Confessions Of A Reluctant Family Historian: My Kingdom For A Shredder

/ Ally Bean

This is what is tripping me up. 😵‍💫

Last week while the outside temperatures and humidity soared to uncomfortable heights, I started going through boxes of old family photos + paper stuff, not because of an in-depth interest in genealogy, but because I want to reclaim a closet.

You see in our guest bedroom closet there are a gazillion and twenty-two boxes of old family photos + paper stuff that take up half of the closet.

Decades ago I inherited these boxes of old family photos + paper stuff from my mother and two aunts. While the boxes have been out of my sight for years their existence, even hidden away, has nagged at me.

Not as a constant worry mind you, but like a realization that there’s something I didn’t ask for taking up space in my life. And that something is weighing me down.

Group of guys, my great uncle is probably one of them.

Thus with quiet resolve I’ve begun going through these boxes that are disorganized, dusty, and sometimes have a musty odor that requires the use of an electric air cleaner in the room.

First I shredded that which obviously has no value. Things like a 1988 sales receipt for a “gold necklace” that was my mother’s, but who knows which necklace it refers to. Or things like patient notes scribbled in my doctor father’s chicken scratch cursive handwriting on the back of envelopes.

Then in an attempt to make some sense of it I’m sorting the contents of the boxes into smaller piles of:

  • Photos: a) by person when name is on the back or b) by guess based on the age of photo not the people in it [2 examples seen on this post]
  • Letters: a) personal exchanged within the family or b) signed by famous people
  • Historically interesting circuit rider preacher stuff [my great grandfather was one]
  • Lighthearted tidbits like comic strips or funny stories or cute cards
  • Bibles: 12 [!] complete ones + 3 New Testaments [1 in Spanish] + 1 Apocrypha

And this is where the project stands today.

Group of gals, my grandmother is probably one of them.

While I long to get this stuff dispatched to where it needs to go [trash? digitized photos? museums? wherever you send old Bibles?] there is a problem, obliquely referred to in a literary way in the title of this post. Gold star to anyone who gets the reference.

After shredding some old family photos + paper stuff and filling three 33 gallon extra large trash bags, I broke our 25 y.o. paper shredder. Jammed it up to a point that we decided to buy a new one, currently on order with Amazon, to be delivered later this week.

Because I have only just begun to shred. 😑

• + • + •

QUESTIONS OF THE DAY

If you have inherited family photos, either because you wanted them or by default because you’re the end of the line, what have you done with them?

What project or projects are lurking in your closet, taking up physical and emotional space in your life?

Did you break any machines last week? If so, which one or ones?

• + • + •

249 thoughts on “Confessions Of A Reluctant Family Historian: My Kingdom For A Shredder”

  2. I went through my mother’s photos when she died. Then I had my brother go through any that I couldn’t identify the participants. If he couldn’t identify anyone, they were tossed. Then I tossed duplicates (ok God did we have duplicates!). Now I have one “copy paper” sized box of old photos. Tragically, when I go they will probably get tossed as I don’t see any of the younger relatives interested in folks they never knew. Good luck to you.

    Liked by 1 person

  5. I think you may be making some of the genealogy bloggers I know cringe when you discuss shredding and tossing and whatnot. I know a few who likely have lots of ideas about what to do with all the things…

    As to the reference- is it the ‘my kingdom” thing? Did you find out you are royal and related to Richard III

    Liked by 1 person

    • Deb, I’m SURE I’m making serious genealogist cringe but not everything needs to be saved. Scribbled patient notes on the back of an envelope? No reference to which patients or when… not valuable.

      You get a 🌟! Wish I was related to royalty, then someone else could sort through these boxes.

      Liked by 1 person

      • Haha! Well I know to start with names so if you have those and want to jump into research that’s a start, as is the site familysearch.org. I’m tossing in my email for you. Contact me if you want info on the bloggers. I’m sure they could point you in the best direction to take with “all the stuff” 🙂 dtecca59@gmail.com

        Liked by 1 person

        • Thanks Deb. If [when] I get the contents of these gazillion and twenty-two boxes organized enough to know what I have, some of it is objects, I’ll be in touch. Right now I’m overwhelmed. 😳

          Liked by 1 person

  6. That is difficult because you are pulled in too directions with one of them being guilt. However, I am pretty good at getting rid of things. My urge to reduce piles is very strong. I take a realistic approach. I don’t need or want photos of a bunch of people that I don’t know.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Jenn, I’m finally getting to the point where I can shred stuff, photos and paper things, without remorse. Photos of people who have no names are easy to shred, but ones with names on them trip me up more.

      Liked by 1 person

  7. This is the story of my life over the past year, since we cleaned out my parents’ condo. An entire corner of my bedroom is taken up with this stuff, the last and most difficult to go through. I did, over the last week, read every single letter that my grandparents sent to my mother from 1957-1987. There were some interesting bits, like when I was born (had no idea I would have been an Eric). I kept the ones that captured my grandparents’ personalities, for my kids to have.

    Pictures . . . well, my dad was an only child, so I have every picture from his parents’ collections. I’m sorting like you are and putting in notebooks with family tree print outs. I have four grandkids (so far) so hopefully they can divide it up some day.

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    • Bijoux, or should I call you Eric, you understand my story implicitly. I have some letters, tons of old photos, and then odd scraps of paper [like the receipts] that are just tossed into boxes. My father was an only child too, and his mother didn’t skimp on having his photo taken by professionals. I hope to get all of these photos down to a 100? 150? Then digitize them so that we have less stuff around here.

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  8. I feel your pain, Ally! My mother gave me her drawerful of photos and wants me to scan them. I’ve had them for years and my mother will be 83 this year and the guilt I am feeling is beyond ridiculous.

    I inherited the slides and photos from my father when he died and they are still there, in boxes.

    In both cases, a trait which I have sadly inherited, almost nothing is written in the back. So who is who and what is what? I know not. I can tell you that the pictures of the real estate parties with Peter, John and Mary are all gonna be ditched.

    I feel like my basement is like the alien in “Life” (coz I just watched it so it’s fresh in my mind) that is getting bigger and bigger and will swallow me hole unless I find a way to liberate myself.

    I think clutter is something that takes up a ton of space in one’s psyche as well as one’s physical surroundings. I can visualize myself getting lighter as I tackle the problem.

    Right after my beau leaves. I must make it a task. Shudder

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    • Dale, I have a bunch of slides, too, that are in theory interesting but I don’t have the wherewithal to even look at them. I know how you feel about the guilt, like this stuff was entrusted to me because I’m the right person to deal with it BUT AM I?!! I’ve shredded duplicate photos and ones with people who I absolutely can’t identify, but the rest of the photos are *maybe* worth reviewing, digitizing, keeping? What to do isn’t clearcut.

      I’m with you about attempting to eliminate clutter. I don’t even mention the furniture + decorative stuff in our basement that I inherited. Like you I feel like it grows the more I ignore it, but I keep ignoring it. Going with my strengths. 😁

      Liked by 1 person

      • I actually got myself a special little printer/reader for slides and negatives in order to be able to scan and then destroy the stupid slides. I’m looking forward to looking at them, if I am honest. There will be some ancient stuff! But there will also be lots of what? who?

        I keep thinking of when I am gone. The kids won’t give a rat’s ass about most of it so… I’m keeping it why? We have the same strengths, it appears!

        Oh, and yeah. my shredder is dead. Or blocked or something I am NOT putting my fingers into…

        Liked by 1 person

        • Dale, if I attack the slides I’ll have to do what you did. I’m sure it’d make it easier, but I can’t gin up the enthusiasm for doing slides yet.

          I didn’t mention it in the post but I tried to unjam the shredder with pliers and my tweezers. Neither helped but the pliers are still useable, my tweezers are goners. Hard to hate on the old shredder though, it’s done its best for decades.

          Liked by 1 person

  9. Oh…I feel your pain, especially a reaction to these words, Ally: …”a realization that there’s something I didn’t ask for taking up space in my life”. I’ve got ALL the things from both sides – hubby Paul’s family and my own – and I giggled about your game plan, shredding old receipts and the what-nots. I love the obvious bits that can get the heave-ho. It’s all those other stinky, smelly, moldy bits that give pause. Who ARE these people – nameless dear ones from the past captured in fragile photos???
    Once you’ve tackled your mounds of family stuff, c’mon over. I know I need to do a lot of digitizing but the heaps of stuff in our basement (safely stored – off the floor in big waterproof tubs) weighs on me every time I glance in that direction. 😜

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    • Vicki, I, too, have everything photographic from both sides of the family + some family antique furniture [that’s a whole ‘nother story]. I want to do right by the stuff BUT I also realize I’m the only person who gives a fig about what I do with it. You’re so right about nameless dear ones from the past captured in fragile photos that meant enough to someone to save. Or, as pragmatic Z-D suggests, maybe the photos were just thrown into boxes to get them out of sight, that they meant nothing to my Mother or aunts. Who’s to say?

