Like a lot of people my age I’ve had the sad task of clearing out elderly relatives’ homes and in each of them there have been boxes of old photos and albums to look through. Hearing about the demise of Kodak on the news the other day got me thinking about my inadvertent collection of unknown folks from the past. Annoyingly very few of the photos have any information on the back but they’re still fascinating glimpses into history. I even like the Kodak wallets they came in.
I do know the story of the people in the photos below – meet Jack and his wife Weeanna. Jack was my husband’s great uncle and he was a Clydeside engineer, working in one of the many shipyards on the Clyde in the early 1900s. Unfortunately he had a bit of a fiery temper which led to him punching another chap who just happened to be the shipyard owner’s son. This led to Jack being dismissed but worse than that he was blacklisted which meant that none of the other yards would give him work. So, reluctantly he left home for America and ended up working in Ford’s Motor Company, in Detroit I suppose as he lived in Michigan. Presumably he helped build cars, a bit of a come-down from building beautiful ships.
He made the best of it though and met his wife in the US, for years the family thought her name was (wee) Anna but it was Weeanna and I have no idea where she came from. I love these photos they sent home. Jack is obviously saying – Look Mum and Dad, I’m a success now. I have my wife and children.
Here we are again with our car this time with Weeanna, our daughter and the newest addition to the family in the back of it.
This is our house with Weeanna in the doorway, haven’t I done well! It has all worked out for the best.
And we still have these images, thanks to Kodak. It’s all we do have now as Jack and his wife are long dead and even the children are probably gone too, they didn’t keep in contact after their parents’ death.
Now it looks like the end of Kodak, for photos anyway. I’m glad that I have loads of albums of my own boys when they were wee, but photos seem to be a thing of the past. It’s a bit of a shame really.
I completely agree! It really is a shame. I think one of the most enjoyable things to do is look at old photo albums. I love to look at the albums my grandparents keep at their home – great-grandparents, great-aunts, and long gone cousins in their unfamiliar clothes and settings. Looking at photos on a computer screen is just not the same!
Anbolyn,
It must be something to do with actually being able to touch the photos which is so nice, which of course you can’t do if the image is just on a screen. It’s great that you look at the photos and that you still have your grandparents!
I have some old family photos too, with very little information about the people. And I have several drawers full of our own photos which need sorting and the people and places identifying. I was just thinking about this when I came across your post.
How sad about Kodak’s demise – ironically, it was Kodak who invented the digital camera, what went wrong?
Margaret,
It’s a job for a cold, wet miserable day I think, sorting through photos. I’ve seen the interesting ones you have put on your blog and I keep meaning to join in the Saturday Snapshot thingy!
I think Kodak must have thought that people would still want to print out their photos and it kind of surprises me that we don’t, I think we’ll regret it in the future.
Years before my mother died, she and I sat down and went through the photographs she had in shoe boxes. As she told me who the people were and a little about them, I wrote the names in pencil on the backs. I’m so glad I did that. It’s such a loss when the memory of people die, especially your relatives and friends. And once my mother’s generation was gone, which it now is, all that information is gone, too.
Digital photos take up pretty much no physical space, but looking at them on a computer isn’t the same. Maybe a combination of both? Jack keeps saying we should have our boxes and boxes of photos put on discs. I suppose that would also protect them, having them in two formats.
Joan,
You and your family are so organised, what with all your book notes and now photo notes. It is sad when there is nobody left to answer the questions, we’re in that position too. Also, Jack is the youngest of 3 boys and as youngsters they weren’t interested in any of the old folks in the photos, I think girls would have been.
I think it would be a good idea to put your photos on discs too, I’m surprised that they aren’t harmed by the very hot weather which you get.
Luckily my mother made up a family photo album, but when she died there were hundreds of pictures of people I hadn’t a clue about- mostly friends and church folk. I’m afraid I had to just chuck them out! I kept the family pics though!
I do love having my photos on the computer, and of course you can still print them out. Shame about Kodak! Pity they didn’t get into the Digital camera market. Remember the Kodak Brownie camera of long years ago? And I loved my wee Kodak instamatic camera later on.
Evee,
I’m the same, loads of photos of church picnics and the like and lots of strangers. I just got rid of a box Brownie to a charity shop a few years ago, maybe I should have kept it! My Kodak instamatic broke eventually, I got it so I could take photos when I was on a school cruise to Scandinavia.