I have a box full of old, unlabeled pictures. I am sure that most of us do. It saddens me to know that I might never know who some of those people are. Are they related to me? Is it a picture of a neighbor, a distant cousin, a best friend? Who knows?
And yet I find myself making the exact same mistakes. Do I go through and label all of my pictures? It seems silly to label my children or my aunts and uncles, whom I obviously know and will never forget. But I have to remind myself that someday my great-grandchildren might be going through my pictures and wondering who on earth these people are.
I have decided that I need to take the time to sit down and label them – both digital and print – so that future generations can identify them.
We do have a great advantage with the digital age though – I love that the date is automatically part of the photo’s properties.
Here is one of my many unidentified pictures, of a couple of Norwegian kids. I have no idea when it was taken, or who they are.
In seeing my own shortcomings, I think that I have finally forgiven my ancestors for not having labeled their pictures. I’m sure that they never imagined that I would be wondering and wishing I knew who these people were.
Hi!
I’m also a member of “Ellingsen slekt” on Facebook. That’s why I have been looking on this blog.
Christensen is unknown, but Omenta worked in Trondheim between 1864 and 1884. If the names are stamped on with a rubber stamp, then the photo is from before 1873. If the names are printed on, then it’s from the last 11 years.
Here’s a web page that may be of interest:
http://www.nb.no/emigrasjon/emigration/ (The norwegian national library’s web page about the norwegian emigration to America)
Here’s a web page, also from the national library, where you can search between norwegian photographers, but unfortunately it’s only in norwegian: http://www.nb.no/nmff/
Thank you for your help. I will definitely check out those sites!