General Chat

Put names on the back of photographs and a small family tree.It is such a help to any researchers who will come after us. Also talk to oldermembers of your family and record their memories before it is too late. Oral tradition is so useful. Rose

Good idea, that Rosemary, I have bought a book for Mum and dad to jot things down as they remember! they sell it in Past Times, called the Grandparents Book!

How? As a good family historian, I've tried pencil, but that doesn't work. The only thing that I imagine works is ballpoint, but goodness knows what that would do to the photograph over time. Does anyone have a suggestion for a medium that does not react with the photograph? Brenda

It is so important to do this early enough.Luckily we did and I'm glad because although my Mum is still alive,at 90 her memory is a little selective- shall we say! The book sounds a good idea Rose

there was a thread on the tips board about writing on photo's, am sure it said just pencil, think it is still there somewhere!..

Just a suggestion , what about a C.D. pen? Haven't tried it but imagine that would work. Christine

That's fine for old photos, Dwain, but modern photos won't take even a 2B pencil. Brenda

If you are going to use pen you need a special acid free pen, you can buy them archival quality, not expensive. I got mine at a family history fair. You could always do a copy of the photo and write on that, keeping it with the original. But unless you use an acid free pen the ink will lift off. ann glos

I use freezer labels write on them FIRST then stick to back of photo. Linda x

hi all, i manage a charity shop. and the saddest thing i come accross in the donations is old photos.some framed, some not. they never have names on them, and as i have hardly any photos of my long gone rellies- it seems really sad to me. these things are so precious, and can never be replaced. sue.

Can someone recommend what to write with on the back of photos. I had a nasty experience with ball pint pen! It hadn't dried properly when I stacked the photos up again and got blobs on the front - aaggh. Fortunately with the advent of computer editing I have been able to tidy them up again and reprint them, but its a lesson, I won't be doing that again! I find pencil doesn't mark properly on the photographic paper unless you press on - thats no good, it shows on the front. So PLEASE someone tell us what to write with! Anne PS Just copied this over from tips board as there seems to be more going on here!

Thanks for that Ann. I'll keep a look out next time I'm at a fair. When I started family history, I wrote to all the older family members. One great aunt had just moved into an old people's home and burnt all the old family documents. This included a photograph of her granny and great aunt. Last year I made contact with a distant cousin and she has a copy of it! What really worries me, is that I thought I remembered that photograph and I was completely wrong. Brenda