This month, we will go back to answering reader's questions. I was looking through a new magazine called Family Tree this month, looking at the great article on caring for photos, when I ran across a section entitled Top 10 Internet Scrapbooking Sites. Scrapbooking.com was listed as 3 and "Ask Jenna" was mentioned. So, if we have any new readers, welcome and feel free to ask your questions!

QUESTION: I am getting ready to begin My family heritage album. I have a couple of problems though. Most of my family except for my father is deceased. I have very few pictures of my mother, only one of her as a child at the age of about 6. I have several of her brother but, they are all when he was in the army none of him at a young age. There mother died very young and I only have one small picture of her. I have some of my grandfather but, I don't know the year. His second wife also died young and then he remarried for a third time to his last wife. Who is actually the only grandmother I knew. They had a son (my uncle) and I have only a couple pictures of him. She died 2 years ago, and I haven't heard from my Uncle since. I have tried to contact him but, can't. My mother and her brother spent most of there early years in foster care. She lived with my great aunt up until the time she married my father.
So here I sit with pictures of them and I don't know what to do.

My father's side is even more complex. I have no pictures of him as a baby the photos start at the age of 10. I don't have any wedding pictures from either side and because my grandfathers family didn't like my grandmother's (Typical Italian's) they stopped talking to one another so there is a whole side of the family I don't know. The heritage albums I see all have baby pictures to adult hood. I feel like there is so much of my heritage life that is missing.

What if any advice do you have?
Thanks in advance for your help

 

ANSWER: First, don't worry about not having complete pictures of everyone for their whole life - part of the missing pictures tell the story of your family and you can and should journal about that. The stories are what last and what tell us who we are and where we came from even more than the photographs. A photograph can tell you where you got your nose, but it cannot tell you who started cooking that special dish for the holidays.

Second, I presume you are already asking your father for any advice you can get from him. He's your best starting point and probably knows things you don't know that he knows. Even things he doesn't know he knows! There are books available to give you question idea that you might not think about asking. Plus there is a great article in a new magazine I just found called Family Tree to help you get started. They also have a feature on that might help you about finding things out based on the photographs you have. It's worth a look.

But I don't think that a family heritage album has to be so complete there's nothing omitted. I don't think it even can do that. But if you don't put down what you know, if you don't ask your father what you can, then the next generation will know even less and have even less chance of hearing the whole story. And you may be surprised what you can piece together. Don't regard this as a project with a definite end. If you find out more things later, or get more pictures, you can go back and include them. I suggest you start with the written story of your family, including a family tree as far as you know it, and then go into the pictures. The photos can even be arranged by person. And you can also include information about where they lived and how, maybe even include maps of the area, to give a more complete picture.

Don't worry and don't hold your album up against any others. Your family is unique, so your album should be, too.

QUESTION: My mother-in-law just gave me my husbands baby book. It is falling part but the photos and memorabilia are priceless. I don't want to take the book apart since it has been glued with Elmers glue and scotch taped (for fear that I would damage the contents). The writing is her original writing. What do I do with this to preserve it?

ANSWER: The first thing I would suggest that you do is color copy or scan and print the pages as they are now. That should copy her writing in case of further deterioration. It's hard for me to say how to go on without knowing the actual condition of the album. I would store the entire things, as is, in a albeled, archival storage box, such as the kind you can get from Light Impressions, www.lightimpressionsdirect.com <http://www.lightimpressionsdirect.com> . Any memorabilia that has come out on its own could be combined with copies of the pictures and older journaling (from those handy color copies) into a current album that could be viewed and enjoyed. Also, in the new album, I would discuss the location and condition of the older album just in case.

 

QUESTION: I recently found many, many old family pictures in the basement of my father's house. Naturally, they were totally unprotected, stored in shoeboxes or old paper albums. I've organized most of them and am now in the process of putting them into scrapbooks. Since most of these pictures are from the early 1950's, they are mostly black & white, and I am using a lot of neutral colors with some nice, heritage-type paper as accents. But I am also sticking in some color, just to make the pages pop. So far, its looking pretty good to me, but I've never been to a class and I'm basically just creating as I go. Anyway, I've come across several newspaper articles from 1954 and 1957 - they are yellowed, but still in pretty good shape. I have those acid free pouches to stick them in, but would you recommend that I have the articles copied at Kinko's to display? How would you display such an article? Believe me, I'll appreciate any advice you can give me. Thank you.

 

ANSWER: It sounds like you're on your way to a great album. And I bet, no matter whether you've taken a class or not, it looks great.

Newspaper articles can be handled several different ways. First you can, as you know, put them into archival envelopes, either a stable palstic or an archival paper. Second, you can color copy them, and use the color copies. Third, and this is my favorite, is to spray them with a deacidification spray. These sprays, like We'i To and Archival Mist, neutralize th acid in the paper and may actually help strengthen them. I have noticed on ones I did, that the paper feels less brittle and dry after I sprayed it. If you choose this option, then you may still want to put them into the envelopes to your albums, just to protect them and mount them easily. If you use originals and not copies, be sure to mount them in some way that is removeable. I recommend this for all heritage items. You never know when you will want a copy!

So, the answer is yes, you can do either of those things or let me make it more difficult to decide!