Zulaika Quintero, Jose Quintero and Elva Quintero We had the opportunity to meet Zulaika Quintero through our photo-share in Southwest Florida. As the principal of a local public charter school, she has tailored the school’s curriculum to meet the needs of the children in her community. “Everything is taught in both languages and that enables […]
Saving and Protecting Your Family Pictures
Thomas recently connected with Rodney Freeman, creator of the platform Black Male Archives via Linked In. Intrigued by his work, we invited Rodney to share more some of his personal family archives and tell us about his history with photo preservation. I’m a librarian with a passion for saving/preserving pictures. I’ve been a librarian for […]
Tips on Dating Old Photos
Sometimes, sorting through old, unlabeled photographs and trying to determine the names, dates, people, and places in them is like attempting to solve a mystery. Old family photographs are a treasured part of any family history but understanding them and the stories they tell can often require an extensive knowledge of your family history and […]
L’dor Va’dor, From Generation to Generation
That curly hair. Where did it come from? Our oldest son, Max, started showing signs of curly hair as an infant. My wife Sarah has straight hair, and I have medium-ish wavy hair. But my father, well that dude had some serious curls back in the day. So we started looking for old photos of […]
Unlocking Memories From Old Photos
Milestones of Our Lives As the proverb says, “life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but the moments that take our breath away.” These moments that take our breath away are often milestones and significant memories that together make up the timeline of our lives. By creating a family timeline, you’ll […]
From One, Many
If we look closely, we can see traces of our ancestors in our faces, our personalities, our genes. Our relatives, the people in their lives, and their circumstances became embedded in their bodies, shaping the way they moved and thought and lived. They then passed some of those things on to us, just as their […]
MY AUNT EMMA KNEW DUKE ELLINGTON
By Michon Boston Michon (C), her sister, Taquiena (L) and her mother, Caroline (R) With each family death another door closes, another photo album disappears. It becomes a detective job without the actual witnesses to piece together the lives they lived. I can only remember the faces from some family albums during visits especially unexpected […]
Remembering Your Love Story Through Photos
What’s Your Love Story? As Nicholas Sparks, author of The Notebook, once wrote: “Behind every great love, there’s a great love story.” And behind every great love story, there are bound to be photographs that tell it. But it’s not just about the photos, it’s about the moments they capture and the sentiment they hold […]
From Farm to Table
The Life of a 107-year-old Detroit Home (r to l) Annette Baka, Maryanne Porzondek (mother), and Nancy Taylor (sister). I wanted to be involved in Family Pictures USA in order to show how a 107-year-old home survived, transformed, and brought two families together that will be bonded forever. The house at 5528 Moran Street has survived […]
The Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation
MATRIARCHAL CULTURE The Occaneechi Band is a small Indian community located in North Carolina. It is one of the only First Nation’s in the state to reclaim their ancestral home. It’s just a beautiful thing when you see all the colors and the people dancing and having a good time. You can just feel the […]
Do People Care About Their Old Family Photos?
Have you ever wondered why some people don’t care when it comes to their family’s printed or digital photos? All those precious memories, like time in the proverbial bottle, but not seeming to feel any real concern or interest about them. The Difference Between Caring And Not For those of us passionate about preserving pictorial […]
The Red Rose Motorcycle Club
Family Pictures USA host, Thomas Allen Harris recently had the opportunity to do a version of our roadshow for the United Philanthropy Forum. Courtney Eshleman, from Media Impact Funders, took part in the audience photo share and connected with Thomas after the event. Courtney showed him some striking images of her grandparents in motor cycle outfits and she […]
Creating a Family Photo Yearbook
Creating a family photo book is a great organization technique that allows you to hold your memories in your hands. To many, it may seem daunting, but in reality, it is not, and by following these steps, you’ll be well on your way to having memorabilia that will last a lifetime. 1. Choose Your Topic […]
Claiming my Invisible Brownness
Family Pictures USA host, Thomas Allen Harris recently had the opportunity do a version of our roadshow for the United Philanthropy Forum. Robert Burnett, from the Maine Philanthropy Center, was one of the participants who joined him on stage. After the event, he agreed to write a short piece for our blog expanding on what […]
Memoirs of a Father
By Philip Rosenbaum Joseph C. Rosenbaum Producing a five minute video about my father and how he survived the Holocaust was an experience I will forever cherish. The idea came to me on the first day of our two-day seminar, Re-Imagining the Family Album with Professor Thomas Allen Harris at Hunter College’s Integrated Media Arts Program. On that first day, […]
Estero Bay Heroes
‘Heroic’ Bill and Pat Mellor were titled the “world’s earliest environmentalist” by Cynthia Williams, the daughter of a developer who nearly destroyed Estero Bay’s fragile ecosystem. View at Estero Bay from the Mellor family lot on the Bay (c.a.1960) Fort Myers is home to Estero Bay, a beautiful piece of paradise on the west coast […]
Uncovering Family History at UNC-TV
Last July, I was invited to participate in the Family Pictures USA photo sharing event at my local PBS station, UNC-TV Public Media North Carolina. Initially, I was bit hesitant to accept this invitation, as I felt as if I didn’t hold enough knowledge about my family history. I was also worried that I may […]
Protect Your Photos before a Natural Disaster
Texas. Florida. Puerto Rico. California. Nebraska. There have been far too many recent examples of massive storms with massive casualties, including precious family photo collections. However, you don’t need a large-scale natural disaster to have water-damaged photos. Even a leaky pipe or an overflowing bathtub can wreak havoc on those images we hold so dear. […]
Distinguished Detroiters
The Barthwell Family History Dr. Akosua Barthwell Evans shared with us the many accomplishments of her family members despite the racial adversity they faced. Read her story below. Gladys and Sidney Barthwell with Akosua and Sid as children My family has always been a very important part of me. I was fortunate to grow up […]
Viewing Photos Sparks Joy
4 Ways to Enjoy Your Photos Marie Kondo, the author of The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up and Spark Joy, admits that the process of sorting photos with her family was the project that brought her the most joy. She highly recommends viewing pictures together as a family to encourage story-telling. Even the expert of […]
