 pages. Yes, I'm old fashioned. I don't trust technology and I print anything I want to really save. Here's my Holy Land tour. The photo album is already put together, thanks to my husband who feels better than I do and is a tad more organized. He took over 700 photos, winnowed that to about 500, then bought an album that holds 402, so still had to make some painful decisions. He had it ready to show his breakfast group on Thursday.

Today's new word is LIGNIN

Yes, another one I should have remembered, but didn't. Lignin is an organic bonding material found in the wood fiber of untreated papers. The acidic properties of lignin have a deteriorative effect on paper and photographs. When buying a scrapbook or photo album makes sure they are lignin free.

At How Stuff Works: "Lignin makes wood stiff and trees stand upright. You could say it acts as a glue to bind the cellulose fibers together. It is a polymer, a substance that is formed by the joining of simpler molecules into giant molecules that act differently than the smaller molecules did. Dr. Hou-Min Chang, a professor of wood and paper science at N.C. State University in Raleigh, N.C., compares lignin to the concrete used in buildings, with cellulose as the steel frame. Without lignin, Chang says, a tree could only grow to be about 6 feet tall. Lignin also helps protect the wood from pests and other damage. Newsprint, which must be produced as economically as possible, has more lignin in it than finer papers. At the mill, the wood that will be turned into newsprint is ground up, lignin and all." That's why old newspapers turn yellow very quickly.

About 30 years ago I moved these photos of my 12 year old classmates from a scrapbook that was crumbling to a cheap photo album, and now it's starting to go. Fortunately, black and white photos are a lot more permanent than color.

Click to enlarge

Three word Wednesday, 72

Today's words are posted here at 3WW, a site where you can comment and invite others to read your offering, which can be an essay, poem, song, etc. Today's words are

Bridge
Disturbed
Still

Photo by Nea, a disappeared blogger
The Hardin Bridge on a summer day, not disturbed by talk of modern weight limits, stands quietly over the still Etowah River in north Georgia, a monument to a time when life was not so hurried, friends were forever, and passers-by weren't scrambling for more stuff. Best not to linger. Sometimes the river is swollen and angry, and if you look closer, you see the guard rails have been battered by drunk drivers at night unable to stay the course. Pause and you might think you hear voices, young lovers from the Great Depression or a soldier on leave before Korea or Vietnam, and then only silence. Even in the symmetry, you begin to see the irregularities--crooked tree branches building an arch over the steel trusses, wavering shadows, a cluster of leaves across a line that attempted infinity, and clouds breaking up a clear blue sky. Move along. Don't long for the past here.

Good-bye Charlie

And I just found him. It's over.

Merry Christmas

Photo by Matt Carbone used with permission, mcarbone@aiacolumbus.org
This lovely photo of Matt Carbone's black lab, Mr. Cooper, will remain at the top through December 25. Scroll down for current entries.

Have you tried Dumpr?

It can do all sorts of interesting things to your photos. Dumpr. Puzzles. Museum. Scary monster.

This is a sketch of your photo

This is the Rubik's cube version of your photo

HT Librarian in Black

4147

Do you think we have enough photos?

Would you believe we've actually winnowed these down to our favorites? We viewed the disk several times, discussing each one. My husband is returning the album he bought because there weren't enough slots. Now I've just gone through mine and ordered about 45 on-line. That's the problem with digital cameras!

I think the cat has been playing with the layout

4038

Looking for horses

Whether you enjoy medicine, images from old documents or photographs, you will lose yourself in the Wellcome Images website. When I try out a new database, I usually use the keyword or subject, "horses," and am rarely disappointed.

L0044105 Credit: Wellcome Library, London 3 children dressed up as the wise men bow down before the infant Jesus Christ, lying on a pillow under a large yellow star as part of their Christmas celebrations. A child on a sledge and a steaming samovar of tea are below that and a sleigh drawn by two black horses by a man with a long white beard is at the bottom of the card. 1890s

From: Russia

By: Thomas Holloway (Firm)

Published: Thomas Holloway,London : 1890s Size: 13 cm.

Collection: General Collections

Library reference no.: EPHEPH367A

Full Bibliographic Record Link to Wellcome Library Catalogue

“Teachers, students, academics and the public can now download and use images depicting 2,000 years of mankind and medicine for free, thanks this newly launched website from the Wellcome Trust.

Launched on 15 June 2007, 'Wellcome Images' is the world's leading source of images on the history of medicine, modern biomedical science and clinical medicine. All content has been made available under a Creative Commons Licence, which allows users to copy, distribute and display the image, provided the source is fully attributed and it is used for non-commercial purposes.
Wellcome Images is constantly updated with new clinical, and biomedical and historical images from the Wellcome Library, Europe's leading resource for the study of history of medicine which recently re-launched as part of the new and forthcoming Wellcome Collection.” From news release

After practicing a bit I found that sometimes a bit of specificity works better than general, for instance, using "rose" or "lily" instead of "flower" brought up many additional images, although not what I might have expected. Still, a wonderful site for browsing.

Dog roses illustrating a page from the Psalms.

Lily feet, what they called the deformed and mangled tiny feet of Chinese women.

All images here are from the Wellcome Collection.

73 Photographs and memory

In my genealogy group yesterday the discussion was about photograph albums and scrapbooks with a review of the book Suspended Conversations; the Afterlife of Memory in Photographic Albums by Martha Langford. The publisher's abstract states: ". . . photographic albums tell intimate and revealing stories about individuals and families. Contrary to those who isolate the individual photograph, treat albums as texts, or argue that photography has supplanted memory, she shows that the photographic album must be taken as a whole and interpreted as a visual and verbal performance that extends oral consciousness."

We were asked to bring along our own albums as an illustration of the author's thesis that albums are for the retelling of family histories and traditions. One woman brought along an album that contained photos and memorabilia of her parents (born in the 1880s) and grandparents. Showing us the wedding photo of her grandparents, she told us the story of how she almost didn't come into existence.

After their marriage (her grandmother was about 16) her grandparents walked with other pioneers from southeastern Wisconsin to Minnesota, with all their belongings in a horse drawn cart. The horse was owned by another man, and he left them stranded on the road when he took the horse and went on without them when her grandmother was about to give birth to her first child. Her husband went in search of help and found a family to take them in. Meanwhile, the group that had left them stranded were all killed in the New Ulm Massacre.

Her grandmother gave birth to a healthy baby, and five more through the years, and they married and had families (many photos), and finally one of the youngest of the grandchildren of this couple who had married during the Civil War and missed a massacre through the thoughtlessness of others, retold the story through a photograph album.