The Archvivist

SUNDAY MEMORIES

 Judy Wills

My Mother died in 1993.  After that time, my brother handed me all the family photos and documents he had, and informed me that I was the family archivist, so….here you go!  And there were hundreds of items!  It was quite a daunting prospect. However, a friend from church was a Creative Memories consultant, and I sought her out as to how to go about “organizing” all that stuff.  Her suggestion that I separate them into “families” sounded good.  So I set about it – putting my Mother’s family in one pile, and my Father’s family in another.

There were still hundreds of items to work through!

For whatever reason, I decided to start working through my Mother’s family first.  Perhaps because she died more recently than my Father.  So I began to gather the scrapbooks and paper and ideas to work on putting those photos in some chronological order, to put them on decorated pages.  I always had at the back of my mind, that this was a “legacy” for future generations to know their ancestors.

I was never very fast at that project.  It would take me quite a while to decide how I wanted to decorate the page, and what pictures I wanted on the page.  But as I went along, I realized that I was, indeed, getting quicker with the ideas.  I also realized that I was getting rather “immersed” in my family and it’s history.  I have pictures of my great-grandparents on my Mother’s side.  It really turned out to be quite a lot of fun.

My Great-grandparents and their three daughters. My grandmother is second on the right.

My Grandfather (right) and his father

Of course, other “projects” came into play, and I had to set aside the archival project once in a while.  A driving trip we made with our daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren.  Those pictures just had to get into a book before I forgot what we did and when we did it.  Then back to the archives.  Then a cruise, and those pictures had to make their way into a book.  Then back to the archives.  You get the picture.

My Grandmother and Grandfather. Purported to be their “wedding” picture. They eloped.

But I never lost the feeling of really “knowing” my family’s history – where they lived, and when they lived in that town and on that street.  It’s something that I’ve come to cherish.

My Great-grandparents and my Grandmother.
She was about six months old.

I’ve gotten away from it now, for a while.  I’ve been rather busy with scanning all the old 35mm slides Fred and I have taken over our 50+ years of marriage.  I hope our daughters and grands will someday want the pictures of their grands, and parents as small/growing children, but I’m sure they don’t want the slides.

My Grandmother at age 2 years 3 months. The “frame” around the picture is the back of the photo, blown up. I thought it needed to be seen – to show how photographs were done in the early 1900’s.

In any case, it’s been a wonderful journey, and one I don’t think I’ll ever finish.

Tags: #Christian Blogger, #Creative Memories, #Family Archives, #Scrapbooking, Family