I am midway through phase two of the construction of this website.  I have been giving each image a caption.  My purpose is to provide keywords that can be searched.  A box of photographs is almost worthless if you can’t find images you are seeking.  The photograph itself means more if you know what is happening in it.  Who is this?

For many of my old family photographs, I don’t know who is depicted.  I don’t know where or why the picture was taken.  It’s like a fossil removed from its context.  There are treasures here and there, but without context the story is lost.

I ask a favor of you.  If you see a photograph of someone and the caption reads “unknown” and you know the person or the story, please contact me to let me know.  If I have a name or story wrong, please let me know. 

Thank you.

I have another set of problems too.  What keywords should I make?  I’ve tried the basic journalism questions of who what when where why and how – when the answer is relevant. 

For example, I’ve done this once before.  I scanned nearly all of my negatives back around 2006.  A few years after that I was contacted by an African-American alumna of the college I attended, Cornell College in Mt. Vernon, Iowa.  She wanted to know if I would give her the set of photographs of African-American students of that era.  I couldn’t.  When I put those images in a database, I didn’t think it relevant to identify the race of the person depicted in any situation.  When I finally get to scanning those old negatives and giving them key words, I will add a keyword for Black, but only because it could be useful to those alumni.  (Edit:  I decided not to.  I don't feel comfortable identifying photographs by ethnic, racial, or religious descriptors.)

What will be useful for people?  I don’t know exactly.  I have an interest in old cars.  Consequently I try to identify the make model and year of old cars, trucks, and airplanes.  If you have any insights on this project, please let me know.

Again, thank you.