{"id":38879,"date":"2018-10-03T10:45:34","date_gmt":"2018-10-03T14:45:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.genealogybank.com\/?p=38879"},"modified":"2023-10-03T13:00:31","modified_gmt":"2023-10-03T17:00:31","slug":"genealogy-101-labeling-your-family-photos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/genealogy-101-labeling-your-family-photos.html","title":{"rendered":"Genealogy 101: Labeling Your Family Photos"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction<\/em><\/strong>: In this article \u2013 part of an ongoing \u201cIntroduction to Genealogy\u201d series \u2013 Gena Philibert-Ortega gives tips on how to label your family photos so that future generations can know and appreciate them. Gena is a genealogist and author of the book \u201cFrom the Family Kitchen.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Maybe you\u2019re like me and your family history includes hundreds of family photographs: photographs you inherited, photographs taken by your parents, photographs taken by you. (Don\u2019t even get me started on those dozens of photographs taken in the 1970s at the zoo\u2026 each photograph spotlighting a specific out-of-focus animal.) So now that you have this massive collection of family photographs, what do you need to do?<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a>
Photo courtesy of Gary W. Clark, PhotoTree.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One thing I worry about is what happens when I pass away. Not that I\u2019m planning to anytime soon \u2013 but when I do, who will inherit these photographs? The best scenario is that my photos are inherited by an equally passionate family historian. But how happy will they be with hundreds of photos depicting people and events that they don\u2019t recognize and aren\u2019t sure are even relevant to their family history?<\/p>\n

We need to take time today to ensure that our photo collections are preserved and ready for the next generations who inherit them. One way to do this is to clearly label our photographs so that others can understand who they depict, thus allowing them to know who these family members are.<\/p>\n

How to Label<\/strong><\/p>\n

First, we need to label or caption our photographs by writing on the back of the photo. The best way to write on the backs of photographs is to use a #2 pencil. Like in your school days, the #2 pencil is preferred because it\u2019s not too hard nor too soft. And more importantly it won\u2019t leave an indentation in the photograph.<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a>
Photo courtesy of Gary W. Clark, PhotoTree.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When labeling photos, what you don\u2019t want to do is to use anything that will \u201cindent\u201d the photo as you are writing. Hard leaded pencils or ball point pens, for example will do this. On newer photographs that have been processed on coated papers, pencil won\u2019t work so you\u2019ll need to use a non-bleeding archival quality marker. These may look like felt tip markers, but the tip comes out of a metal shaft. These are found in quality crafts and hobby stores. \u201cThese are not water-based as felt tip markers are, and will not bleed through the photograph,\u201d notes Gary Clark of PhotoTree.com.<\/p>\n

Make sure to give the ink plenty of time to dry. Do not stack the photos on top of each other as soon as you are done writing or you run the risk of the wet ink smudging or transferring to the other photo\/s in your stack.<\/p>\n

What to Label<\/strong><\/p>\n

It may seem like an obvious question, but what information should you add to the back of a photograph? Names of the people pictured are a start, but what else? This question hit home with me as I looked at a caption my dad wrote on the back of a photo of my mom, my brother, and me showing off our fish catch in the late 1970s. In the caption he used his nickname for my mom and not her real name. I wondered: in 20-plus years, would my kids or their kids know who that was?<\/p>\n

So, some things to keep in mind when adding information to a photograph:<\/p>\n