I have at least four copies of this photograph of my Ufkes great-grandparents taken around the time of their marriage in Hancock County, Illinois, in 1916, possibly more. It was not worth the time of going through all my photographs in order to see if there was one more copy in my collection that has yet to be inventoried and cataloged. Some of my copies are originals and other are reproductions. The reproductions are of varying sizes.
How many copies do I need to keep? Do I need to keep every one? There’s a limit to the number of prints of these that I need to keep in my collection. I’m inclined to think that I will shoot to retain two of them in my collection. The others I will see if relatives are inclined to want. That way prints of this picture are in other locations besides my collection.
I need to look at all the copies of this picture though and make certain I get the best digital copy of the image possible. I also need to look at the back of each copy of this photograph in case some different clue is written on one of them that is not on any of the others.
I’m lucky to have more than one copy of this picture. I realize that. The home my great-grandparents were living in burned in 1923 when they were living in it. My great-grandfather’s father may have also been living with them at that time as the home was originally his. Based on other family ephemera that has been passed down, some family items were saved from the home. No one perished in the fire, but family tradition of injuries has not passed down to the current generation.
Not everyone is fortunate enough to have multiple copies of the same photograph. I am lucky that I have photograph collections obtained from several different deceased members of my family. Not everyone is that lucky.
But if you do have multiple copies of the same photograph have you thought about what to do with them?
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