      Liked by 1 person

      • I love Z-D’s practical head. I bet he’s right…distant relatives no doubt labored over the ‘what do we do with…” just as we are. My friend Linda is an expert, expert at preserving and digitizing but it’s incredibly time consuming and I haven’t decided if I want to leap in. You’re in the thick of it, too…keep me posted on your progress. I’ll either be inspired or absolved by what you decide to do. No pressure, friend. 😁

        Liked by 1 person

        • Knowing my mother and my aunts, Z-D may well be right. They were conscientious woman, but also reluctant to get rid of anything. The Depression did that to lots of people.

          I don’t know much about digitizing, only scanned the two old photos in this post as test cases. We’ll see how this all plays out…

          Liked by 1 person

  10. The lead photo reminds me of the treadmill we used to have in our master bedroom. It was more often covered with hanging, drying clothes than ever used for exercise. That’s an impressive use of the bed there. I have a brother who took on the same “historian” mantle for our family, and God love him for it. I wouldn’t have had the patience (nor the knowledge of our extended family) to properly sort everything. Is this where you struggle – making decisions on what stays and what goes without the input of other family members?

    Liked by 1 person

    • Dave, laughing about your treadmill. We had an Exercycle at one point that became a clothes rack, more useful as that than as something on which to exercise.

      I’m the end of the line for these photos + more. No family left so whatever I do is entirely up to me, which is freeing but also overwhelming. I’m probably too conscientious for my own good.

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  11. Good luck sorting it all out. We did a 1st pass on shredding/throwing away family “memorabilia” but weren’t gutsy enough to pare it all the way down. So, the stuff we were uncertain about is tucked away in a closet waiting for the next go-round. Would have been better to deal with it once instead of twice (or thrice?). But, I find that my mood changes and it’s easier to part with stuff if I’ve already looked at it before. Also, no machine breakage, but I did break a paring knife last night. Blade broke completely in half. I had a giant clove of garlic, laid the blade across the top, whacked down with my palm, as I’ve done a million times, to crush the garlic, but the knife blade snapped and flew across the kitchen. What the? That garlic clove was one sturdy sucker, rock solid. But, using a different technique and a different knife, it produced a delicious Lemon Butter Chicken for dinner.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Gwen, you summed up my situation: Would have been better to deal with it once instead of twice (or thrice?). I’m probably on round three now and hoping this is the last round.

      That must have been on amazingly sturdy clover of garlic. I’ve not broken a paring knife in the way you did and I have to give you props for doing so. As long as you were able to continue making dinner, which sounds delicious btw, and didn’t get hurt, it’s an amusing story.

      Liked by 1 person

  12. Oh, I feel you, Ally. I think that photos are the hardest for people to throw away so they get just handed over. In my case, I’ve inherited the family photo albums – and even have the photo albums from a dear friend’s family. Can’t remember what reason he gave me for why they needed to be stored at my house but here they stay.

    Good luck! And one other answer. My toaster broke. It’s got the toaster part and then the little oven part. I’m not replacing it for now as an experiment to see if I even need the toaster part.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Wynne, you’re right, the photos seem so personal that tossing them out seems wrong… yet there comes a time. It’s ridiculous the amount of space they’re taking up. I’m impressed that you’re the repository for your friend’s family albums. That makes me smile.

      I wonder how your experiment will unfold. Do you toast more than you believe you do… or is it merely an antiquated feature in your life‽ I look forward to your results.

      Liked by 1 person

      • After the toaster died but before I decided what I was going to do with it, I heard a snippet from a guy who has researched the “blue zones” where people live longer and healthier lives. It was that people with toasters on the counter weigh 6 more pounds. Now that I type that out, there’s a lot about that statistic I don’t know and I haven’t lost 6 pounds yet but it’s worth the experiment. 🙂

        Liked by 1 person

  13. Ally, I feel for you and your dilemmas of the boxes! It sounds like you are organising well at the moment. I’ve found music helps with the monotony of shredding. My relatively new shredder works well but be warned, they need lots of rests as they tend to overheat and will stop working for a few hours! My father in law did lots of genealogy studies which my husband inherited. Photos all marked up, boxes of mementos clearly labelled etc. Good luck with the gazillion plus boxes!

    Liked by 2 people

    • Annika, great idea to put on some music while I sort and shred. So far I’ve been standing in the room listening to myself mutter as I go through the boxes. Thanks for the heads up about how newer shredders work. You’re fortunate to have someone in your family who organized the photos and mementos. It’s one thing to keep things, it’s a whole ‘nother thing to do so in a way that makes sense.

      Liked by 1 person

      • I’m blessed that my mother is still alive and in relative good health. She has lots of photos and I’m encouraging her to write down the names etc but hasn’t come along very far yet! In the meantime I’m trying to store faces, stories etc in my memory!

        Liked by 1 person

        • Oh that’s wonderful that you can get your mother to do, at least, a little bit of the identifying. I have found some family stories, handwritten, in the process of this. I like the stories so much, as I’m sure you do too.

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  14. I’d like to think you put out a mass email to cousins offering to give all those photos to someone before you shredded them. The preacher notes/collection might interest someone too. I was surprised when I offered stuff my mom accumulated in a Facebook post and 5-6 cousins wanted various things. We forget sometimes that our parents were also favorite uncles and aunts as well and that our great-grandparents were also great- grandparents to others. I was in your position with the hand-me down boxes and I ended up writing a family history book. Not everyone wants to do that but if one takes the time to contact other relatives one might be surprise to find someone who really has an interest. There seems to be one in every generation.

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    • Jean, all good ideas. Years ago when I got the first of these boxes I sent many photos to my 3 cousins. One said “thank you.” Since then the one time I’ve seen them at a funeral when I mentioned I had a lot of old family history, they said “not interested.” Since then it’s been crickets from them, not sure where they live or if they’re alive, so I’m left on my own here and that’s okay.

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  15. A few years ago I shipped off most of the family photos to one of my kids who wanted them. The rest still need sorting and will be departing soon.

    I also broke a good shredder eliminating about 25 years of paper from my immediate family. Needed to go; had to go. Since I retired last October I’ve been streamlining and getting rid of duplicates, unnecessary paper and anything else lurking in closets that has been forgotten and is sitting unused for the last few years. I’m not going to die and leave a mess for someone else to clean up!

    You really can’t keep everything or instead of dramatically losing your horse and therefore becoming doomed to die in battle, you’ll just drown quietly in a sea of old junk!

    Liked by 1 person

    • Lynette, YES: “…unnecessary paper and anything else lurking in closets that has been forgotten and is sitting unused…” That’s how I’m thinking about this situation.

      You get a 🌟 for your knowledge of the reference and for your common-sense assessment of the problem I’m facing. I shall persevere until there’s no more chance of drowning.

      Liked by 1 person

  16. P.S. Letters written during one of the wars are welcome at the war letters museum—I sent a huge box of those off to them. Photos with old local buildings in the background are often welcome as donation to local historical societies. Antiques stores sell old photos as instant ancestors…artists use them in their collages. I’ll bet it wouldn’t take much to find a place that would welcome old Bibles. You might not want to take the time to find places like this but I offer the suggestion to other reading this and hate to see things that meant something to their parents destroyed for a little extra closet space.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Jean, thanks for the practical suggestions. I don’t have any wartime letters [yet?] but do have lots of “instant ancestor” photos. Love your terminology. Plus I have a few daguerreotypes that are interesting in their own ways. I’ve begun researching about the Bibles and that is a rabbit hole of conflicting ideas. No consensus about how to respectfully part with them.

      The circuit rider preacher stuff will theoretically be welcome at the national repository for such items at Ohio Wesleyan University, so that’s encouraging. And as for the rest… I’ll do my best to decide how to proceed. I dare not second guess myself, lest this project never end.

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  17. You’ve joined the club of the reluctant inheritors. Brava!

    You are a faithful blog reader and you know all the clearing out and curating my sisters and I have done. Emphasis on “my sisters.” I didn’t have to deal with ALL of the stuff, just some. Nevertheless, most stuff reverted to me, the somewhat reluctant family historian. I say “somewhat” because I’ve found treasures that now reside in makeshift files in cardboard boxes. An ottoman that used to contain kid’s toys now stores old photos, articles, etc. The cool thing, much of the stuff has become grist for the blog mill, a good thing I believe.

    I’ve also contributed to the mass of stuff at our house, marrying and having kids before digitizing became available. My husband is digitizing slides, but it may take a while: He fancies recording photos of scenes with NO people in them. For heavens’ sake!

    Liked by 1 person

    • Marian, yes you’re right I’m here among you now, showing my reluctant colors as the keeper of family stuff.

      I’m glad that you’ve been able to find some treasures among the photos and papers. I’ll admit I’ve found a few interesting things, but so far mostly it’s been a slog getting rid of duplicate [or more] photos and pointless paper odds-n-ends. Not to mention notes so old the handwriting is non-existent.

