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Original poster

What do you do with old family photos?

79 replies

Nugg · 04/02/2026 04:45

I mean, literally two trunks full of my grandparents photos my parents photos my own family photos

I intend to gradually go through them and get rid of the thousands of photos of zoo animals and the like🤦🏼‍♀️🫠

I have always been a sentimental holder, however as the last couple of years I’ve become a lot more pragmatic mostly due to having had to clear out to separate parental homes following their deaths😢

But I have ended up with every single family photo that we found and I’m struggling to know what to do.

Obviously, I want to keep some of them and I will ask my aunt and Uncle from each side if they want any of their parents photos but I strongly assume they will already have some.

It just feels so wrong to dispose of them, but my own children probably won’t feel the same and they will end up just being disposed of at some point anyway!

i’m having a real moral dilemma over this! Probably because I love looking at old photos And the incredible memories they hold not only for me, but the amount I’ve ended up with is just unbelievable and I literally have nowhere to put them. They are currently in storage unit that I am trying to empty to save money on paying for it.

OP posts:
Wallywobbles · 04/02/2026 05:42

There are services that will digitize them all.

PineappleCoconut · 04/02/2026 05:45

Scan, & upload to Flickr or similar so everyone in the family can access them, as well saving to a hard drive. Then get rid of all but the best prints you want to keep.
I have the same problem 😫.

NuNameNuMe · 04/02/2026 05:58

I've seen a woman called MollyLately on Instagram who sorted and pruned the photos she inherited, by subject and then loosely organised by year. She also explained if you can't explain or don't know the context of the photo, then chuck it in favour of one that you can. Seems good approach to me. Good luck with your task!

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Families
Ifailed · 04/02/2026 06:02

I offered them to the rest of my family and the ones left were binned.

frozendaisy · 04/02/2026 06:19

I threw most of them away
my parents never looked at photos
our kids won’t
I don’t want to leave more than necessary for them

once they are gone it’s done

I kept a handful of good ones

teambrief · 04/02/2026 06:23

I kept some that made sense to me. The rest were binned. As you say all of those of animals, plants, birds and beaches mean nothing so we got rid of those. The rest are in small boxes in the loft with typed notes for the DC explaining who, what, why and when so they know deceased family etc. They can keep themselves or destroy. Up to them. All family are dead on both sides above me and DH so we purposely did the typed notes as the DC won’t have anyone to ask once we are away.

Nomedshere · 04/02/2026 06:25

I have photos going back to 1880s of my family. Currently they are in a large box but I've been thinking about what to do with them ...dd doesn't want them and neither do any of my cousins. I'm 66 and hate hanging on to things which are of no use.
Ditto my dad's wartime stuff.

BatshitCrazyWoman · 04/02/2026 06:25

I kept a handful. All the photos of scenery, or people I didn't know, were thrown away.

Rocknrollstar · 04/02/2026 06:32

I went through thousands of our photographs and through most of them out. I kept the ones of people I could name and important events in the family. To start with I put them in envelopes by year. I threw out all the duplicates and views of places we had been on holiday. Then I bought four large albums and put the photos in them in chronological order, all labelled so that future generations know who the people in photographs are. My oldest grand daughter was fascinated by them. It took me several years of wet Sunday afternoons but it was worth it in the end. Along the way I scanned photos of DC and emailed them. They always knew when I was working on my project.

NorthXNorthWest · 04/02/2026 08:07

Wallywobbles · 04/02/2026 05:42

There are services that will digitize them all.

This

ElizabethsTailor · 04/02/2026 08:12

Nomedshere · 04/02/2026 06:25

I have photos going back to 1880s of my family. Currently they are in a large box but I've been thinking about what to do with them ...dd doesn't want them and neither do any of my cousins. I'm 66 and hate hanging on to things which are of no use.
Ditto my dad's wartime stuff.

If you know the identities of the people in the photos, upload them to Ancestry. That way people who share the ancestor will be able to access them in the record.

I came across lovely photos of great grandparents, aunts and uncles this way. I was delighted to be able to put a face to the name, and particularly to see the family resemblance.

EscapeTheCastle · 04/02/2026 08:28

I am a huge fan of old photos so I'm quite suprised to hear other people throw them away.
There is actually a 2nd hand market if you want to make a bit of money on ebay or etsy. Black and white photos are very popular. Usually ones of people fetch the best prices. You mention zoo animals, they would also sell. Women wearing fashions of the time are the most expensive. People also collect "walking photos" the ones taken usually at the seaside.
Of course the ones of people are the ones you probably want to keep.
I would at least buy one or two photo albums that fit a book shelf in your home and then keep as many photos that fit in them.
I would do this task for you for free if I could! I'm obssessed with my familys photo collections!

