[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Family Photograph Database

[Nancy Gertner]

Dwayne:

The best suggestion I can think of is to develop a spreadsheet using a 
data base program like Excel, which would allow you to record different 
fields of data, and to sort the data by the fields, and to search the 
data base with keywords that would appear in the fields.

I'd suggest assigning a unique number to each photo.  Your data base 
could show the year, location, who's in the photo, who the source was, 
etc.  If you have it from multiple sources, you could have fields for 
Source1, Source2, etc.  You could also have a field for notes, and in 
this you could do Notes1, Notes2, NotesMe, which could explain the 
different theories on whose image is in the photo.  The "Me" column 
containing your opinion on whose version of people in the photo might 
be more credible.

Your numbering system could be based on alphanumerics, using a 
letter(s) from the surname, and maybe you'd want to use the same 
numbers from your GEDCOM if it assigns a number to each individual in 
the data base.  The number of the photo could be based on the most 
senior person in the photo.

The Alphas could be based on the surname, and if you want to use these 
for searching, they could include reference to more than one 
individual, using a unique Alpha character for each surname in your 
grandparent or great-grandparent tree, or however you choose to 
organize them.

KGJMSZ1.2.5C1869JM for example, could be used in my photo collection as 
the number for a photo with Johann August Jahnke as the senior subject, 
taken in Chicago, 1869, with wife Julia and daughter Mary also in the 
photo.  The GJMSZ indicates the people in the photo are also descended 
from ancestors Grams, Jesse, Mallas, Sonnenburg and Ziemer, though of 
course this makes the nomenclature more complex than it needs to be, 
since a system with only one Alpha character could be used.  Finding 
earlier generation(s) of ancestors would complicate the numbering 
system, though for most of us, the likelihood of finding photos (or 
likenesses of their image) of ancestors before 1869 is fairly rare, 
especially for earlier generations.  The nomenclature should be 
something that is logical for you, the user.

Yes, this would be a labor intensive effort, but it might be able to 
save you duplication of effort and help you to focus your research.

Nancy

On Mar 7, 2005, at 7:19 AM, My Ancestors wrote:

> I am interested in knowing how others have managed acquired or scanned 
> photos
> relating to their ancestoral research. I am finding that my database 
> has
> gotten large and the name of the file containing the photo is usually 
> only
> partially helpful.
> Usually the names of the people, the location of the photo and the 
> time of it
> are data that is acquired. If possible, I try to get some additional 
> info and
> even a story related to the photo. All this has been put onto paper, 
> but is
> not in a searchable database. I am considering putting this data in the
> "Properties" portion related to a file and using Google Desktop to 
> search for
> it, but that may not be a complete solution. I would like to also be 
> able to
> know if there are duplicates of the photo.
>
> I have been sharing these photos with others which leads to more 
> discussion,
> more threads for followup research, and ultimately more photos.
> Unfortunaltely, I sometimes forget which photos I have already 
> discussed with
> people, and spend additional time going back over them on a subsequent 
> visit.
> What I am finding is that the knowledgeable people are usually in the 
> 70s or
> later, and even they sometimes disagree on the people in the photos. 
> Somehow,
> this info needs to be managed to be of help in my research. I am 
> realizing is
> that there is a limited amount of time before the people pass away and 
> any
> uncollected data is lost, and relevant photos are dispersed to the next
> generations.
>
> Do some people have methods that
> work and would be applicable to this problems.
> Dwayne