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Photos can turn a family history narrative or memoir from boring to amazing. But how do you choose which photos and scanned documents to include? Here are a few things to consider:
1. Does the photo include people?
Humans love looking at people. If a photo features an ancestor, they will spend time comparing themselves and their loved ones to the image. Choose relatively clear photos of people. A slightly damaged or technically inferior picture will still attract your reader's attention but leave blurry photos out of your book.
Alison Taylor, from Pictures and Stories, also suggests that the photos have an emotional impact.
2. Do documents or artifacts illustrate your family history?
Often family history writers neglect to include scanned documents or photographed family treasures in their projects.
I have photographed high school dance costumes and letterman jackets, charm bracelets, military insignias, medals, and childhood stuffed animals. The most photo I connect the most with is this bracelet that my Grandfather Lewis Brown wore during World War II. The emotional impact increased when I photographed the inscription, which reads, "With love, Louise."
If you lack family photos, using documents and photographs of family keeps sakes can enhance your story. Some documents and photos that you could include in your family history project include:
birth, marriage, or death records
baby blankets, baby toys, bassinets
passenger lists or travel documents
military records
uniforms, insignia, medallions
newspaper clippings
sewing examples, handicrafts
clothing, jewelry, and other wearables
personal collections
letters, postcards, telegrams
handwritten recipes
china, housewares, silverware, and other cooking items
trophies, medals, ribbons, and sashes
diplomas, transcripts, and graduation regalia
journal or other handwriting samples
wall art, Christmas ornaments, home decor
buildings, cars, tools, and other homestead features
Make sure that the photos add to rather than detract from your story. I may have liked collecting troll dolls. A photograph of my collection would be miss placed in my pageant memoir, From Metal To Rhinestones a Quest for the Crown. It would be better placed in a scrapbook about my interests during high school.
3. Should you touch up a photo?
The jury is out on this, but I prefer historically accurate depictions in images that I add to family history books. If you restore a faded color photo to its original glory or repair some small rips and tears, then you have not changed the true nature of the story.
Avoid using interpretative tools to add color to an image that never had a photo in the slide or film. You change your photo biography reader's perspective for everything from the ancestor's hair color, skin color, clothing choices, and even the quality of their gardening.
Watch this video to see how colonizing black and white photos might be misleading.
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4. Does the Document Add Historical Context?
Do you know what a bobsled from Ontario, Canada, in the 1870s looks like?
Can your reader visualize a potbelly stove?
Can a newspaper convey through a headline what will take you 100 words to relate?
Use photos of artifacts, historical figures, and newspaper clippings to add social context to your story. You're not writing a picture-less novel. You're writing a family history.
Watch the replay of Choosing the Best Photos for Your Family History Book.
You can create a great photo autobiography or family history book by knowing which photos will enhance your story rather than detract from it. Choose well.
Now that you know what kinds of photographs to choose for your project, discover different ways to arrange your pictures in your family history book.
Or you can view how to create a family history photo book with Snapfish.
More tips on formatting your family history book:
