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Show Photos Part Of Family History : . By JERKY WINDLE Copley News Service Recent interest in : genealogy has got us trying to trace our family "Roots," but there is another past you ; should get together your "shoots," or photographic '- past. IF YOU want to gather all the family pictures into some kind of order, but just don't know where to begin, perhaps I can give you a good place to start. Recently, I ran across a rather inexpensive book titled "Shoots: A Guide To Your I Family's Photographic Heritage" Heri-tage" by Thomas L. Davies, published by Addison House ; ($3.95) which is a wealth of information. 1 "SHOOTS" is the complete guide for the experienced as : well as the amateur pho-j pho-j ' tographer for gathering, sorting sort-ing and organizing a collec-1 collec-1 tion of old photographs for future generations. There's nothing like starting start-ing at the very beginning, and the book does just that by listing the most likely places - to find old photographs of your family. It not only lists the familiar storage such as attics and cellars, but also ; such places as garages, closets, barns, desks, books and suitcases as well as yearbooks, year-books, wedding and anniversary anniver-sary books. RELATIVES are always a : good source, and the author : recommends you let everyone : in your family know you are trying to gather all the pictures pic-tures you can find. Once you have all the pic- tures together, what do you do with them? FIRST, you must try to identify as many of the pictures pic-tures as you can. This may : take some work. If relatives : have supplied photographs, " perhaps they can fill in the : details. Otherwise, look for : newspaper clippings tucked : away with the pictures or names and dates written on : the back. ' If you are fortunate enough : . to have found some of the : ' really old pictures, such as ' daguerreotypes or tintypes, : the book has a detailed chapter which lists the methods used, plus how to recognize them and date the : pictures from the processes used. NOW THAT you have information infor-mation about your pictures, the real work begins-the restoration res-toration process. Of course, you can take them to a studiow but if you have even the simplest equipment, you can do some restoration work yourself and' have the rewards of seeing the old picture made new again right in your own darkroom. THE author includes a chapter on various methods of restoring photographs written with easy-to-understand details de-tails and step-by-step in structions. He discusses the types of films to use, close-up systems, durations for improving copies, as well as techniques for retouching to make the nirtures look new. Organizing and storing prints which have what is known as "archival quality" is a science in itself, but the author tells you how to do it using basic chemistry and equipment to be found around the home. ONE myth the author debunks is that the modtrn plastic pages found in most photo albums today can actually ac-tually hasten the deterioration deteriora-tion of your pictures. He recommends an ordinary polyethylene sandwich bag as best tor storing valuable prints and negatives. Taking the reader to the .final stages, the author discusses dis-cusses in detail ways to make . the photographs safe for future fu-ture generations of your family. MOISTURE is the greatest enemy of the photographic image, whether it be a print, negative or slide, and to protect pro-tect your photographs from moisture will lake a bit of extra ex-tra effort. Along with moisture, mois-ture, sulphur too, is an enemy, and sulphur can be found in almost everything, especially cardboard boxes and paper, so storing your priceless photographs in boxes and envelopes is ac- lually hastening their destruction. de-struction. A photographic record of your family is one of a kind and the time to start organizing organiz-ing your "shoots" is now. WHY not organize your family's precious pictures, for today's snapshots are tomorrow's treasures. |
