I don't want to keep old family pictures

[Sweetener12]

So the other day I was doing a big cleaning around the house and found a bunch or very old photo albums that belong to my father's family. My father passed away several years ago and these albums are full of his grandparent's photos, I've never knew these people and I'm not even interested, so I wanted to get rid of them but my DM is strongly against. She says this is the memory, even though she's never knew her DH's grandparents and aunts, etc. She doesn't want me to get rid of them and keeps telling I have to digitize these pics and save them somehow. I find this to be completely senseless, tho.
What do you think? AIBU to not wanting to keep the photos of the people I've never met?

[LyingWitchInTheWardrobe]

I'm not interested in mine either OP but not once would I ever consider getting rid of them because, not all about ME!

Give them to a family member who does care about them then. Not hard, is it?

That's a very self-absorbed view you have. So many self-absorbed threads today...

[GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER]

Do you even know who all the people are? So often with very old photos, nobody knows any more. I’d certainly chuck any like that.,

A couple of years before he died, my DF put a selection of a mass of very old black and white photos in an album, with captions underneath saying who and where.
Some were quite funny, e.g. ‘Granny H and Great Aunt Agnes in the fashion of staid ladies of their day.’

Some of the way-back locations were very helpful to a sister who was doing family history. E.g. my DF had named the grandparents’ farm where he’d stayed as a child - he’d even remembered the name of a farm horse in one of the photos.

I’m so glad he bothered to do it - none of the rest of us would have had a clue about any of them.

[DontStandSoClose]

When my nan died my dad found a bag full of old pictures, they included pictures of my great grandparents and other relatives. People who I’ve never met. I love that my nan saved these pictures (my grandad tried to burn all their photo albums when they got divorced, my dad always said there were no pictures of him or his family as he saw his dad burn them, my Nan cleverly hid a selection of them from my grandad).

I can’t believe you think of pictures of your relatives (granted you might not have known them) as junk that needs to be binned. You might not find them interesting but I can bet other relatives would, give them to another relative to look after. I love looking at our old pictures.

[TheStuffedPenguin]

Take them out of the albums if it is space that is your problem . You may not be interested but your children may be . If your Mum knows who they are write names etc in pencil on the back for future. Scanning would be great too but it is time consuming.

[skankingpiglet]

Can they be pruned a little? My Dad died about 18 months ago and he had a lot of photos. Other than my DCs there is no one else who was related to him, and I also don't have the space or the inclination to keep them all. I have got rid of any blurry shots, multiples, and randoms (eg of a pretty flower). I've also removed photos of his and DGM's (his collection included some of hers) friends who I don't recognise. I'm part-way through and it has turned over 10 old fashioned bulky albums into one more streamlined. The pictures are no longer artistically displayed, but don't take up a lot of space either. I plan on doing the same for DM's too when I can face it (she died around 5 years ago), but it will be an emotional job I'mnot ready for yet.
Then will begin the mammoth task of labelling.

I didn't know you could pay someone to digitize them for you! I am definitely going to look into this! Once the photo collections have been pruned there hopefully wouldn't be too many to do (a couple of hundred rather than thousands).

Personally in your situation OP, I would be handing the lot over to my DM though. It's not right to get rid of them if someone else wants them, but they need to take on the storing and curating.

[cornish009]

When I was younger I would have felt the same way as the OP. But now, in my 50s, with all previous generations passed away, those same old photos mean so much to me. Even photos of the people I do not recognise are important, maybe more so, as I can try and work out who they could be, or look for any family ressemblance. In fact to consider throwing photos away now I would consider unkind, both to the unknown people in the photo (yes, I know this sounds daft) and to future generations who may one day want to see them. And for the sake of history itself too - looking at the style of clothes, perhaps uniforms or places that are so different now. I actually feel really, really sad at the thought of these photos being disguarded like that. I feel the same way about books.

[LuluBellaBlue]

Donate to a local library?

[Bigboxofpics]

Hi OP. I understand you not wanting to keep these photos as they mean nothing to you but I’d just ask you to view them as heirlooms rather than the ‘clutter’ they are seeming to be at the moment. The fact they’re in albums is great - at least they are contained.

The fact you’re talking about them being your father’s grandparents (and assuming there are therefore photos of his parents) - that means you have images of YOUR Great Grandparents in there. That is fantastic.

Family history might not be your thing but I would strongly advise you not to chuck without at least doing the following.

What was your father’s surname and do you know the surname of his Mother before she married (this will be your Grandmother)

While you might not be able to put a name to the people in the photos it might be possible to work out who they are by the groupings. For example - your Dad’s Dad (Grandfather) might have been one of 5 brothers. A photo of 5 young lads together in the album could then be identified. You can glean info by looking at census records.

Do you have ANYONE in your family that might be up for a bit of detective work even if it is of no interest to you? A younger relative doing history, a friend of the family even? Someone who you can say to ‘right my Dad’s name was Mr x, his Mum’s name was Miss Y before marriage, they lived in Z city/Town - knock yourself out and see what you can find out and then see if that helps identify some of these people. What were their occupations (are there photos of them at work that might be of interest to a social historian or a Local Family History Society?) did they fight in the wars etc. So many questions! Other people might love having a project like this to research if they’re stuck at home.

