Family Treasures

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Meet Marie & Neil McDougall, my paternal grandparents.

Last night I got a message on Facebook from my cousin Rob (gotta love modern day communication). He's been going through hundreds of photos from my Dad's side of the family and recently started the process of scanning them. He uploaded the first batch of 100 and I went
through them all, image by image, with the biggest smile on my face.

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This is my family.

My history.

My treasure.

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I had no idea my cousin had been working on this project.

I actually feel kinda speechless. 

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So often I have looked through photos like these at antique stores and have wondered about the people and their stories and their families.

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These are my people. My Dad is the little guy on the right in the photo above.

I love the ones like this where there is a group gathered. It would be cool to make a little book of the group photos over the years since I have a handful from my childhood through today.

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These are my grandparents.

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So what am I going to do with these? I am not quite sure yet. Most likely they will be integrated into layouts/projects for my upcoming Big Picture class about scrapbooking Yesterday & Today (the timing could not have been much better). I am hoping to get some stories from my Dad and go from there. I would also love to enlarge a few of them (that first one for sure) to hang in my home.

These are really special treasures. 

Photography is so, so cool.

Dottedline

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On another note, I am the Guest Blogger today over on Creating Keepsakes' blog. I did a little write-up about using color from your photos as a jumping off point for the other choices you make in putting together layouts.

Hope you have a great weekend! Giveaway post coming tomorrow morning.

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98 thoughts

  1. Judy Lucas says…
    07/10/2009

    You bring up a funny point- when we go to antique stores and flea markets I always wonder how ANYONE could sell their old pictures- I mean even if you don't "know" the person- they are still your family...still a part of you. Totally breaks my heart when I see these- especially cause I came from a family where we didnt have a lot of pictures....no one had any cameras.
    Those pictures are awesome- treasure them....
    Judy

    Reply 0 Replies
  2. jamie says…
    07/10/2009

    those photos are absolutely amazing. what a treasure indeed you came upon. i am sure like many, i will be watching for your creative imagination to make something special.
    thanks for sharing.

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  3. Hillary says…
    07/10/2009

    Ali those are GREAT! My mom has a box full of VERY similar pictures - must be about the same timeframe - similar clothes, picture style, hair, etc.
    I'd love to incorporate some of them into my stories - and I'd love to get HER stories - since she's around and remembers a lot of it. . .
    thanks again -
    hillary

    Reply 0 Replies
  4. Kathy F says…
    07/10/2009

    I LOVED this post, Ali! :) I would be so ecstatic over these treasures! :) What a wonderful gift you have been given! :) Thanks for sharing these...they brought a smile to my face too! :)

    Reply 0 Replies
  5. Jilly Foreman says…
    07/10/2009

    Don't your granparents look so in love??? What a wonderful heritage!

    Reply 0 Replies
  6. callimakesdo says…
    07/10/2009

    I've just been going through my families old photos too. I love seeing how my children look like some of my ancestors!
    I love the idea of Yesterday and Today... will you put old photos with new? When my son was born I tried to take a photo of him that matched a photo I had of my husband at the same age. My results were not as good as I hoped...

    Reply 0 Replies
  7. Stacy Milford says…
    07/10/2009

    These are so much fun! Esp. love the swimming suit photo! LOL! I know you will do something really cool with these!

    Reply 0 Replies
  8. MelissaL88 says…
    07/10/2009

    What a treasure! I received a photo album of photos from my mother of her parents when they were first dating. They look very similar to those. I'm so looking forward to your class, because like you, I really have no idea what I'm going to do with all these photos.
    Thanks for sharing a little of your history with us today!

    Reply 0 Replies
  9. Linda says…
    07/10/2009

    I can't wait to see what you do with the pictures. I have a bunch of pictures just like these, and I'm afraid to do something with them, even though I desperately WANT to do something with them!

    Reply 0 Replies
  10. Anne-Liesse Ankeny says…
    07/10/2009

    Wow! Enjoy the gift that your cousin gave you. I wonder how you don't just spend hours gazing at those people gazing back at you. Talk about stopping time...
    Anne-Liesse

    Reply 0 Replies
  11. nicole beltane says…
    07/10/2009

    Loving the old photos. I was left all of my grandmothers photos when she passed in 2005. I keep them in a gardening tool box that i brought especially for them and felt that it added to the photos as she was a keen gardener. i have sat there for many hours scanning them all, but then lost them on the external hard drive so really need to sit down and go through them again, as i have had several family members email me asking for the photos. I love old photos they are really something to treasure.

