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“And did you get what
you wanted from this life, even so?
I did.
And what did you want?
To call myself beloved, to feel myself
beloved on the earth.” -Late Fragment, Raymond Carver

We found this beautiful but well-worn photo of grandmother Irene tucked inside my grandfather’s wallet after he died.

He clearly cherished this photo of his wife of 61 years.

Raymond and Irene were childhood neighbors and grew up best friends. They had 5 children, 15 grandchildren, and 3 great grandchildren.

A true love story. ~ shared by @medezboz

#savefamilyphotos #familyphotos #familyphoto #ancestry #familyhistory #oldfamilyphotos #vintagephotos #filmisnotdead #vintagephoto #oldphoto #oldphotos #ancestors #familyalbum

This is one of the coolest and most priceless pictures I’ve ever held in my hands.

This is the farm house in Missouri where I grew up. The house was built in 1895 and members of our family have lived in it ever since. The woman in the photo was one of my ancestors, named Emma, and the man next to her is also a relative, named “The Bull.” In fact, our family lived in it until a tragic fire a few weeks ago. The fire started in the back of the house and went straight up to the second floor, where most of our family antiques were.

We were very fortunate and were able to recover quite a lot, including hundreds of historic family photos we found under the rubble of our home.

This photo was dated pre-1930, since the second half of our house didn’t even exist until then.
I am so glad these photos made it through the fire. ~ shared by @kelseyjo_001

#savefamilyphotos #familyphotos #familyphoto #ancestry #familyhistory #oldfamilyphotos #vintagephotos #filmisnotdead #vintagephoto #oldphoto #oldphotos #ancestors #familyalbum

I have exactly two memories of my grandfather.

The first, and the one I keep with me most, is of him taking me fishing when I was god-only-knows how young. I remember walking down a rickety wooden pier to a small waiting boat. Fishing poles clanked against the metal sides as my grandfather stepped in, sat down and reached for my hand.

The second memory creeps into my head every time I hear the word cancer. I remember walking into an enormous sanctuary holding my mother’s hand. Colored light poured in through stained glass windows. Large wooden pews stretched to either side of me, with rows of thick red cushions. I remember a nurse wheeling a pale, slender man in slowly. It was as if he was already gone. I was too young to really know what was going on, but I could see he was sick.

My grandfather, Kermit Roosevelt Crawford, was born November 23rd 1922. He left this earth on April 30,1985 after a fierce battle with cancer.

He lied about his age so he could join the Army Air Corps in 1939 at only 17. He served his country for 33 years, 3 months and 3 days.

I came across an old photo album, filled with pictures from his time in India and Asia during World War II. Looking through these images is indescribable. Seeing a part of his life that I would have never known about is amazing.

I would give anything to sit with him now and talk. I would give up every piece of my camera gear I own, and never make a single picture again, just to be able to make a portrait of him.
But through his pictures, I can imagine what it would have been like. The images are a living history, not only for one man, but for our nation as a whole.
That’s my grandfather, on the lower left, staring strongly back at me. ~shared by @ernrocks

#savefamilyphotos #familyphotos #familyphoto #ancestry #familyhistory #oldfamilyphotos #vintagephotos #filmisnotdead #vintagephoto #oldphoto #oldphotos #ancestors #familyalbum

If you look deeply into the palm of your hand, you will see your parents and all generations of your ancestors. You are the continuation of each of these people.” -Thich Nhat Hanh

My great-great grandaddy gazes at me proudly, as a confident eleven year-old sitting between his older sisters.

On the left is Emerald “Emma” Pleasants; in the middle is Robert “Gramps” Pleasants; on the right is Clara Pleasants.

My Mom believes this family photo was taken in the early 1900s in Hot Springs, Arkansas.

The mountain city is set among natural springs. Following federal protection in 1832, it developed into a successful spa town with speakeasies and gambling halls that attracted gangsters like Al Capone.

During the early 20th century, Hot Springs was known for baseball training camps. Many Major League clubs brought their teams to Hot Springs. Babe Ruth could be seen walking the streets. The history of African-American baseball in Hot Springs also goes back over 120 years, when local hotels sponsored teams made up of their African-American employees. ~shared by @tvsdevonwade
#savefamilyphotos #familyphotos #familyphoto #ancestry #familyhistory #oldfamilyphotos #vintagephotos #filmisnotdead #vintagephoto #oldphoto #oldphotos #ancestors #familyalbum

“What the next generation will value most is not what we owned, but the evidence of who we were and the tales of how we lived. In the end, it’s the family stories that are worth the storage.” -Ellen Goodman

This is a photo of my grandfather, grandmother, aunt, great-grandmother, father, and uncle (left to right) at the 1964 World’s Fair in New York.

The theme was “Peace Through Understanding,” dedicated to “Man’s Achievement on a Shrinking Globe in an Expanding Universe.” The fair showcased mid-20th-century American culture and technology. It was a touchstone for New York Baby Boomers, who visited the optimistic fair as children before the turbulent years of the Vietnam War.

