Family history is preserved through photographs.

I was visiting with my grandmother, Grammi, the other day and we got to talking and she started sharing stories with me. She told me stories from her memory of family that I had never met, my great, great, great grand parents. Then she pulled out all these old portraits of them. These preserved old time black and white photographs. Some she has on display on her walls and others are collected in photo albums. Each one sparking a story or multiple stories.

This got me thinking about how important it is to be photographed so that my kids, kids, kids will have pictures of me and my daughter will be able to tell stories of me. Portraits as a part of family history aren’t really about you. They are about those that come after you. Its a way to remember where we come from. 

I am very grateful that my grandmother kept these precious photos. It is important for me to have these and remember my family members. To hear their stories and celebrate their life. Meeting them through their portraits and stories. How many of you have old photos of your family members? Do you have any special stories about them? Which is your favorite? Let me know in the comments. Lets share a piece of our family history together.

The spoken word and photographs

Here are some of the photographs that my grandmother shared with me. I wanted to share a little something about each person. They will each live on through stories told about them.