Nomedshere · 04/02/2026 09:09

ElizabethsTailor · 04/02/2026 08:12

If you know the identities of the people in the photos, upload them to Ancestry. That way people who share the ancestor will be able to access them in the record.

I came across lovely photos of great grandparents, aunts and uncles this way. I was delighted to be able to put a face to the name, and particularly to see the family resemblance.

Show quote history

Yes I know all the identities. I have our family tree going back to 1600s

CaptainMyCaptain · 04/02/2026 09:17

My Dad scanned all the old photos and saved them on a DVD before he died aged 92. I have then on my laptop and external hard drive now now. He also took cine films from the 50s onwards which he transferred to video, then DVD and I now have them on a memory stick.

EnchantedDaytime · 04/02/2026 09:21

Do you need a special sort of scanner for this? I am going to have to embark on this on behalf of my parents soon. I have occasionally taken photos of old photos with my phone but it's hard to avoid reflections etc, would a normal scanner work. Mum is keen on family history so uploading to Ancestry would be a nice idea for her.

MMBaranova · 04/02/2026 09:30

Take care with being told to do something that is very time consuming or costly.

sweetsardineface · 04/02/2026 09:51

teambrief · 04/02/2026 06:23

I kept some that made sense to me. The rest were binned. As you say all of those of animals, plants, birds and beaches mean nothing so we got rid of those. The rest are in small boxes in the loft with typed notes for the DC explaining who, what, why and when so they know deceased family etc. They can keep themselves or destroy. Up to them. All family are dead on both sides above me and DH so we purposely did the typed notes as the DC won’t have anyone to ask once we are away.

This is brilliant. I’m sure your children will thank you.

MrsWallers · 04/02/2026 12:12

I did pay a service to scan some in but not recently so unsure how much this would cost now etc I have a small album of prints and some wedding photos but I also got rid of lots of photos some years ago. My gran was great and very organised. She also binned lots in her older years to save others the emotional overwhelm and mental load of having to make the decisions etc

FlowerFairyDaisy · 04/02/2026 12:15

My mum put all hers in a album with their names written underneath and bits that she could remember about them (where they worked etc.). I am so glad that she did that because I love history and can help other family members researching our family history out. I have also shown them to my children and will keep the albums for them. Physical photos are better and less likely to get lost during a hard/software upgrades but I also have them all saved in albums on Facebook.

HashtagShitShop · 04/02/2026 12:20

If you do scan them in to digitise them, I know it's a bit of a faff, but scan them on the highest resolution possible so they are the best quality that they can be. That way anyone who wants them can get reprints etc. Not always possible if they're tiny little jpgs.

I have this to come when my mum passes as she cannot get rid of anything and the house is a hoarders paradise. She's taken on families photographs as they've passed and one grandparent was a prolific photographer so there are literally thousands.

I managed to get her to part with local views and for our towns history to a local museum and the paper, but the thought of the family ones (never mind the house itself) is daunting.

Eggsandavocado · 04/02/2026 12:26

I’ve recently lost my parents, my dad was a photographer, the amount of photographs and slides we had was unreal ! I had photos also dating back over 100 years. Luckily majority of the pictures were labeled so we knew who everyone was, I got a large plastic storage container and decided I wouldn’t keep anymore than would fit in there. It’s taken ages to sort … amazing how difficult it is to chose between 20 pictures of the same black cat 😂

Goldfsh · 04/02/2026 12:30

Labelled everything on the back. Put the majority into a scrapbook explaining stuff.

Everything else can go, unless it looks very unusual e.g. ancient and interesting.

Don't leave a load of shit guilt-admin to the next generation!

Growlybear83 · 04/02/2026 12:34

We’ve cleared out our mothers’ homes in the last three or four years, and I’ve kept almost all of their photos - loose and in albums - apart from a few duplicates. They were precious to our mothers, so it seems wrong to throw them away, and I would never want to only have digital copies. They are now kept with all of our photo albums from the last 50 years.

angelcake20 · 04/02/2026 12:38

My DF reduced GP’s photos down to a couple of albums with the most important and binned the rest. I will do the same with DM’s. It’s only about 15 albums for each family, though.

rainbowstardrops · 04/02/2026 12:43

We have hundreds of photos too. I just find it so hard to throw memories like these away. Even if they aren’t my memories 😕