Queries and Answers: Prints from Slides

T.J. emailed me to ask, "Where can I have prints made from slides?"

It's one of those modern picture problems. Just about every family has boxes and carousel's full of slides. Now that slide projectors are difficult to find, what a family to do with all those slides?

• You can scan them yourself if you own a scanner with a slide attachment. Scan at a high resolution (at least 600 dpi) and save as tif files. That's an uncompressed format.
  
• You can pay someone to scan all your slides at once. ScanDigital offers a reasonable price for scanning slides and other photographic medium. There customer interface on their website is very easy to follow. What I really like about this company is the follow through. You end up with all your images on a website so you can share the link with family. Instead of having to coordinate who wants what print, they can select images from the site then order reprints through ScanDigital's printing partner, Qoop. It's an effortless process!

Trends in Gift Giving

VoiceQuilt, a company that create unique keepsake gifts personalized with a lasting collection of voice message and memories that commemorate holidays, birthdays, anniversaries, graduations and other special occasions, recently surveyed women's gift giving habits in this economy. According to Hope Flamer, Chief Executive Officer and founder of VoiceQuilt, "Instead of giving fewer gifts as one might expect, women are presenting the same quantity of gifts as in precious years, but are focusing on personal, sentimental and unique gifts rather than extravagance."

For centuries women have worked together to create hand sewn quilts but imagine having a quilt talk to you about the story behind the creation. That's what VoiceQuilt is all about. "Especially during difficult times, women search for unique and sentimental gifts that strengthen ties with family and friends," said Flammer. "A group gift supports those connections while enabling women to reduce their spending."

To create a voicequilt is so easy. All you do is pick a keepsake box and have folks call the toll-free number you give them. All that's left is to talk into the phone. VoiceQuilt will package the voice for you. A couple of years ago I created one for my parent's. When they opened the lid and heard all of us wishing them well they cried! It's a powerful gift. Try one today.

There is a special offer available on their website.

Queries and Answers: Photo Reunions

Patience wrote: I found a stack of quite good portrait photos from the late 1800's - mostly from California but also from NY, Minnesota, Indiana. Only a very few have names of whose photo it is - but almost all of them have the name of the photography studio. What would be the best way for me to seek out family members who may have lost them?

One of my favorite websites is DeadFred.com. Individuals post images on the site hoping to connect with family or to find missing family photos. Over 5,000 a week search this online archive. You can read success stories in the Dead Fred blog, Relatively Speaking. The site is easy to navigate and it's free!

If you want to facilitate the reunion, then join the ranks of genealogists who research the names on these abandoned photos like they're members of their own family. It's a wonderful feeling to reunite these photo treasures with their descendants.

Queries and Answers: Scanning Surprises

On a recent trip, a client showed me black and white scans of some tintypes. Recently he emailed me to say he'd scanned the images in color. To his surprise the scanning highlighted the fact that the photographer had colored some of the details. He wrote to ask if that was possible.

The answer is yes! Photographers often added color to images, including tintypes. Watch for color in eyes, cheeks, lips and jewelry. Those little details make the pictures look more realistic.

I recently wrote about hand colored daguerreotypes in my Family Tree Magazine blog.

Queries and Answers: Faded Handwritten Captions

Jim wrote: "I have an 1884 photo of my gg grandfather and grandmother with 2 of their children. On the back of the photo I can see some written impressions of names possibly. The pencil marks have long since worn away. Can you suggest a process that I might highlight the pencil impressions so that I might read them? I want to be careful, because it is the only know picture of them."

Without seeing the photo I can't say for sure but there are at least a couple of techniques that could work. I'd try scanning the image then converting it to black and white. By playing with the contrast/brightness and then using zoom to enlarge the impression you should be able to decipher some details. I'd also print out an enlargement of that area and then tracing it with a pencil.

Civil War Women

There is a new book on women in the Civil War and this one doesn't talk about their contributions on the home front. Anita Silvey's I'll Pass for Your Comrade: Women Soldiers in the Civil War(Clarion, 2008), explores how some women dressed as men and joined the war effort. It's meant for children, but it was so fascinating I couldn't put it down. I've seen occasional pictures of nineteenth century female soldiers but had no idea the practice was so widespread. This one is a must for anyone (kid or adult) who's interested in the Civil War. You can read more about the book and see Anita's speaking schedule on her website.

Queries and Answers: Foreign Photos

Mel wrote: I have a photo that I believe is European, do you analyze non-US images?

Actually, I do. I receive photographs from clients that live as far away as New Zealand. Family collections in the United States are a mix of images taken here and overseas. I maintain a large collection of foreign images for comparison purposes.