      Cliff is digitizing the scenes… before the people? I’m laughing here. IF I tackle the slides, unless there’s some story that goes with the photos of scenes, my priority will be the people. BUT that’s just me.

      Liked by 1 person

  18. I understand how they can take up
    physical space: I’m a minimalist kind of throw-it-away person. I can’t stand old relics piling up. But old photos, I’m not sure if I’d be able throw them away. They are like a time machine, taking you to a specific moment that once was, to peopöe who once were. To think that all those people in old photos once lived here, called this planet their home, had hopes and dreams, and now they no longer exist. Except perhaps in that time machine. It’s a bit mind-boggling.

    Also, I have to ask how many famous people autographs did you find, if they warranted a designated pile?!

    Liked by 1 person

  19. I have inherited family photos. A few have names on the back (my mom did that) but many do not. I have no idea who these people are. I don’t know what to do with them, as I have no children to dump them on…none of my siblings have children. I have cousins, and MAYBE one of them might be interested but I haven’t gotten up the gumption to check with him.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Dawn, I understand your situation. Mine is similar. I’m an only child, child-free, and my few cousins have expressed no interest in this stuff. So it has sat here for years until now when I’ve gotten the gumption to deal with it. I need to lighten up my life.

      Liked by 1 person

  20. We have ended up with so much family clutter. Silverware sets, furniture, and, yes, photos. Someday I’ll have the gumption to go through all of it and toss it all, but right now it all just sits and I ignore it. *sigh*

    Liked by 1 person

    • NGS, I understand. It takes the right head space to deal with all this family stuff. I have furniture in the basement and dinnerware hidden in the cupboards. But starting with the photos, the small stuff, seemed easiest. Of course, now I’m not so sure…

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  21. It is a big responsibility to hold on to all this stuff! But it DOES need to be culled; not everything is worth keeping. I applaud your efforts.

    There are two things in my home currently that I wish were not, but have not been able to get rid of for complicated Reasons. They mock me from their locations in two separate closets on two separate floors, pulsing in mockery of my inability to choose what will and will not reside in my own home.

    Liked by 2 people

    • Suzanne, thank you. I keep reminding myself that not everything is worth keeping. I believe that to be true.

      I totally understand how things, inherited things in particular, can mock you. When it comes to furniture the mocking can be very loud, but the little stuff stored in closets and drawers can be shrill little reminders of indecision.

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  22. Good for you Ally and your organizing energy! I have found this surge now and again when in our basement and each time I pull out the photos, life stands still. I find myself touching each photo, letter, piece of memorabilia, willing my ancestors love and faces back to me. I once made a DVD (dating my efforts) of the extended family photos in my collection and shared with my sister and cousins. Letters of all emotions and hands fill an album to fill a curious someone’s time in the future. There still exists so many memories that need tending but I’ll wait until the inspiration strikes next. Great post today, enjoyed reading you!

    Liked by 1 person

    • dennyho, I’m riding my organizing energy for as long as it hangs around. I know how you feel about time standing still when you look at some photos. It’s odd to look back, sometime recognizing the people and situation but sometimes mesmerized by faces you don’t know staring back at you.

      Thanks for stopping by to read and comment. This is one of those posts that resonates with some people, and bores others I suppose.

      Liked by 1 person

  23. I’ve gotten so far as to take the family photos out of their bulky albums and organize them into photo file boxes according to decade. My ultimate goal is to digitize them but haven’t gotten there yet. Good luck, Ally!

    Deb

    Liked by 1 person

    • Deb, your approach is what I’m aiming for too. Some of the photo albums were falling apart so that was easy, but the rest of the photos are strays. And digitizing seems like a dream right about now.

      Liked by 1 person


  24. I have a bunch of stuff too. I have letters from my mom to my Grandma, from when we first moved to Alaska. I have letters from my dad to my mom, from the first couple of years after I met him. I have letters between my Grandma and her first husband (my Mom’s father). I have pictures and duplicates of pictures. I have so many things. I need to go through it, but it feels so disrespectful to throw things away, especially pictures of people that I love. But I don’t need 5 of the same picture. So they sit there in the closet, taking up space. SIGH.

    I have written a brief letter to my husband and daughter, just in case I die. In this letter, I tell them that just because something was sentimental to ME doesn’t mean they need to keep it. I suspect my mom/Grandma felt the same way, and there really is no need to keep it all. I just haven’t gotten there quite yet.

    I only have 4 bibles, because my mom was an atheist. My Grandma’s, my Great Grandma’s, and two others that I don’t know where they came from. Those I have displayed, not hiding in a box somewhere, so that’s something at least.

    Liked by 1 person

    • J., this is exactly where I was: “So they sit there in the closet, taking up space. SIGH.” Your letters sound interesting, especially because you knew the people in person so you have faces and voices to go with the words.

      My mother wasn’t into genealogy but she was a history teacher so in a way I think she saved all these photos thinking of herself a curator. I like your attitude about if it doesn’t mean anything to you, you have my permission to do with it what you will.

      I put a few of the Bibles on our bookshelves, but some are too worn to stay anywhere other than in a Ziploc bag. The quantity of them has been a surprise.

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  25. Hmm, you could be several things, perhaps a reluctant caregiver because all these things have been dropped in your lap, err closet, or a reluctant menagerie keeper because, well… or even shopaholic which is what I usually turn into when I open the Amazon app.
    I don’t think I’ve broken anything lately but I’m also putting my shredder to the test, just wrapping up a revamp of the room that has no name, part reading nook, part art audio, part remote meeting zone, part home office, part archival storage, all overgrown and needed a good cleaning and reorganization. None I can blame on anyone but me. The family archives were passed to my sisters.
    Good luck with your new shredder and your continuing project! 12 Bibles…wow!

    Liked by 1 person

    • Micheal, I like thinking of myself as a menagerie keeper, makes it sound like I’m keeping all the photos at bay, not letting them attack me.

      Your room with no name sounds delightful. Why lock into one use for a room‽ You dodged the family archives which from my current point of view is a blessing. Yep, 12 Bibles… so far. 🫤

      Liked by 1 person

      • Menagerie keepers, reluctant or otherwise are honorable people while yes still able to keep the menagerie at bay.
        The room with no name is a happy place to hang out, more so now after the bags and boxes of detritus have been banished to the curb, waiting for tomorrow’s pick-up. And I think now I will officially christen it, The Room with No Name. Thank you for that thought.

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  26. Been there, done that. 🙂 Only child, oldest in the family, I have it all. I sorted and organized in books, and I put names to all the photos that I knew. I have it down to one large plastic storage box on wheels in a closet. Inside each book, I have the address of the historical society closest to where my grandparents’ lived so if my daughter or grandkids want to get rid of them, I hope they will pass them on. I have one big Bible and about six smaller ones. 🙂 I have DIY projects waiting to be done but nothing in my closet. I’ve gone through a couple of shredders. We had an old one and bought a new one that would shred smaller pieces. That lasted all of maybe six months, and we’re back to using the old one. I was in a local antique store recently with my daughter, and they had a large, old suitcase open that was full of photos. I turned around to say something about it, and she said ‘I know.’ 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    • Judy, it’s the only child thing that seems to weigh on me the most. I can only do what I can in the way of determining who these people are but I do wonder about some of the unknowns too. I’m keeping any photo that I like even if I don’t know who it is of.

      I like your approach with putting the info about the nearest historical society inside each book. For whoever has to deal with whatever I don’t deal with. I didn’t anticipate so many Bibles.

      I know old photos and postcards can live on in antique stores and that’s where I imagine many of my strays will go.

      Liked by 1 person

  27. I have a box of family photos that were in my mother’s closet when she died 30+ years ago. Almost none of the photos bear any identification, so they are just black and white images of strangers. Even the pics of people I can identify (parents, grandparents, aunt, uncle) make me sigh in utter lethargy. What to do with them? I am the very end of the line for my family—no children, no nieces or nephews on whom I could dump this Kodak albatross. There exist no other relatives. It feels disrespectful and dismissive to toss or shred them, but they are just taking up space and will someday be tossed by whatever agency is tasked with chucking my earthly goods.

    Since neither my husband nor I have relatives to step in, we have arranged for a social services agency to dispose of our possessions when the last spouse standing finally departs this earthly coil. I don’t envy them the task, and am slowly trying to get rid of things. We’ve cut our books from 5,000+ to about 3,000, and I’ve emptied one of four filing cabinets. It’s a start.

    I haven’t broken anything recently, but my printer is showing signs of giving up the ghost. It rat-a-tat-tats like a machine gun before printing every page. It would be considerate of the damn thing to stay alive long enough to use most of the ink in the expensive printer cartridge.

    Sigh.

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    • Donna, I understand your situation. I’m the end of the line on one side of the family, am not in contact with the few people left on the other side. Whatever happens with all the stuff I’ve inherited [there’s more than just photos and paper stuff] is up to me. Like you said I don’t want to be disrespectful of my ancestors, so I’m trying.