My grandfather, “Popsie,” was Vice President of Personnel for New York Telephone at the time and headed up their display.
Popsie celebrated his 100th birthday on January 29, 2014 and we found this family photo during preparations for his celebration!

Popsie grew up in Brooklyn and lived in many places surrounding the city. ~shared by @christienoel01
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My grandmother (on the right with a white hat) Beatrice “Bea” Hampton, traveling somewhere in Europe during the early 1960s.

She was an avid golfer and absolutely loved to travel.

Her favorite country was Portugal and she toured Europe as often as she could, taking full advantage of my grandfather’s business abroad.

She had great style and some people said she looked like Bette Davis, especially when she was young.

No matter if she was shopping in London or riding a camel in the Middle East, she brought her own unique flare – from white-rimmed Ray Bans to turquoise pedal pushers. And from the original MadMen era, an original Pan Am bag!

Years later, I would raid her closets for school plays because she kept everything, organized and neatly-labeled as if she knew someday, someone would find her cache – which I did and will treasure always.

She was a class act. ~shared by @deemostofi

#savefamilyphotos #familyphotos #familyphoto #ancestry #familyhistory #oldfamilyphotos #vintagephotos #filmisnotdead #vintagephoto #oldphoto #oldphotos #ancestors #familyalbum #tbt #throwbackthursday

I grew up looking at my parent’s family albums, imagining their lives before me. Trying to reconstruct the memories I didn’t have, imagining them over and over again in my mind. I felt these pictures, although connected with a particular history, triggered my own imagination. – Iveta Vaivode

I’m not exactly sure where this old photo was taken, but that’s my mother standing on the far right and her sister standing on the far left. And I’m pretty sure my grandmother was the photographer because she always had creative ideas for “poses,” like asking the girls to make a design with their skirts.

Also, notice that my mom and her sister have matching dresses? My grandmother often made matching outfits for them. I bet she thought that if they had the same outfits, neither could say that the other’s outfit was better than their own! It was my grandmother’s way of keeping peace. ~shared by @srtruex

#savefamilyphotos #familyphotos #familyphoto #ancestry #familyhistory #oldfamilyphotos #vintagephotos #filmisnotdead #vintagephoto #oldphoto #oldphotos #ancestors #familyalbum #tbt #throwbackthursday

Stories are the currency of our past, present and future. Without them, we are bankrupt.

And our old family photos trigger those stories.

Meet my great grandma, Heleni, who is reading a book to my 4-year-old aunt Magdalene. The year was 1949, just after the Civil War in Athens, Greece.

My grandma describes her mother Heleni as a wise woman who adored reading books, even though she had a very basic school education.

Heleni worked as a seamstress in a corset factory.

She looks very traditional with a scarf over her hair, but my grandma says her deepest desire was to see all of her children finish college. And she did – all of her children completed college before Heleni passed away at 98 years old.

This is one of many truly beautiful old photos of my family. I have scanned each photo in order to preserve them and the stories they tell.

These photos always remind me of my family’s struggles and strong values. ~shared by @aggelika_tz

#savefamilyphotos #familyphotos #familyphoto #ancestry #familyhistory #oldfamilyphotos #vintagephotos #filmisnotdead #vintagephoto #oldphoto #oldphotos #ancestors #familyalbum

A picture is not only a reflection of people. It’s a reflection of compassion, love and memories.
-Sandra Edwards

This is my favorite photo of my beautiful Italian grandparents, Pat and Rose Porcellini. It was taken in the early 1930s in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

They were honeymooners and full of love and life.

Though the economy hit hard times in the 1930s, folks continued flocking to Atlantic City. It became even more well known when it became the city featured in the Depression-era hit board game, Monopoly, where players handled large sums of money and strategized to buy the best property along the boardwalk.

I just love how my grandmother, Rose, is holding a beach ball as a prop and how a guy who looks like “The Situation” from Jersey Shore is photo-bombing them!
Also they look so adorable in their matching, striped swim suits!

This photo is a glimpse into their young lives, before I ever knew them as my “grandparents.” I cherish it. ~shared by @friendswithtea

#savefamilyphotos #familyphotos #familyphoto #ancestry #familyhistory #oldfamilyphotos #vintagephotos #filmisnotdead #vintagephoto #oldphoto #oldphotos #ancestors #familyalbum

We all grow up with the weight of history on us. Our ancestors dwell in the attics of our brains as they do in the spiraling chains of knowledge hidden in every cell of our bodies. -Shirley Abbott

Even though I did not have the chance to have a close relationship with my grandmother because during her last years of life, she was very ill, with nurses 24/7, I grew up hearing amazing things about her.

She and my grandfather raised a family of 13 and worked to create a better life for my mother and all of her brothers and sisters.

But what really inspires me most about my grandmother is how she created a name for herself by building one of the first embroidery businesses, without any help. It later grew into a very successful family business.

So, I really want to follow in my grandmother’s footsteps and do what makes me happy. ~shared by @fabianml

#savefamilyphotos #familyphotos #familyphoto #ancestry #whpwomenwhoinspire #familyhistory #oldfamilyphotos #vintagephotos #filmisnotdead #vintagephoto #oldphoto #oldphotos #ancestors #familyalbum