And if you’ve no takers for that, can I suggest another thing you might try is to put a post on this section of Rootschat. Rootschat is a FREE family history site and is a goldmine for family historians. They have a section just for this sort of thing www.rootschat.com/forum/unwanted-certificates/
The link says ‘unwanted certificates’ but also in that area, are postings of unwanted photographic heirlooms, old unwanted photos and albums etc... The very thing in your possession.

If you want to put a post on there saying ‘X family’s album - surnames featured and a geographical location - free to whoever wants it - you might get interest. You might even find a distant relative.

This might seem a bit of a faff but let me tell you why I’m so keen these photos don’t end up in the skip. I’ve been researching my family history off and on for 20 years. Just 2 weeks ago I spotted a new match for my family tree on Ancestry. This means someone else had family members that were the same as my family members on their tree, it was a distant match going back to mid 1800s but when I clicked on their tree they had a photo of a woman under our shared Great Great Great Grandmother. I was a bit suspicious because she was born in 1812 and I’d never seen any photos this old. Plus this tree was of someone in Canada and it said this Gt x 3 grandmother had died in Canada. We have no Canadian connections as far as I knew and all my relatives and ancestors tended to have been born, bred and died within 20 miles of an English industrial city.

Well it turns out that this intrepid ancestor had been shipped over to Canada in the late 1800s as a 70 year old widow and had carried the family bible with her. And obviously some precious photographs. And these has been lovingly cherished (Or stuck in various shoeboxes or drawers!) over 3 or 4 generations. Until one day a VERY grateful descendant got to see a photo some 150 years later via the wonders of the internet. I was so utterly amazed and moved.

So please, don’t chuck them. If you haven’t the time or inclination to do any of the above send me a Direct Message and maybe I can think of something else. I actually have a wierd hobby of collecting ‘found’ photographs. I find them utterly fascinating.

[EL8888]

If she’s so bothered then she can store them or digitise them

[gamerchick]

Well it's pretty true isn't it. By the fourth generation your name is forgotten or something. Happens to all of us.

[MsEllany]

There seems to be a lack of basic comprehension skills on your thread @Sweetener12!

[Itisbetter]

@Bigboxofpics how did the intrepid 70 year old HAVE descendants once she was in Canada?

[HyacynthBucket]

You may not want them, but for anyone into family history such photos are absolute gold. Have you considered other people in the family, such as nieces or nephews and their offspring gfoing forward? Do at least pass them on to someone else in the family. Why not let your DM have them if she wants them?

[CoffeeCup34]

If you don’t know the people in them then it’s like keeping old magazines, yes they were expensive and time consuming to take originally but I’m sure the people in them never imagined them being kept and looked at 70 or 80 years in the future with no context.

[DustyMaiden]

@coasterboaster I have three other houses they could sell. My DDs will care for me as I did for my elders.

I think my DDs would actually enjoy it. When we cleared MIls house it took months. She had every bill since 1929. Every newspaper and catalogue. All baby clothes and toys and the ones her DM left. DDs found it fascinating.

[SecretSpAD]

When my mother died we found loads of photos of random people we never knew. I don't have (biological) kids and my nieces and nephews at that point we're old enough to understand the true nature of their grandmother so weren't interested. My brother, sister and I are all of the mind that we live in the present not the past and my father doesn't care - so we dumped the whole lot.

It was an amazing feeling!

[Sweetener12]

@MashedHead yeah, there are some war time pictures, too, but mostly from the 30s and even 20s. Maybe we will cull them to save SOME but still I don't see the point as we do not really know these people.

[Sweetener12]

@MsEllany many AIBU threads are like that...

[SecretSpAD]

there are some war time pictures, too, but mostly from the 30s and even 20s. Maybe we will cull them to save SOME but still I don't see the point as we do not really know these people

There is no point. Bin it all.

[Patch23042]

Give them to your mum. The alternative is that they clutter your house and then your kids have to get rid of them when you die. If you were interested in genealogy/social history/fashion history it would be different, but you’re not so it isn’t.

[Cadent]

It’s almost like another form of wifework, being expected to store and digitise pictures.

You need a connection to the pictures. It’s a shame there’s no archival society interested in them for posterity.

[stealm]

@Sweetener12
Are there no other living relatives who would like them?

[Isthisfinallyit]

Does your dad still have living family that would be interested? My brother has posession of all the old photo's (because he's a man and I'm not 😳) and I'd be furious if his children would throw them out while I actually know who they are and their stories.

[EL8888]

@Cadent exactly! Why is it OP’s job? My mum tries to foist stuff like this onto me. Then is almost surprised when l decline and there is other stuff l want / need to do

[Babymabel]

Chuck them in the bin then.

I love old photos regardless of if I know any of the people in them so I too find it very sad that you want to throw them away. You don't know them but they are still your relatives! I don't know half of my dead relatives including my grandad but it doesn't mean I never want to chuck them in the bin and pretend they never existed.

People collect old photos for historical reasons, you could sell or give away. Car boot or auction.