      I didn’t know about social services agencies disposing of belongings. I thought lawyers did that, but in either case you’re wise to plan ahead. I’m taking note of what you said here.

      Our printer is the most cantankerous machine in this house. Ours, named Eppy, likes to SIGH loudly before deciding if she’s in the mood to print. I know how feel about wanting to get every last drop out of the ink cartridge. Those things are pricey but necessary.

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  28. Broke no machines thank goodness. Have a bajillion photos but mostly of my current family and a few of my ancestors but honestly not as many as I would like. I do have my photos organized but should definitely get to working on at least getting rid of the duplicate photos as Walgreens used to give them for free. In my mind I have several scrapbooks planned, one for each of the kids, one for our dating, wedding and life before kids, one for my childhood and ancestors, one for hubby’s childhood and ancestors, one for our holidays. I actually have already made 8 for our concerts, which of course takes precedence over the family – LOL. Happy Tuesday and good luck to you!

    Liked by 1 person

    • Janet, oh sure lead with how YOU haven’t broken anything! 😉 I’d forgotten about Walgreens doing duplicates. Suddenly some of what I have makes more sense. My goal isn’t scrapbooks, more like digitizing the photos I like and getting the rest of the stuff sent/given to the right places. I like your plan and am laughing out loud about your priorities. To thine own self be true.

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  29. Ally, you said it so perfectly, “a realization that there’s something I didn’t ask for taking up space in my life.” All that “important historical” stuff is a heavy burden to carry. Good for you for taking on the task and making yourself some closet space! I’m guessing that you’ll feel really good when the whole process is over, like a burden has been lifted.

    On a side note, there are people who love to buy old ephemera and use it in their art projects. There are shops on Etsy full of old letters, tickets, photos, advertising, etc. that people can download and print, or buy the actual items. I’m not saying you want to do that – but it is interesting!

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    • Michelle G., my husband says the same thing, that when I conquer this mess I’ll feel like a burden has been lifted. Right now I’m feeling overwhelmed but determined. Well, I will be once the new shredder gets here.

      I didn’t know about the Etsy shops you mention. I think of Etsy for jewelry so I need to investigate further. Thanks for the idea.

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  30. My photo albums and boxes of photos are in my guest room closet, filling it to the brim. I did however, go through my box of photos and separated them into smaller photo boxes I bought at Michaels for my kids, making them each a small box of their childhood photos. But I haven’t touched the ones I inherited from mom and grandparents.

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  31. Old bibles are a treasure trove for genealogists if they list births, marriages and deaths. Rest assured there is someone who will take all that off your hands for research purposes. Contact your local library or genealogical society.
    😊

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    • River, good idea. I haven’t looked closely in any of them to see if the Family History part is filled in.

      [Also, I’m unable to comment on your blog. I’ve tried a few times but the system won’t let me type a stroke. I don’t know if it’s a problem at my end or through WP. Will keep trying.]

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  32. I’m just glad my oldest daughter is interested in genealogy! She will inherit all the stuff I got from my parental units. If that was not the case, though, I would start reaching out to cousins and other relatives because to someone, the stuff is priceless!

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    • Margery, you are fortunate to have a daughter who’s interested in genealogy. I’ve contacted the few cousins I have and they have no interest in this stuff. 🤷‍♀️

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  33. A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse: Richard III!
    I didn’t break any machines, but literally the day before we left for Australia our lawn mower decided to break for us, and in the middle of the mow, as well. The husband just got a new one yesterday, and now we are much poorer.

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    • The Travel Architect, here is your 🌟 for getting the reference.

      What a lousy time for a lawnmower to break [like there’s a good time?]. I can imagine how expensive they are now. Ours is ancient but still going strong. Fingers crossed. Happy mowing!

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    • The Travel Architect, I’m unable to comment on your post for some reason, so I’ll thank you here for the setback organizer recommendation. It looks wonderful and really for $45 it’s a bargain!

      Liked by 1 person

    • Nicole, oh I get it. We shredded all that stuff a few years ago. We had receipts for oil changes on our first cars! And tax returns and bank books for accounts in banks no longer around. It was a hoot to go through. This current stuff, however, is much less fun.

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  35. Going through photos is a big deal in my extended family and over the years I’ve collected quite a few. After my mom died, my brother sent me a box of albums and loose photos that she had kept. Since he and I no longer talk, I shredded all the photos that featured just him 😉 Other photos I shredded because I didn’t know anyone in the photo or because, for example, I just don’t feel a need to keep a stepbrother’s high school picture.

    I had scanned photos of my sister Shirley and uploaded them to Google Drive to share with her sons. The box my brother sent has a bunch of photos of her that I hadn’t seen before so I need to scan those and share them with the family.

    I can’t remember who it was or where I read it, but … it’s best to scan photos that you want to keep for reference but can live without the physical photo. I plan to whittle my cache down to the photos I like to hold in my hands and hope that everything can be contained in one box.

    Besides photos, I have a few boxes of letters, all addressed to me from friends and family. Every so often I go through them, but they are even harder to let go.

    I haven’t broken any machines in awhile (knock on wood …).

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    • Marie, I like your clarity about which photos to keep, which to shred AND your reason for shredding the ones you did. I get that. I found some photos of people from my past that I felt no need to keep. It was delightful to shred them.

      Interesting idea: it’s best to scan photos that you want to keep for reference but can live without the physical photo. I’ll keep that in mind. Eventually I’ll work through the ones I have.

      I have a few letters, too. Some are very old and I only vaguely know the relatives but some are from when I was a girl. Hoping you don’t break any machines. I muttered loudly when I realized what I’d done to the scanner, but it is old so time for a new snazzy one.

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      • I have learned the hard way (mostly through office shredding machines) to be patient and only shred a page or two at a time. While most of the letters I have are from family or friends to me, I have a few that were sent to a neighbor while he was a POW in WWII. This neighbor was like a grandfather to me so I really don’t want to let them go.

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  38. I had a professional shredder come and take away many boxes of old paperwork; it was a literal load off and well worth the money. Like scanning, I find shredding incredibly tedious and manage to jam the shredder by putting the paper in crooked. (or too many papers at the same time) What projects AREN’T lurking in my closets? Getting rid of clothes, games and other old stuff, much of it my late husband’s or step-grandmother’s. My daughters need to clear out their rooms also–OD has a bunch of artwork that I would like gone.

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    • Margaret, I know someone else who hired a professional shredder and I can see the logic in that. My crime against shredders is that I put too many papers in at once, which is how the old one finally died.

      I have a lot of family objects to deal with around here, too. That will have to wait until I get a handle on this paper stuff. One project at a time for me.

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  39. Shredding is fun! If I lived closer, I’d offer to shred for you.

    I do love when people write on the back of photos. What DO you do with pictures if you don’t know who’s in them? Although, I believe AI will solve this problem at some point. Like being able to scan a face and learn everything you need to know about them. That possibility is both scary and exciting.

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    • Kari, would that we did live closer… for many reasons. Z-D has been helping me shred so I’m not entirely on my own.

      If I don’t know who is in the photo and I don’t like the quality of the photo I’m shredding it. I’ve save a few photos of who knows who just because I adore the photo. It’s all subjective, but liberating too.

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  40. I think your sorting is very logical,. I have been going through the same thing for a while, and a ton of the stuff is my own photographs and memories. I did get pretty brutal about tossing the out of focus shots and multiples of the same pose unless I think someone else might be interested. I also toss any shot with the person’s head cut off except one of my grandparents on their honeymoon, a postcard of them, with my grandmother’s handwriting on the back, in French, lamenting Alfred’s tête coupé. Priceless.
    There are many old photos I can’t identify. Some are pasted down in old albums, and the ones I can identify won’t be removed easily, so I think those will go in a big box and I’ll let someone else deal with them in 50 years.
    A good lesson to mark the names of folks on the photo and the date, but sadly hardly anyone gets prints any longer. Too bad. I hate to think of where historians, and just family archives for that matter, will be in the future.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Dorothy, yes I won’t keep any shot that is a mess or doesn’t inspire me. But that doesn’t count when it comes to older, as in 100 year old, photos. I like your priceless grandmother’s postcard.

      The photos I can’t identify, often pasted down, are ones that I figure aren’t meant to be saved. I hadn’t thought about how with digital photos there’s nowhere to write down names on the back. Interesting observation.

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  41. I think many of us are in the same boat… or, on the same horse. I also inherited a lot of old family stuff and such. I have gotten rid of a lot of it, but I imagine, whoever gets the fun job of clearing out our house when we are gone, will just dump the rest. I have gotten a lot more ruthless lately about what to keep and what to toss… or shred. No one cares.

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    • Janis, hear, hear! I’m getting more ruthless, too. I appreciate that someone thought enough of me to give me this stuff, BUT it’s not my stuff so I’ll only keep what appeals to me. I want to feel lighter.

