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> Labels matter. Even a few words helped me know when-and-where something happened: “1955 Nova Scotia” or my grandfather’s name. One of the saddest experiences
by Balgair 2y ago
> Labels matter. Even a few words helped me know when-and-where something happened: “1955 Nova Scotia” or my grandfather’s name. One of the saddest experiences was looking at a family-gathering photo from the 50s with several people in it, and having no idea who’s in it.
Dear lord, yes. My in-laws have just boxes and boxes of photos, some going way back into the late 1800s. The old ones are mostly people and faces. But we have no idea who these people are. My in-laws think they are related to them, otherwise, why would they be kept? But not a clue who this person is.
It's terribly sad in a way. My spouse doesn't want to throw it all away, it's family history presumably, but we have no idea if it'll ever be a history we know.
And so they sit in an attic, waiting for some magical technology to rescue it.
Labels matter.
- mc3301 2y agoMy friend owns a little "clean out old houses" business in Japan. Recently we threw out dozens of large boxes of old photographs; the grandma told us she didn't need them anymore. The rest of the family all had their own lives in Tokyo, and could care less about the past. Sad to see, but I've seen it many many times.
- lmm 2y agoOnline photo libraries have gotten much better at matching up people in photos over the last few years. I don't think it's completely crazy to assume that they might one soon be able to figure out something useful about family relations too (e.g. this mystery person was at these 3 known people's weddings, so they're likely another sibling of so-and-so).