Thursday, January 31, 2008

recollections

As I mentioned in a previous post, I'd taken on the daunting task of sorting and albumizing (did I just coin a word?) my mother's photo collection. I'm pleased to report that I've finished the massive venture, resulting in 5 handsome (and veritably bursting) photo albums:



Averaging 4 photos a page, I estimate that I processed at least 700 photos. That's a s**t load of photos! And I didn't even use all the photos in the collection. There were at least 150 photos that didn't make the cut. (I couldn't bear throw most of them away, so they're being mailed to family members who might want them for their own photo albums.)

I photographed a few of the pages to share here.

These photos, of my great-grandparents on my father's side, are the oldest images in the collection:


Here's my beautiful grandmother, Margot, on my mother's side (if only I looked more like her):


I was able to save the loose (and crumbling) black pages, with tipped-in photos, which my father created in the 1950s while in the Air Force. That's my Pop in the lower left corner of the page.


Here I am, around age 2:


More baby pictures of me, with my folks:


Now I hit the awkward stage! This is me in 5th grade, with a haircut I've always regretted. What were they thinking?!


Still awkward, but with better hair, in 6th and 7th grade:


There were less and less pictures of me and my younger brother starting around this time because right around then my older brother and sister (who are 15 and 14 years older than me, respectively) started having children, and they (the grandkids) took over the photographic limelight. I think I filled these photo albums with a least 200 baby pictures of my nieces and nephews. No kidding!

Despite the labor intensity, I had a great time putting this collection into order. I ought to start charging for my services, though.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Okay, so when are you coming to my house to do this with the kids' photos? Hah, just kidding. I used to be so good at getting ALL photos into albums right away, but once the kids came along it was photo explosion. I started off with two albums and filled them and then made one with birthday photos only, and after that, they are all in a box, hopefully in some sort of date order, and they just keep coming. Some are in the camera, some are on the computer in iPhoto, some are in Snapfish, and not many are on disk. It's overwhelming! My albums are just regular--not scrapbook looking like yours.

Oh, and your 5th grade picture with the short hair reminds me of my Dorothy Hamil haircut in tenth grade. Now that was scary. I should have never gone there just because it was the "thing" to have.

Kathleen said...

Nancy:
What a wonderful accomplishment! I think it's so cool that you were able to create the time and harness the motivation to not only undertake but to complete, such a task. It will be treasured for generations to come. What a lovely gift....oh, and since I was your best friend in 5th grade, I can vouch for the haircut. And it was cute! :-)
xo Mary

Nancy AH said...

Hey twinmom,
I can only imagine the photographic avalanche produced by two kids! If there's any way I can help with albumizing the documentation, let me know!

Hey mary k,
You'll be dealing with your own baby photo landslide yourself soon (if not already)! The trick, I would guess, is to stay on top of it. (Not easy with a newborn, though, eh?) And by the way, there were some ADORABLE photos of you amid the collection! School photos from Tularcitos, to be exact. Fun!

Anonymous said...

great

Anonymous said...

that's true anonymous did say great,
but he (Nancy's dad) now says even more like Kudos to Nanos for a yeomens job well done---to be politically correct--a yeowomens job
Nancy in her sub-teens looks a lot
like Chelsea Clinton in her formative
years--though I doubt that Chelsea is as smart as Nancy--I hope Hillary and Bill don't read this blog---on a more
personal note, that's a picture of my
Irish immigrant grandfather on my
mother side --Patrick Madigan---and
a picture of his wife Anna