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  42. I’ve been taking water breaks during the day and reading your post and the comments. It appears your cousins aren’t interested. If a museum or a history type spot is interested in the traveling preach stuff, cool. Otherwise, let it all go. Oh, as to breaking stuff, does my body count? A serious amount of manual labour in the last 4 days and I am feeling it man!

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    • Bernie, your advice is sound. It’s fascinating to see what I’ve uncovered so far and there’s more to go. I’m going to keep that which calls to me and if the rest is of no value elsewhere so be it. I can’t force other people to want this stuff. 🤷‍♀️

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  43. Our son in laws dad died suddenly and the huge box of photos sat in a corner for years. I went thru them all and, as much as possible, put them in chronological order. Now the grandkids can see Grampa Gary and their daddy when he was little. An entire box of undated and non named photos– UGH!

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  44. Good on you for organizing! Some of my family photos are currently residing untidily in a plastic bag. 😊

    I have a walk-in closet that is currently a storage space for boxes of stuff and a Christmas tree. It looks awful. No idea yet how to organize the mess. ☹I’m glad I can shut the door. Getting to some of my clothes, however, is a challenge. I didn’t break a machine last week. Months ago, my Keurig broke. Sigh.

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    • L. Marie, I’m trying here, but the quantity of photos is overwhelming. Many of the Bibles are in plastic bags but the photos roam free.

      I like thinking of you dodging a Christmas tree when you get dressed. Somehow that strikes me as funny. Sorry about your Keurig. When our loyal machines go it is sad.

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    • Jan, you’re right. It’s a weird situation. I don’t know these people, relatives included, but here I am sorting them. I don’t like throwing away something valuable but I can’t decide if these photos are valuable to me.

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  46. I keep meaning to digitize all my photo albums (after having a soul crushing time trying to remove photos from some of my mom’s from those “magnetized albums) but now my scanner is acting up – and who knew I had that many actual, psychical photos to begin with? I keep rationalizing that I could toss most of them since I also have the negatives…but parting with actual photos seems cruel somehow.

    As for the bibles, Goodwill would probably take them and they would go to someone who was looking for a good bible. At least that would assuage any guilt from getting rid of them.

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    • Gigi, I get what you’re saying. The actual photos seem significant, yet I want to scan them to save them in a better less intrusive way. They do take up space.

      Good idea about Goodwill. That may where some of these Bibles end up. Right now they’re just hanging out in the guest bedroom.

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  47. Ally,

    I have my own albatross of photos (see, I can make literary allusions, too!). And I understand all the dilemmas. It’s easy to fall into an existential hole, isn’t it? Do photos matter (unless they are of some kind of obvious historical value) after anyone who knew the people in them are gone? Do they have enough value to keep just because we enjoy looking at them, even if we do so only once a decade or so? (Probably when we’re going through them in an effort to finally deal with them.) And what about photos of people whose descendents are in some other branch of the family tree?  Should they be passed on to them, or discarded (if they do not meet whatever criteria you’ve set for keeping)? 

    Cane has digitized his family photos, but the librarian in me is still loath to get rid of the prints. I haven’t even begun to digitize mine, and I have a lot because I was deemed the one who cares about such things. The older I get, the more inclined I am to toss things, having seen how many things that once seemed to matter quite a lot no longer do. But I have no answers to these questions, which is why I still have boxes in my closets. Let me know when you’ve figured it all out. 😉

    Liked by 2 people

    • Rita, I’ve no absolute answers to your questions, but I suspect you know that. So many issues and variables swirl through my mind as I’m going through these photos. And other items. Lots of other items.

      You nailed it: “The older I get, the more inclined I am to toss things, having seen how many things that once seemed to matter quite a lot no longer do.” That’s what I’m feeling too. We grow and if we’re lucky we let go of that which doesn’t serve us anymore.

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  48. I don’t envy you your task, Ally. Even less so having it dumped on you. Fortunately, my brother inherited that pile when our mother passed away. She lived near him and I had a plane to catch.

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  49. I do have my mother’s photo albums to deal with, and not looking forward to it. She’s from the age when photos were relatively cheap and always kept—worthy or not. I like older family photos, because they tend to be few and significant. My own photo collection, I actually went through and labeled, put in albums, and even wrote what I remembered about them to put in the albums as a narrative. Once the digital age hit, those still need to be dealt with. Ugh.😣
    Haven’t broken anything at all this week, that I can recall.

    I hope you do pick out your grandmother from the group photo. Surely you have other pictures of her from that era?

    Liked by 1 person

    • Eilene, I’ve found lots of what you’re referring to: relatively cheap photos of nothing much that were saved for no good reason whatsoever. Those are easy to send to the shredder. Plus sorting through our photos [Z-D and I] is easy enough. It’s the very old ones, 100+ years, that trip me up the most.

      You’re right, I do have other photos of my grandmother and my great uncle so eventually I’ll probably be able to figure out where they are in the group shot. If nothing else I just like the photos I shared here, the people look so happy.

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  50. I’ve had both (photos I wanted/ and also photos someone dumped into my lap. I love working on our genealogy, so if they were even remotely relevant I scanned and uploaded them. the rest went to the round file. I also hate clutter, so feel I have found that sweet spot for myself. Sorting photos is mentally exhausting. When my parents moved to town 5 yrs ago, all of the family photos moved with them, several boxes full. My sister and I spent a couple of hours sorting them into 4 piles (one for each of us kids). As far as breaking things…I had to get a new lawn mower tire today..does that count? 🙂 and there is a pile of papers to my left on this desk that is taking up emotional space. the main unfinished (but almost finished) project is me updating our “5 wishes”, our living wills, powers of attorney, and any other important stuff together in one document, so the kids would have a pretty good sense of things, when that time comes.

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    • DM, this: Sorting photos is mentally exhausting. You said it! I think that’s why this has become a burden for me. And the boxes never end. It’s amazing how much I can jam into a closet.

      Yes a new lawn mower tire counts as breaking something. Of course the good news is that you got a new one.

      I don’t know what “5 wishes” is but the other documents we have ready. Z-D is a lawyer so doing the sort of thing that I’d find emotionally overwhelming, like the pile of papers on your left, comes easily to him.

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  51. This is a common problem. Material possessions sum up a person’s value and values and their life, but lose most of their value when the next owner/ disposer comes along- descendant or otherwise. Family photos can be divied up among relatives, but mostly no one wants them. Uploading them to an ancestry program might be best so those who are interested can access them. I am not sure digitizing them, for our own purposes is worth the time. I think it is akin to video cassettes- obsolete and almost unreadable in time.
    Marie Kondo has proactive concepts for clearing storage space, but if you like looking at old photos keep the best ones to relive memories. I figure if I make it to the aged care home, it might come in handy to pass the time.
    I just sold some old ornaments of my mothers. She loved them, never used them, but they are not for me. Only relevant during her lifetime.

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    • Amanda, you’ve summarized this situation perfectly. Thank you. I wonder about the value of digitizing the photos too, but I also realize I’ll not keep many when it is said and done so that part of the process might be the easiest. I’ve never followed any of Marie Kondo’s advice before but perhaps on this issue I should look into what she has to say. I feel the same way as you about objects, I want only the right things for me in my house. Someone before me may have adored something, but that doesn’t mean that I have to, too.

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  52. Ally, I did inherit the family albums by default – end of the line since I have no siblings. They belonged to my mother. My father had a few photos of him as a youngster and as a young man and my mom put them in the albums of photos taken of me when I was growing up. My mom sat down with me once to tell me who everyone was since none of the photos were loose – they were already in photo corners in the album. My grandmother had eight siblings, so it was a lot to learn.

    Like you, in one closet, are all these albums laying in flat boxes, stacked at least three feet high, plus my albums from travel, friends and scrapbooks through the years. In the old albums, they are in perfect condition, but, for some reason the binding came off the side of the photo pages for the newer albums and they fell apart. So I digitized everything in 2017. Unfortunately, I couldn’t remove the plastic overlay and they were oversized pages, so they are raw images and I have to tweak each one to enlarge it in some instances. After scanning everything, I put the photo files on two different flash drives, one which is in the safety deposit box and I put everything on Shutterfly, a photo storage service.

    I didn’t break anything last week but my mother used to do all the shredding. We went through two shredders because the Morgan Stanley stock documents had some type of binding and when torn off, frilly edges remained. The shredder rebelled. So we were told to buy a cross-cut shredder, that would be more durable and also cuts paper in such a way that it is impossible for fraudsters to piece together. When we got our canary, he was scared of the shredder – it became my new job to do downstairs and I am years behind in shredding even though Sugar has been gone for years.

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    • Linda, we are the same: only child, end of the line, here too. My mother told me who some of these people are, both in her family and my father’s, but she did not enjoy genealogy so for her that information was incidental.

      You’ve really got your photos in order and inspire me to keep going. I know that having the photo files on a flash drive would be smart, even if no one beyond me cares about the images. Maybe a future historian will appreciate my effort.

