My interest in Genealogy started with my Father, who interviewed my Grandmother in the old age home, before she passed away, about her family.

My Grandmother had an incredible memory and kept a lot of photos, documents, negatives and mementos, which my Dad passed onto me.

I scan the original in color, even if it is monochrome, then I save a copy as adj. which I work with, otherwise I have to scan the original again, when I go overboard with Photoshop, which I have done.

He kept meticulous notes which I copied.

Notes copied from my dad and the symbols he used.

I have stored the original photos chronologically into archival safe photo albums, including as much info as I have. The photos are numbered and copied onto a list. Many photos had no information, which left me with some Orphans.

I use a K and Company-SMASH Collection-Pen and Glue Stick-Black, which is Archival and acid free.

Photo Restoration Click above for more info.

I have printed restored copies of most, they are in the same albums, with notes that they are copies. I also sent many of the copies to my father. If there is information on the back of the photo, I scanned
that as well.

Original photos and copies in an album, when I have scrap-booked a layout, I print a copy of the layout and include it with the photos. I used some of these photos in my "At the Beach" layout.

Original photos and copies in an album, with a print of my "Family Gathering" layout.

I turned a copy of the photo into a sketch and added numbers, to identify the people in "Family Gathering".

Photograph with information included taken from my "Pose" scrapbook layout.

I keep small photos in Sport Collector sleeves.

I also had problems with printing small square photos, as they were cropped, due to the ratio. Some Kodak Picture Kiosks have a print full photo option, but you have to select it.

One of my albums with negatives in sleeves. I also have boxes filled with negatives.

I scanned most of the photos and negatives on an Epson Perfection 1260 Flatbed scanner, which was my first scanner and has a 35 mm adapter for slides and negatives, but unfortunately Windows does not support the drives anymore. The back up files are on external drives and in the cloud.

We have a good camera and a light-box, but some of the old negatives are thick, so that does not always work either.

This is a photo of a negative on the light-box. The camera is mounted upside down on a tripod. You can unscrew the plate at the end of the center column and slide the tube out, reverse it and feed it through from underneath. I use a remote so that I'm not blinded by the light from the fluorescent tubes. The negative is inverted with Adobe Photoshop.

Digitizing Negatives Without A Scanner, Using A Digital Camera

I think Drugstores and Camera stores can also scan negatives.

I print the most important documents, family trees and information and file them according to surnames.

I use free online family trees like Geni.com and I belong to many Genealogy Facebook groups and pages.

Through research and sharing I have discovered many interesting things, that I did not know. There are so many stories. I don't think my mother knew her mother's real names. Once I discovered my grandmother's real names, I could trace the families to the progenitors. I was even able to find more photos of her and her family online. There is also sad history about wars, concentration camps, prisoner of war camps, death of siblings, etc. Our grandparents never spoke of this as it was too painful. We have to gather the good and the bad before it is too late. All and much more was discovered through research.

How to create/Make Secret group in FaceBook

I have secret Family Facebook groups, which I share photos and info with. My son is admin too all. I have received photos and information through these groups.

I have a free private blog at Wordpress, which my son is also admin, I have uploaded most of my photos, documents and info to this blog. It is searchable and a great help.

I have scrap-booked many of the photos, which I photograph and share on my blog, Facebook, Instagram, Scrapbook.com, etc.

I use Pinterest to keep track of my Genealogy links.

I have added some photos to online family trees, but I have found that some people download them on their computers and upload them to their own family trees on other sites, so I have added a copyright symbol to them.