Persistence of memory

It takes commitment to preserve a family's history, but payoff comes generations later

You’ve probably seen theme before: Old pictures of people, folks who might even share some physical characteristics with you.

Turn the photo over. If you are lucky, there will be some writing on the back to tell you who is in the picture. More likely, that is not the case.

And so history begins to fade.

Our Latino families love photographs. And we have plenty of them, thanks to our extended families – we’ve got to have shots of our cousins, nieces and nephews.

But photos need to have more than a date/time stamp on them to have meaning decades from now.

If you’ve got shoeboxes stuffed with photos, then you need help getting a grip on your family’s history. And with the holidays around the corner, taking on the task of identifying photos could be a project that pays off for everyone.

We strongly recommend taking a vote among family siblings to elect one person to coordinate your preservation efforts; that way, there is continuity to the process.

We consulted scrapbook expert Gina Hernandez Favela on how to organize photos into a simple story; talked to a digital storyteller on ways to interview family members; researched preservation formats for film and video; and rounded up resources for Hispanics to track down important documents to tell their family histories.

In short, we are offering you a primer on ways to preserve your family history.

Even better, at Latino Perspectives’ Web site, we invite you to share your family’s story with other Latinos in the Valley. These stories, along with A Legacy Lost and Found, the Hispanic heritage project that LPM has been publishing, form a vital collection of history about Latino families in the Phoenix area. For details on how you can participate in the online version of Legacy and contribute your family’s story, turn to page 43 or visit www.latinopm.com.

Favela’s sister-in-law Rosie (who is also a scrapbook maven) had introduced her to scrap booking about 10 years before. She says she fell in love with preserving memories in bound books.

“I had hosted an event in my home, and started attending (Rosie’s) workshops,” Favela says. “It became my hobby.” Then, Favela realized she could do scrap book workshops for a living. She eventually quit her job as an accounts payable clerk for a health insurance company to become a consultant for Creative Memories, a scrap book supplies company.

Favela leads exclusive workshops for women who want to learn the basics of scrap booking, as well as more advanced sessions for experienced crafters. Not only is the hobby an important method for preserving family memories, it gives the maker a chance to take a breather, Favela says.

“I strictly do women only – a parent needs a little break from the children,” she says, adding there are special weekend retreats to Prescott and Payson.

Most of her clients (she estimates 75 percent) are Latinas who seek to put a Hispanic spin on the stories of their family vacations and events such as weddings, baptisms and quinceañeras. Scrap booking not only allows them to use safe, ready-made papers on which to mount photos, it also offers space in which they can write details about the images.

You don’t have to hold an art degree to make a scrapbook, either.

“One of the things that scares people is that they think, ‘I am not creative,’ but scrap booking is not just for crafty people,” Favela says. “There are some people who do phenomenal pages, but my beginners I teach to do simple pages to complete their albums.”

Favela advises starting with current family photos to get the hang of putting together a scrap book page. 

She also recommends purchasing an album that is acid- and lignin-free, both of which can damage photographs over time. Adhesive made for scrap booking, a waterproof, fade-resistant and permanent ink pen for journaling, plus a special pencil for labeling the backs of photos are other tools you’ll need to get started.

If you are wondering why these items are so scrap-book specific, it is because older photo books relied upon “magnetic” pages to hold the images; the glue damaged the photos and made it tough to remove them without tearing. (If you have these types of older books, consider using a digital camera to copy, or a digital scanner to capture the images.)

Keep your photos, before they are placed in albums, away from strong light, humidity and heat. Favela recommends storing pictures at 70 degrees Fahrenheit and 40 percent humidity.

“When I give my classes I emphasize who, what, when, and where,” Favela says, pointing out that scrap books often are placed on coffee tables to share with visitors. “These are displayed in your home. You are telling your life story. And you’re going to hand it down.”

Embellishing pages is fun and can run the gamut from simple stickers to ink stamping and small art crafts for decorating the pages.

Most important is the attempt to tell a simple story over the course of a few pages or at a single glance. Here are some important things to include, according to Memory Makers magazine:
Keep future generations in mind when telling a story.

Record surnames throughout the book. This is especially important for Latino surnames, including the surnames of your children.

Maiden names, which are a special part of Hispanic naming tradition and can be used to indicate extended family members.

Use first person sparingly, and fall back into identifying yourself for the sake of future clarity.