      I’ve encountered a few docs with those frilly edge bindings! I know that for them I have to be super efficient when I run the pages through the shredder. I don’t know if the new shredder we ordered cross-cuts. It’s not like what I’m doing involves financial information so it won’t matter. Funny about the bird being scared of the shredder. Wonder what spooked Sugar?

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      • My mom was not interested in genealogy either Ally. We just mostly had a little sit-down and she pointed at who was who and since my grandmothr had eight siblings, that was a lot of info to learn at one time.

        If you have a lot of photos and no scanner, I would consider using a service like Legacyboxdotcom, but you have to send them away to them. Walgreens also scans in photos as well. I have enjoyed using them for blog posts and there’s no one to pass them down to, but I was concerned about the integrity of the photos themselves.

        I know my mom would rip off that binding, then had to cut off the ragged edges after we had the multiple malfunctions. A lot of bother. We have events where you can take your documents to be shredded for free or a donation, but I’ve never done that as I’m not sure it is truly secure. We never knew as the machine was not that loud, but he would get scared and hyperventilate, so we had to stop. I have two Rubbermaid tubs downstairs to be shredded.

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        • I’m not familiar with Legacyboxdotcom so thanks for the suggestion. I’m a long way off from getting to any final decisions about the stuff I keep, still just trying to sort through everything.

          Gotta laugh about a hyperventilating little bird. You were kind to not subject him to the stress.

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          • I left all my albums in those boxes in the closet and I hated to just throw them away as I have copies in three places, but …. (and this is why my house is so cluttered and I’ve not made a lot of progress in the three months I’ve been retired). This company ships you a box, you fill it and ship it back and they digitize any prints, slides, film reels. If you go that route, they often have sales, especially around Thanksgiving. They advertise a lot on my all-news radio station.

            Yes, birds are skittish, domestic or otherwise. After Sugar died, same year as my mom, my neighbor insisted I get another canary as I worked remotely, have no family, etc. So I had him for about five years and suddenly he developed an aversion to going to the vet for check-ups/toenail clipping. We’d be in the waiting room and he’d be mostly covered up except for a peephole to see me and he’d start to hyperventilate – it was scary to watch. I’d alert the front desk and they’d whisk him away to give him oxygen to stabilize him before they could examine him. I liked the vets there – the one I dealt with was an avian specialist, but I always wondered if he was accidentally hurt by the vet/vet tech when they took him away to do the clipping. Regular check-ups I was in the room. He had been fine prior to that episode. After the episode, we’d come home from the vet and he’d sit in the corner of his cage, back toward me for several days … not normal at all. One of the reasons I won’t get another pet, besides the grief factor. I’d be worried as much as him about taking him there.

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            • Linda, thanks for the info about how the photo service works. I’m smiling about your admission that you still have the albums. This whole family photo topic is an emotional one no matter how you try to gloss over it.

              What a tale about your second bird. I don’t know anything about birds, but I wonder too if the poor little thing was traumatized at the vet and blamed you [of course] for it.

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              • I keep hearing that photos fade over time. However, I have a photo of my grandparents holding my mom as a baby and she was born in 1926. The photo was in my grandmother’s album and it is perfectly crisp and clear unlike some with me as a baby (1956-ish).

                I have to figure they traumatized Buddy somehow as he was fine before that. It got so I hated to take him for routine visits. I often wondered if that contributed to his stroke. He had a stroke the following year and couldn’t hop/perch, so I had him euthanized.

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  53. “I have only begun to shred!” This is my husband’s motto. He hates clutter, whereas I view everything as potential material or potentially useful (and I was right about not throwing out old curtains–they came in handy when the cat shredded some recently). I do have old photos and am fortunate that they were labeled. Of course, I don’t know half the people in them.

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  54. I have a drawer like this at home. I open it up, take one look, and close it again. The next time I’ll reopen it is to put in more crap I don’t need. One day, I’ll probably throw everything away. Here comes the brilliant part: then I can start over and do the same thing again for the next 20 year.

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  55. Several years ago, I was visiting my daughter (the one who’s good at cleaning out closets) and she asked me to help her by shredding the papers she handed me. I was so proud of how fast I was doing it until she stopped me for heating up the machine.

    My sister is seriously interested in family history, so when our mom died, she took all the photo albums (there were many) and she’s been working to organize and scan them. I’m so glad. I wouldn’t have done much of anything. She has also taken some special old photos to a museum.

    I have a bunch of mom’s framed photos, the best of the best, and I don’t know what do I do with them.

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    • Nicki, yes it’s easy to get in the zone when you start shredding and overheat the machine. I’ve done that, too, and all you can do is wait until the darned machine cools down.

      Scanning photo albums would be laborious. Of course photo albums theoretically are more organized than boxes of loose photos, but maybe not. Good of your sister to do that.

      A few framed photos that are meaningful to you sounds like a good approach to family history. Maybe someday I’ll get to that point.

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  56. What a massive and daunting Task Of Uncertainty. It must feel overwhelming every time you try to make any sort of progress with it. I honestly cannot imagine. You are literally the caretaker of your family’s history. It’s huge, and it seems unfair.

    I don’t have any words of wisdom, but you have my admiration and sympathy. Whatever you decide to do will be okay.

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    • nance, yes, yes, this is a Task Of Uncertainty. Well said! I do admit that I am at times resentful of what my elders dumped on me but I also realize I cannot do wrong in that no one is here to criticize my choices.

      Except me, of course. Thus I’ve adopted a mindset that says I’ll never second guess myself and just DO MY BEST. Thanks for your supportive comment.

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  57. Your shredder lasted 25 years? That is amazing! I’ve burned through a few shredders in my time. Perhaps you could hire the use of a professional one by the hour? I’ve done this a couple of times, and it chewed through my mountains of paper at the speed of knots.

    You still have to sort through the paperwork ahead of shredding though, so I cannot save you from that task.

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    • Deb, it did last that long and I’m appreciative of its long service. I’ve thought about those professional services, but decided I get a charge from seeing something specific being shredded right in front of me so I’ll continue on like I have been.

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      • I understand what you mean about the cathartic feeling of things going from stuff (with the attendant emotional burden) to pure rubbish which you can discard without a thought.

        I’ve still to go through the old photos my mother took to the US with her which my sister has digitised. The problem? My mother can’t remember who’s who and where the photo was taken (and neither can my sister). I’m burdened with a good memory and, being the oldest, am more likely to have met the people in the photos, but tagging *all* of them with names is proving to be a massive task.

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        • It’s a small thing to shred something, but it also gives me a sense of freedom. I’m in the mood to be freer so it’s working out for me.

          Oh I don’t envy your project trying to identify the people in the photos. No doubt it’ll be a massive task for you. Some of my photos have names scribbled on the back but many, many don’t. What to do, what to do… 🤔

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          • There was one sequence which my sister believed were of my mother and was asking which of us children were in the photos with her. I had to break it to them that it wasn’t any of the children, nor my mother! It’s going to be challenging I tell you 😉

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  58. I haven’t inherited any family photos yet, though ironically, my mom has embarked upon a similar project as yours…and I know someday those photos are headed my way. I have plenty of my own, actually. They reside in a dusty closet. Honestly, this is why I like Instagram so much.

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    • Mark, it’s possible that your mother will sort through the mess of photos and have them organized for you. My relatives didn’t have that inclination, obviously. I agree about Instagram. So simple, so organized, so free from dust.

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    • Herb, I’m sorry your brother lost that tub of photos. One thing I’m finding as I go through these boxes is that there are lots of duplicates and triplicates and quadruplicates meaning there aren’t as many interesting ones as I thought there’d be.

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  60. This is a test comment. I have turned off “enable blocks in comments” to see IF I’m able to comment here on my own blog. 3… 2… 1… COMMENT

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  61. Are you saving any of it? I’m curious to know how much closet space what is left takes up. That’s a tough one. The Bibles? The old photos? No idea what to do with that. Donate bibles to the library? Goodwill? The old photos might be cool for future generations…. or it just becomes sort of a burden passed down to take up closet space forevermore. Does all of that other stuff NEED to be shredded? Let us know what you decide!

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    • Betsy, I’m about a third of the way through this project. Waiting for the new shredder has slowed me down, but also given me time to process what I’m thinking about as I do this. The old Bibles that don’t have family info in them will go to Goodwill. Some of the old photos, like ones over 100+ years old, are fascinating regardless of whether I know who is in them or not. And there are slides, many slides, from the 40s to look at. No idea what they’ll be of. I don’t know that all these photos need to be shredded but I enjoy shredding what I decide to get rid of. It feels definitive to do so like I’m making progress.

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        • I have my aunt’s old, very old, projector that might not catch on fire if I plug it in. That’s how I/we will try to see what’s on these slides. They are organized in a case and there are small notes on some of them. Could be fascinating, but that’s a whole project into itself.

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          • I’m sure it will be! Let us know if any of the slides are a map leading to ancient buried treasure because your great great grandfather was a pirate. That would be exciting! 😉

            Wonderful that you have something to occupy you while escaping the heat outside. Plus, the fulfillment of tackling this project. Three cheers for more closet space!

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  62. I feel for you, Ally. I actually have shelves and shelves of photo albums in my basement. Unfortunately, they were not handed down to me. This problem is one of my own doing, and it is weighing me down. I have the hardest time throwing out old photos if people are in them. Somehow, it feels disrespectful (which I know is crazy). Digitizing all of these photos would be a massive project. Perhaps I need to break it down to one album at a time, throwing away “scenery” photos that no longer hold allure and nearly duplicate photos. I know you weren’t anticipating a novel from me in response to your questions, but you did get me thinking about a project I’ve been meaning to tackle for a while now. So thank you for that.

    I have not broken a machine this week, but my swim goggles did spring an annoying leak and required replacement.

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    • Christie, you said and I get it about how it feels disrespectful to throw out photos of people you know. I’m up to my eyeballs in photos of both people I know and ones I don’t know. I shred what I get rid of because I need that sense of finality in my attempt to make sense of this stuff. I don’t know how many photos I’ll digitize and I don’t know how many I’ll just keep, but at least I’ve started. That’s what I keep telling myself.

      Leaky swim goggles, not good. Kind of like breaking something. Sure I can go with that.

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  63. First things first, my hat off to you for the exact count of the boxes to be organized: not everyone would have been able to count the 22 extra ones after counting the gazillion. I love that extra bit!

    I’m curious: when is the apocrypha from? Is it ancient? Do you know how it got to your closet? Idk that I’ve ever seen one, that seems so cool and historic, and maybe the beginning of a second Da Vinci Code book?

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    • EW, thank you. You know how I like to be precise about explaining what I’m doing. 😉

      I’m not entirely sure about the Apocrypha but I think it’s a part of what could have been in the Bible but was left out for some reason. It’s bound in black leather like a Bible and has an embossed gold title. How it came to be in these boxes I don’t know.

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      • It’s the details (like the precise number of boxes) that make the story come to life (for me, at least 🙂 ). So, thank YOU!

        Does it look old? Are the pages yellow with age? Would you say it’s over 100 years old? Is the font “old looking”? The spacing between the lines less than what it tends to be today? Is it Old Testament apocrypha? New Testament apocrypha? I’ve heard of those books, I’ve never seen one, so I’m curious!

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        • OK, it says it is The Apocrypha of the Old Testament, Revised Standard Version. Further it says it is the version set forth in 1611, revised in 1894, then revised again in 1957. The printing looks like any Bible but it has chapters with names like: Esdras, Judith, and most interesting to StarTrek fans, Sirach. It doesn’t look like it was heavily read but it is not in pristine condition either.

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  64. My 93 year old mother has just moved from a large home to a small apartment. Richard and I are the ones that moved her and helped with her stuff. Most of it we donated, but her paperwork and photos came home with us. We did a quick, initial organization, filed them in boxes and put them in our crawl space. If you have any brilliant suggestions when you are finished with your photos, I am all ears! Good luck!

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    • Donna, I hope that when I’m done with this project, which is overwhelming but necessary, I have some wisdom to share. But so far, all I can say is that ambiguity is my best friend. And dust/mold is a close second one.

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    • Yes, I know that feeling. I’ve cleared out my parents house and been part of the group that cleared out the two aunts homes. It’s not easy, but doable. Best of luck when the time comes.

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  66. Ally, when I saw the pic of all the stuff strewn across the bed, I was hoping ON HOPE that you had an answer as this is my delimna right now. I too am the end of the line with all the family pics and memorablia; I’ve been clearing out duplicates and mailing historical stuff back to the areas they came from, but still: SO MUCH STUFF.
    I can’t toss or shred old family pics, it just pains me. Apparently this will be my albatross that I carry to the grave. 😳

    I’ve not broken any machines this week, but it’s only Wednesday.

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    • Suz, you understand. It’s overwhelming and difficult to decide what is the right thing to do. How did you go about finding somewhere to send stuff back to? Like a historical society or a museum or something like that? It’d be much easier if I lived in the towns where these people did, but I’m far away with no one in their towns to contact. It’s a mess.

      Hoping you don’t break any machines this week, but like you implied… there’s still time. 😊

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      • My Grandfather grew up in Ridgefield Connecticut and there are many newspapers saved with articles about he and his siblings. I took pics of the articles, but I’m sending the originals to the historical society there. I wish I could send more stuff to more people!
        Also, I have my parent’s yearbooks (and mine too) that I want to figure out who would appreciate them. Maybe their Alma Mater?

        I was able to toss pictures of wildlife/zoos/landscapes/duplicates, etc…but otherwise, I’ve held onto too much stuff.

        I should clarify that I am not ‘the end of the line’, but my kids don’t hold onto everything and have managed to live a simpler life without the burden of stuff. *Sigh* How sweet is that?

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  67. Well, when my uncle passed away in February, I inherited his albums. Both of his children have passed away (one 33 years ago) and his wife is deceased. They had no grandchildren. There is no one else. I’m not quite sure what to do with the photos. Many include my cousins and sometimes myself or my siblings, but mostly just my two cousins. It is sad and I’m uncertain what to do, but since he passed away so recently, I’m holding onto them for now.

    I have a looming project but it isn’t in a closet. I need to make a couple of photo books for my favorite babysitting families who graduated to kindergarten. I would have liked to have them ready for the end of the school year, but that didn’t happen. Now there is no deadline, so it is just something I hope to accomplish. Life is a bit hectic at the moment. Having a serious struggle on the home front with the two newbies. 😦

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    • Ernie, the albums you inherited are of the same kind as the photos I inherited, just more organized. I’ve had these photos + paper stuff for ages but I’ve only just found the gumption to tackle the project. In time you will too.

      It’s nice that your babysitting family photo project can be accomplished whenever you get to it. I feel the same way about my project. Sorry to read about your home front struggle but you’ll figure it out. You always do, right?

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  68. My closet is a disaster and I was just thinking about purging and organizing. Maybe I’ll get to it this fall. Feels like a fall project while watching a good movie and eating popcorn.

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  69. I wish that old photos and papers were my only storage problem! I’ve started doing genealogy this year on both my maternal and paternal bloodlines, plus my half-siblings paternal bloodline. I wish I had a treasure trove of pictures to share and am thrilled when I come across a picture of an ancestor.

    Alas, like poor King Richard, I doubt a horse would solve either your problem or mine.

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    • Barb, you raise a great point: to a genealogist these photos + paper stuff might be a treasure trove of personal information. I don’t plan on destroying everything but I also realize that I’m not interested in researching all these people and no one else is left in my family who would be interested. Thus my conundrum.

      Here is your 🌟 for knowing the reference. Yep, horses aren’t going to help either of us.

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  70. You have my sympathy, Ally, as I’m presently occupied with the same sort of project. I have been disposing of lots of photos and albums, if I don’t know who they are and they aren’t labeled. Even the labeled ones if I don’t know who they are referring to. My reasoning is that they meant something to someone, but that someone is gone and no longer here to treasure them. Like you say, they are taking up space in my life and have no meaning for me. And I expect my treasures to be thrown out after my demise, too. But items that fit into our family history are being slipped into page protectors and organized into notebooks for future generations to ponder.

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    • Barbara, yes you’re in the same situation. Thanks for your support. I realize that at least half these photos will be trash for one reason or another, but the other half I’ll have to make decisions about. Your reasoning is sound and pretty much what I’m doing so far. The very old family history items are particularly confusing, I appreciate their historical value but don’t know who else might. It seems like an endless project at this point, but at least I’ve started [I keep telling myself].

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  71. First off: I applaud your 33 bags of discarded ‘sorts’ and in my mind, you are doing a swell job! 🙂
    Ally, this is one of those posts that I’m bookmarking. A sort of support group thing. This is a process I’ve been going through off and on and in some form or another since 2007, the year my Ma died and Dad began wildly throwing stuff away with no thought – just a grief reaction…so the intervention was to grab as much of anything and bring it home before he got to it…After he passed away, I lived 1700 miles away, had years of being a long-distance caregiver under my belt and was now facing the full task of sorting the estate. It took awhile to sort through ‘their lives/stuff’ to where lots was chucked/donated/distributed to other relatives, and me taking some easy to pack things (ie photos) & the rest being placed in a storage unit.
    Anyway – I did not intend to make this long. Sorry. I guess all this to say: take it in increments or it will absorb your life entirely!
    QUESTION: do you have a recommendation on what scanner type/size/brand to buy? I ask on the off-chance you might have figured out that aspect of climbing out of this monumental task!!!!
    Again: I applaud your 33 bags of discarded ‘sorts’ and in my mind, you are doing a swell job! 🙂

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  73. Well, you always could hope for a hurricane or tornado. One of those does a lot of sorting in a hurry — no decisions needed! Obviously, that’s not really something to hope for, but one of the realities of our post-hurricane life down here has been the sudden appearance of weird forms of humor.

    I am the ‘end of the line,’ so to speak, and over the past two or three years I’ve tossed my own gazillion of photos. Most of them showed people that even my mother and my aunts couldn’t identify when they were alive, so there wasn’t any point in keeping them. I do have some treasures, like a photo of my mother at six months in an oval frame with one of those curved glasses over it, and some tintypes of the great-greats, but those will go to a historical museum in my parents’ home town. Otherwise? Begone, I say! Three or four dozen family photos, and a shoe box of snapshots from my growing up years are just fine.

    I didn’t quite break a machine this week, but I learned something important. I went to one of the flooded marinas to take a photo of a customer’s boat for him. The tide from the storm was so high I couldn’t get close to the docks, but as I walked along the brick/cobblestone road, I tripped over a limb I didn’t see. I went flat onto the street, and thought I’d managed to protect the phone, but when I looked I noticed a decent sized chip in the lower right corner of the screen, with spider-webbing cracks spreading out from it.

    When I bought the phone I’d put a tempered glass screen protector on the thing, and when I took the case off and peeled off the protector, I discovered it had done its job. The chipping and cracking was only on the protector; the phone’s screen was undamaged. I put a new protector on, and went on my way. Consider this an unsolicited testimonial for the Spigen glass screen protectors. They make them for various devices, and they’re great!

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    • Linda, I like your weird post-hurricane humor. Can see the wisdom in it.

      I also like your reasoning about what photos to keep when paring down the mess. I know that as I’m sorting into piles I’m seeing many duplicates that will be easy enough to shred. And of course if I don’t like a photo for any reason, it’s going to be shredded. At that point I’ll see what’s left, working toward a goal of just keeping the essence.

      First I’m glad you weren’t hurt, but secondly what an amazing story about your glass screen protector. I’d never have thought any of them would be as effective as your Spigen one. An undamaged phone screen is always the goal, and you did it with style.

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    • Lea, it really is quite something to go through these photos and I imagine it’s the same way for you, too. Once [when?] I get this project finished I’ll be happiest little bean that ever was!

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  76. Ally Bean, I wish you all the best with the shredding and archiving. I’m not sure I will be as patient as you have been, to be honest I like space and some items may not be lucky to occupy my space for too long.

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  77. I had boxes, and boxes, and even more boxes of stuff from my parents. Most of the boxes moved with us when we bought our current home almost 7 years ago. I have gone through and shredded decades’ worth of crap. (Thirty year old bank statements and income tax returns anyone?) I knew early on that our tiny shredder wasn’t going to be up to the task so we invested in a “professional” shredder from Staples. It has more than paid for itself over the past several years and is starting to show signs of failing.

    My father had dozens of photos on slides of people I’ve never met and had no way of identifying. I gritted my teeth and tossed them.

    I’m now down to the stuff I have no idea what to do with. Metal teeth. (Seriously.) National Geographic and local newspapers covering things such as the moon landing and the Kennedy assassination. Sigh.

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    • Linda, you understand and are living my conundrum. I’ve shredded so many paper items that have zero value but were saved for some reason. I’ll keep in mind your idea of a professional shredder should our new one putz out.

      I have a few of those magazines with significant covers on them. Like you am clueless about what do to with them. It’s one thing to know they are significant, another thing to know who to sell them to.

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  79. I love old photos, yo the point of buying those of strangers. They’re interesting, and they can be used for art projects. If they were taken in the area where you currently live, see if a Historic Society is interested in them. Consider listing them, as batches of 10 to 100, on Etsy or Ebay.

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  80. Pingback: Photos, project and weird stuff | Questions of the Day – A weirdo with…

  81. This is such a timely post for me. I have literally been up in the middle of the night of late thinking about all of my stinkin’ photos. Except for a rare few (two? three? maybe four?), none of them have any sentimental value except to me. What I’m wrapping my head around is to do one massive scanning process, and then transferring them all into some kind of digital photo album device that they must sell on Amazon for an insane price. Every time I look at them sitting in the closet, neatly at least, my stomach turns! I’ll be curious what you end up doing. – Marty

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    • Marty, I understand about looking in the closet, seeing the stacked boxes of photos, and feeling a bit weak about them. HOW DID I END UP IN THIS MESS? Now that I’ve begun sorting the photos and doing a little research about some of them, I feel better but it is one huge mess with no clear path forward. Not so much because of sentimentality, but because of being a conscientious person about the historical significance of them. Some photos and Bibles are over 100 years old. 😳

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    • Neil, I understand. I’m in the same situation and have finally faced up to the task. I’ve decided that I won’t second guess myself and just do what I think is right with the photos.

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  83. I feel your pain and frustration on this matter. I too had boxes of all of this in my closet, except I couldn’t shred any of them. And while I have no children of my own I do have nieces and nephews who I know will be interested in this stuff one day, especially with an ever growing desire among z-geners to own tangible things over digital. Thus, I decided to categorize everything and place them neatly within albums or slip covers with binders. Which all now neatly fits into one large tote instead of bunches of dusty old boxes taking up space in my closet. And one day, both my nieces and nephews along with my husband’s will all get to own a share of their family’s history. And it really doesn’t matter if you know who the person is in the photo or not, because one can be content in simply knowing that that’s where they come from and that some how that person is or was family to them. And if they ever really wanted to know then well- there’s always genealogy research. And it’s not all that hard anymore. 😊

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    • Amanda, thank you for this encouraging and practical comment. I have no children so whatever I do with these photos and the associated memorabilia is up to me. I like your way of organizing what you have and totally agree that identifying people can be a dead end; however, if the photo speaks to me I’m keeping it figuring if it meant enough to an ancestor to keep it, then I will too. Also some of the unidentifiable photos are adorable, just charming. I don’t know how all of this will ultimately end, but at this point I’m feeling good about starting the process of making some sense of this mess.

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  84. Ally, When each of our parents died, I tossed a lot. And shredded a lot. Hubby’s dad was a retired GP and we had old patient hand-written records in bags in the attic! His mom kept everything. And then, I digitized too much of all the photos on my side when my mom died – no idea who any of these people are. We have no kids, so there’s not anyone for us to pass things onto. I made a copy of the digital photos for my niece (only one in next generation) but who knows if she even cares. Lots of my hubby’s family photos went to his sister, and we now believe they were all just tossed out.
    One thing I did do was make a photo-book for myself of my mom & dad through the years. That is precious to me and maybe worth all the money I spent on digitizing everything.

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    • Pat, you sound like you’re in a similar situation as mine. Some things are easy to know to shred, old patient notes buh-bye, but the photos sometimes stump me. I like your photo book for yourself of your parents through the years. Like you I’d be the only one who’ll care about it, no kids here, but I may do that. Once I sort through the mess.

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  85. Oh, this is tough. I am such a minimalist and not very sentimental, so I have to be VERY CAREFUL when it comes to giving away things because I’ll easily give it all away, lol. I do have a small box of photographs. It’s this: https://www.containerstore.com/s/office/craft-hobby/iris-6-case-5-x-7-photo-and-craft-storage-box/12d?productId=11000325. I organized the photos I have into different categories so now at least I have an easy place to keep my photos. (They have bigger options if you want something larger.)

    I guess it all depends, though, on what you want to keep for your “lineage” or whatever. Is this something that will be passed down in your family? What do you want future generations to have?

    I also have a few old bibles from my grandparents and have no idea what to do with them!

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    • Stephany, I’m not sentimental either but I am a soft touch so when my mother and my aunts wanted someone to look after the photos and other memorabilia I said yes. I like your system and appreciate you telling me about it. After sorting the photos, getting a system set up will be my next step. I’m the end of the line for most of these photos so I’m not sure there will be any future generations who’ll care about what I do. And the Bibles, I don’t know what to do with them. At all.

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  86. I don’t envy your task at hand. My Covid project was just that, sorting through boxes of pictures. Luckily only 4 file boxes. All pictures are now digitized and on the cloud for all to see. Of course once I’m gone and generation after myself is gone that will be the end of it.
    So, will any of it really have been worth it?

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    • Kevin, excellent point. I know that my goal is achievable but I, too, wonder about why I’m doing this, to what end? Other than reclaiming some closet space. Still I solder on every few days, sorting and shredding. Haven’t gotten to the digitizing part yet.

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  87. It’s a strange things to have to deal with. Old family photos are cool, but often don’t have a description and then you are left wondering who these people actually are….

    Years ago, I saw a box of black and white family photos at an Antique Store and I wondered: who are these people in the photos? They’re someone’s relatives and they ended up at an Antique Store.

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    • San, at least I know that the photos I’m sorting through meant something to some ancestor even if I have no idea who is in the photo. So it doesn’t concern me to not know who someone is exactly.

      I’ve seen boxes of family photos in antiques stores and felt sad. I understand how they got there, but also find it disturbing to see them, abandoned by someone.

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