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  12. cathy says…
    07/10/2009

    How much does Simon look like your grandfather?!!!! Love it! They looked like they knew how to have a good time. :)

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  13. tracey m. says…
    07/10/2009

    Oh, Ali! What a wonderful surprise that is!
    I recently revecived photos from my dad's side, too. Love scanning them (with my eyes and soon into the computer), taking in all the details of the faces and places they're in. Seeing who has whose features. Wondering wehat they're thinking, what they had for breakfast that day, where they're off to next... Love checking out what's in the background - a good heads up to keep including that stuff in my shots for future generations.
    Connections, links to the past, what a great gift.

    Reply 0 Replies
  14. Angela T. says…
    07/10/2009

    How awesome to have those little pieces of your ancestors to treasure!

    Reply 0 Replies
  15. lynn says…
    07/10/2009

    priceless treasure. i ADORE heritage. get the stories now. it saddened me when i chased down my stories there were only a couple of aunts that knew some of the stories. sigh.

    Reply 0 Replies
  16. Karen M. says…
    07/10/2009

    Old pictures are the best!!! As teh youngest of 6, I have two (2!!!!) pictures of me under the age of 3. I do have hundreds of "old" pics of the families however, use them all the time for home decor - books, cards. My siblings and I even wrote our early memoirs and put them together in a book with all the geneology information my older sibs have collected over the past 40 years. I am SO excited to someday leave that info for my grandkids!

    Reply 0 Replies
  17. Tammy B says…
    07/10/2009

    Wow! What a gift your cousin gave to you!!! I've started to do the same - scanning old family photos to share with other family members, but it's hard to get my mom to believe that I truly will give the originals back to her.

    Reply 0 Replies
  18. Joelle says…
    07/10/2009

    Hi Ali,
    I love old family photos, too. I scanned in over 300 for my Grama's 85th birthday a few years ago. Recently, I printed them up (3 per page) and gave them to her in a notebook. I asked her to write her memories next to the photos. I then passed them on to other family members and asked them to do the same. So often, the stories are lost along the way. Now I have a family treasure with lots of different perspectives. I'm planning to put it all together in a book format for us one day.

    Reply 0 Replies
  19. Lisa L. says…
    07/10/2009

    Wow! They are awesome. I see Simon in so many of them. Funny huh?

    Reply 0 Replies
  20. Kim Bolyard says…
    07/10/2009

    love the old photos...I have several from my dads side and would love to know more of the stories...I love these treasures....
    great layout by the way
    Are you going to CHA????
    peace
    Kim

    Reply 0 Replies
  21. Jill says…
    07/10/2009

    I have a photo of my parents that reminds me of the first in your post. It was quite small, and I've enlarged and framed it for them and for me. Friends look at it and always ask, who is that?, and are delighted (and surprised) to hear it's mom and dad. They are so young, and look Hollywood-esque, even though they are complete Minnesotans and sitting by a Minnesota lake. It's a favorite, all around. And fortunately someone stashed it away in a box and it found it's way to me :)

    Reply 0 Replies
  22. Shelly says…
    07/10/2009

    Those photos are an absolute TREASURE! What a wonderful surprise for you.

    Reply 0 Replies
  23. Melissa Cummings says…
    07/10/2009

    I know this may sound like a weird question, but did your cousin give them to you in a form other than posting them on Facebook. The file size of those photos on Facebook is so small that I don't know how to enlarge them or even print them normally. I'd like to do a similar type of family photo swap, and we're all on Facebook, or so it seems, but I don't know if that's the best avenue. Thanks! (Old family photos really ARE a treasure!)

    Reply 0 Replies
  24. Michelle says…
    07/10/2009

    Oh my gosh! These are awesome. Thanks for sharing. I especially love the photo of the two guys and a girl infront of the old car having fun.

    Reply 0 Replies
  25. annie says…
    07/10/2009

    i am in the midst of a similar (scanning) project w/all of my parents photos. i am creating heritage scrapbooks, but the fun of just looking at the photos and imagining the story behind them has been the best part. unfortunately, my dad is gone and my mom is too, (although she is still alive), so i have some blanks that may never be "filled in." nonetheless, they are treasures and i am so grateful to my dad, especially, for saving everything in one neat place! (i even have the receipt for his first car!!!)

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