c. 1932

In the past few months, I’ve begun the process of digitizing old family photos, a process I foresee will take me at least 20 years.  I have thousands of my own negatives from the seventies and eighties, and I’d like to scan several hundred of them.  I haven’t even begun those yet.

The main gold mine of all our family photos are in the old albums, some going back to the early part of the twentieth century, whose contents are held in place with four “corners” glued to the page.  I’ve long been fascinated by historical photos of any type, but to see family members in the context of their early years, full of hope and promise, is especially meaningful. 

 Some of them are a real hoot. 

This one is my maternal grandfather, taken around 1897.  Look at those curls!  Wonder if it’s an early version of a “mullet”?  I think he was from around Monroe City, Missouri. 

Here’s three generations from around 1931 on my father’s side—the gent on the left emigrated to New York from Ireland when he was 10, later heeding the call from Horace Greeley to “Go West, young man”, and got as far as St. Louis.  He named his son Horace after Greeley.

This one is included because of the technique—-and today’s photographers think the camera “tilt” is something new and refreshing!  Well, it at least goes back to 1935 or so, which is when this photo was taken.   Guy on the right is the curly haired kid from the second photo. 

This is my uncle, in a pose from around 1940 that really sums him up!  My mother said she didn’t see how her brother landed my Aunt Mae, that he told her he was rich and had a good job.  Aunt Mae allowed as to how she fell for it, but was awfully glad she did.  He had a heart of gold, and they were married around fifty years until he passed away.  He sure could talk, and here he looks like he has the confidence to talk anyone into anything! 

I love old cars, and back in its day, I’m sure this new early 40’s Dodge was quite impressive.  My mother inherited the car later, and the memory that sticks out in my mind about it was the night it caught fire as we were heading down the highway.  Turned out to not be that bad (just the muffler dragging the asphalt), but the people who pulled up next to us with their windows rolled down, yelling “Your car’s on fire, your car’s on fire!” sure left an impression on me.  

Kids are kids no matter what the generation, and this photo seems timeless to me.  Except for the black and white, the hair style, and clothes, it could be a high school kid posing with her boyfriend’s photo at Forrest Park in 2008.  It’s from around 1945. 

Which is about the year I’m up to so far in my scanning.  Only 60 more years of photos and negatives to go through—some of the memories are real, some only imagined.  They aren’t necessarily the types of photos that professional photographers would think were valuable, but for those of us with personal connections to our old family records, these are the kind that are priceless!