Hello John, I would like to receive a copy of your documents.
I currently list my photos by surname then first name but I would like to know of improvements I can make to my method. Thank you. Anthony Punnett, Toronto, ON. On 2012-10-13 2:55 AM, hwedhlor wrote: > JLB and Robert Austen, > > Thank you both for your kind remarks. > > On the further subject of archiving images in Legacy and > elsewhere, while I was working through the thousands of > documents, articles and images a lady delivered to my friend > a pair of cardboard boxes, each measuring about two feet on > each side. Both boxes were filled to the brim with beautiful > photographs, mostly from the last quarter of the 19th > century, though some were as late as the 1920s from the > styles of clothing, and some were early cabinet photos from > the 1860s. They were all extremely well preserved and > unblemished, mounted in mats and folders. The product of a > variety of studios in a variety of geographic locations. The > lady who brought them had no idea who they were, or to whom > they might be related. She knew that we were doing some > fairly intensive work on family history and thought we might > be able to identify some of them or find descendants who > might like to have them. Unfortunately not a single > photograph had any identifying markings. Those photos should > have been scanned and posted on web sites for others to view > and possibly identify. I have no idea what the disposition > of those photos was. What a tragic loss to the families of > those in the photos. > > I urge all of you to mark the photos you have with names, > dates, places and circumstances where know, and also to scan > each image and develop a file naming standard that will > allow anyone viewing the file names to know who, what, when > and where they were taken. Paper, or electronic filing > systems that tag photos and image files with numbers and > require separate index lists to identify those in the > photos, or systems that place photos and image files in > folders by surname, but only use given names on the photos > themselves, often end up with the index lists disappearing, > or the photos being separated from the surname folders. Each > individual photo, or electronic image file should bear > enough information to identify the people in the image, > along with the date, place and ideally the circumstances of > that photo or image file. > > I strongly urge that your file naming standard be based on > surnames rather than on dates. Our goal is to document the > lives of people, not the happenings of years. Those who come > after us may not have a clue what year look at for a > particular image, but they will recognize the surnames, and > often the given names, of those whose image they seek in a > list of electronic file names. There is much more that can > be done to develop a useful file naming standard, and I have > documented such a standard in previous submissions to this > list. I developed my personal standard over a period of > years working with thousands of photographs of other peoples > families. Having such a file naming standard allowed me to > organize those images so that I could find anyone easily in > seconds. That standard us now fairly well-established, > though minor changes continue to evolve as needs arise. One > of the additional benefits of the file naming standard I use > is that it allows me to keep all of my electronic images of > individuals in a single folder, and images of groups (2 or > more people in a photo), documents and places & things in > three sub-folders. That makes it very easy to both back up > those image files, or to move them if the need arises. If > anyone is interested I will be happy to send them a > five-page rationale and a one-page quick reference sheet, > both in MS Word format, or to publish that rationale here if > there is sufficient demand. > > John Zimmerman > Mesa, AZ > Legacy User Group guidelines: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Etiquette.asp Archived messages after Nov. 21 2009: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ Archived messages from old mail server - before Nov. 21 2009: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ Online technical support: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Help.asp Follow Legacy on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/LegacyFamilyTree) and on our blog (http://news.LegacyFamilyTree.com). To unsubscribe: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/LegacyLists.asp
