If this window is in the way, you can drag any edge in any direction with your mouse.

My memory tends to be scattered, and even sometimes incorrect. By the time I completed this project, my memory was pretty much back in alignment. For the first time in my life I could see when, where and how things happened. What a pleasant surprise; kind of like having an intangible load removed from the back of your mind that you didn't even know was there!

This is not just about me or mine; there are many other people in these pictures who could equally benefit from a casual exploration of this collection, as could their children and descendants. As the search engines find these names and add them to their databases, they will be discovered the next time somebody runs a search for them.

However, many people in these photos are not identified. If you know who they are, give me their names. (You can do so here, but it might be easier to go to the relevant gallery and click on 'Comment' where you can look at their picture as you type.) Be sure to tell me which picture(s) you are referring to.

This information should also prove invaluable to anybody putting together a genealogy, such as I have done for the Blakeman, Davidson and Greenleaf families, and hope to do for my VanCleve heritage.

I have made each identification as accurate as I can get it. For each, the estimated date the photo was taken and the best-guess location are provided. Two or more versions of each name are given within each dated gallery of photos showing their official name and the name they were generally known by at the time.

Unfortunately, almost no date is accurate to the day, unless it was taken on a birthday or obvious holiday. Even there, the year could be off, though hopefully not. In many, the month was a pure guess based on apparent age progression, furniture placement as compared to the same in nearby photos, seasonal clothing, vegetation, open or closed windows, etc..

Hence, I need what you know. If you can nail down a date or place that appears to be missing or incorrect, or even a better approximation, please let me know. Every gallery page has a comment button for this purpose.

First, click on the gallery image to see the full screen copy. That is where you will find this information. Within the text of most photo pages, you will usually see a date, a place, names if known and perhaps a description.
Got a story that relates to a photo, or just a comment you would like to make, an old letter, news article, whatever? Type, paste or copy it in. I'll add it to this story.

If you will be commenting on a specific image, tell me which one it is, like "The 1980 page, 6th row, 3rd right". Or:
  1. do a right-click on the gallery image and a
  2. left-click on "Copy link location", or
  2. "Inspect Element" in Internet Explorer, and
  3. Copy (Ctrl-C).
Then click on the comment button and Paste it (Ctrl-V) into the Message box on the comment page that opens up.

This is my second attempt at this endeavor. In 2010 I ran about 3400 35mm negatives through a $105 film scanner, a "Wolverine F2D 35mm Film to Digital Image Converter". The results were less then ideal, but at least they were permanently* archived and also online.

* Note that "permanent" is relative. It will require somebody somewhere keeping this website alive after I am gone.

As I learned the hard and expensive way with my solar installation at my previous home in Joshua Tree, CA, some things should be done by the pros.

In 2013, I mailed the first of four negative collections to DigMyPics.com in Gilbert, AZ. They processed those through a $7000 "Nikon Super CoolScan LS-9000 Film Scanner". This 1st batch cost me $261 for 207 selected negatives. You will see the results on this web site.
Also I have written the software to integrate those into the web pages for this compilation, totaling about the same number of 3400 digitized negatives, though I only used 2,628 of them in the final galleries.

Be forewarned that some negatives were seriously damaged while in storage over the decades even though they were still in their original envelopes. Some of those stuck together so thoroughly that when I pulled them apart, parts of the emulsion on one would detach from its film and stick to its neighbor. On a some of these, I spent up to two hours or more in Photoshop per negative making repairs. On others I just did a quick fill of the holes, so the defects are still obvious.
If any of these are special to you, let me know and I will be happy to have a reason to put in the time to make them better.

Enjoy!