I never paid lot of attention to family photos or any sorts of snap shots. I had a good memory. Why would I pay attention to pictures on little pieces of paper and try to figure out who these people were?
I have a few old photos around. Thankfully, there are others who seem to delight in collecting old photos. In some cases, some of these people have put out books featuring collections of old photos. They even put some up on social media from time to time.
Since we have a limited supply of our own photos, these things can come in handy at times.
I have noticed my memory isn’t quite what it used to be at one time. So it might be handy to have pictures to remind me from time to time. but they’re really great with those older than me.
I have learned a lot from old pictures. Some of them seem pretty generic, but still produce interesting information. A lot of them are from well before my time, but you can learn things you never knew. Fill in gaps in both family and local history. Maybe answer questions you never even knew were questions.
For the Liverpool area in particular, I know there are several collections of old photos available in books. It is an interesting adventure to look through some of those with older family members. Not too long ago, I was browsing through one of Tim McDonald’s books of photos. My mother was sitting nearby. At one point I looked up and said, “So part of the family used to own a restaurant and dance hall?” The answer I got back was, “Yes, but we didn’t hang out much with them.” Still would have been nice to know.
We went through several of the old pictures, talking about some of her memories, me collecting stories I had never heard before. Stories that would soon be gone, if those old photos hadn’t made me ask.
Tim also posts the occasional picture online. I saw the one above and thought I might have recognized someone. There were names attached, and I was right. There’s my mother. I showed her the picture. As near as she can remember, it was her grade nine class photo.
So now I’m digging for more information. Trying to pry a few more stories out of her. Pictures like this certainly help.
Some people may think it’s silly, but I like hearing stories of life before I existed. Many of them will soon be gone, and not all of those stories should disappear. But if all it takes is a old picture or two to keep them around, maybe it’s time to fill another shoe box. Or hard drive.
