{"id":3792,"date":"2016-12-15T19:57:34","date_gmt":"2016-12-15T19:57:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rootdig.genealogytipoftheday.com\/?p=3792"},"modified":"2016-12-15T20:49:14","modified_gmt":"2016-12-15T20:49:14","slug":"never-stick-a-photograph-in-a-book","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rootdig.genealogytipoftheday.com\/?p=3792","title":{"rendered":"Never Stick a Photograph in a Book"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is a lesson in what not to do.<\/p>\n

\"found-mom-grandma\"<\/a>

The picture is sticking out of the book for this illustration. I couldn’t actually see it until the book was opened to where it had been placed.<\/p><\/div>\n

In the fall of 2015 my great-aunt sent me a picture of my late mother and my grandmother. I had never seen the picture before and was fortunate to get it.<\/p>\n

I immediately took a picture of the photograph with my phone in order to share and preserve it. I was busy at the time and instead of putting it with my other old photographs and ephemera, I tucked it firmly in what I thought would be a safe place.<\/p>\n

a book<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What could be a safer place to tuck a genealogy photograph than my copy of Evidence Explained<\/a>?\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0That way the picture would not get lost and would be protected by the book. Real life has a way of thrusting more immediate priorities in our faces and I immediately forgot about the photograph.<\/p>\n

A few months later while reviewing iamges\u00a0I had uploaded to Dropbox, I saw my photo of the photograph and decided that would be an excellent time to put it where it belonged: with my other photographs. Before I forgot again.<\/p>\n

Except it was not in the book where I was certain I had placed it. \u00a0I knew<\/em> it was in my copy of\u00a0Evidence Explained<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>which usually sits fairly close to my computer in a safe, protected place.\u00a0EE\u00a0<\/em>is a fat, thick tome and would protect the picture. Certainly the genealogy gods would look kindly on me for storing a photograph in such a place. Paging through the book made no difference. The picture was not to be found. I resigned myself to the fact that it had fallen out unnoticed and was probably lost. I was glad that I had taken a picture of it with my phone the minute I opened the envelope it was mailed in.<\/p>\n

I was frustrated. It was the only picture I had of my Mother as a young child with her mother. While I’m not certain who took the original picture. Based upon the surroundings it was most likely taken at my great-grandparents’ farm east of Basco, Illinois. For some reason there was not a copy of it with my Grandmother’s things. I was just fortunate that my great-aunt sent it to me.<\/p>\n

Today I found it.<\/p>\n

In a book.<\/p>\n

While looking for something totally unrelated, I “rediscovered” my copy of\u00a0A Nationality of Her Own<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em>I decided it would make good reading material while proctoring final exams. \u00a0I knew I had not actually finished the last few chapters of the book.<\/p>\n

While leafing through the book, there it was. It would have jumped out at me had it not been\u00a0tucked firmly away, right where I put it. There was a younger version of my mother looking right at me. I swear she was rolling her eyes at me in her typical way.<\/p>\n

Except at that age she never dreamed a child of her own one day would see that picture and have a reaction that was\u00a0a combination of tearing up and swearing.<\/p>\n

The tearing up was at the memory of my mother. The swearing was at myself. I need to make that clear.<\/p>\n

And there’s a few other things to make clear as well:<\/p>\n