Use a date on each page. Future viewers will thank you for not forcing them to do the math, instead of enjoying the photos.

Make family connections with brief descriptions. Don’t worry about making these sentences prose worthy; just the facts are fine.

Favela says “scrappers” have a variety of books from which to choose. Traditional books allow for the addition of new pages, for an ongoing project that covers a time period or a specific subject. PicFolios, a Creative Memories product, allows users to slide photos and documents into special archival sleeves – no cropping involved.

Digital storybook albums are the newest format. Family scrap book enthusiasts upload images to their computer, then download free software to plug photos into pre-designed pages and type in journal details. The albums can then be saved to your computer desktop, burned to a CD or ordered online to arrive at your doorstep, bound and ready to enjoy.

Lastly, all your work needs to be treated well, Favela says.

“Store albums upright on a shelf, if possible,” she advises. “Or lay it singly on a table.” She also says there are page protectors specifically made to slip over scrap book pages to shield contents from harm.

Film buffs from the any decade know that technology being what it is, there’s usually an upgrade right around the corner.

That holds for family movies on 8 and 16mm or on videocassettes and slides. Celluloid and triacetate film were once thought to be the height of archival formats, but classic films from the dawn of moving pictures have suffered from cellulose acetate degradation, also known as “vinegar syndrome.” Vinegar syndrome causes film to curl, stretch, then shrink, eventually making it so brittle that it breaks up.

The move among amateur photographers has been to preserve digitally in a compact disc format, but if you are thinking that DVDs are safe, even they degrade over time – some experts say as short as two to five years, depending upon how the discs are stored. The bad news for us in the southwest is that direct sunlight and extreme heat can hasten the degradation of DVDs.

Still, for many family historians DVDs offer a more compact way of storing copies of original images for future retrieval – until something better comes along. There are a number of local camera shops and services that can transfer your family images to DVD. Better yet, a few offer to string together your family images into a kind of movie, complete with a pre-packaged soundtrack.

For example Ritz Camera, which has several locations around the Valley, will transfer photos, film, slides or prints onto a DVD and automatically insert chapters at natural breaks to ease future searching. As a bonus, Ritz will put together three one-minute movies created from the best footage of your transfer complete with music. These are meant for viewing on a PC. Another option is to have a specific number of images transferred to a DVD, choose a menu background (design themes cover events such as weddings, births, and celebrations) then add some music.

Before making the decision to transfer your family images to DVD, you should consider the cost, as the process is not inexpensive.

A single videotape transferred to DVD runs about $30; 1,600 feet of 8- or 16mm (up to 3,200 feet of 16mm) is about the same price.

If you want to transfer slides, be aware that most places will not accept slides mounted in metal holders, carousels, trays or sheets. You must edit the number of slides to the best images, as the base price usually covers only about 20 images per DVD. Transfer of photo prints usually are restricted in size to 8X10s and are usually saved in a jpeg format.

So what is the safest way to archive your family photos and films?

For those who are unwilling to give all their family materials to a camera shop for transferring, there is an option that, despite the initial cost, sounds viable, safe and fairly easy.

An external hard drive offers some safety and durability for home archivists, and is a handy device that can be compared to an i-pod, except it is not quite as portable and has more storage space.

The external hard drive can work in tandem with a video card (also called a graphics accelerator), which accepts video input (such as from a camcorder or VHS in a video player) that can then be stored in the drive.

Costs for the pair will run about $300. An external hard drive with plenty of space will run between $80 and $100; the video card is about twice that.

Still photos can also be scanned as high resolution and saved in the external hard drive; these should be saved as tiff or eps   files instead of jpegs, as the compression process on the latter can result in loss of data information.

Placing home video in an external hard drive means it will be safe from degradation, although the drive format itself will be subject to change at some point in the future (remember, technology is forever improving).

A word about backing up image files: If you choose to save on an external hard drive, you should burn the stored images onto the best DVD you can afford, and plan on doing this process every couple of years. For another backup, consider donating your materials to ASU’s Chicano Archives, where duplicates are made and stored and originals are returned to you.

Still better, share your family’s history at Latino Perspective’s new Web pages, where Latinos are adding their stories to our cultural archive. See page 43 for details on how you can participate.

We are asked to fill out forms everywhere from the office to restaurants to department stores. Most of us might view these papers as annoying junk.

Yet your parents and relatives may have a wealth of information about your family history stashed in boxes or folders. Light, dust and handling can damage these paper treasures, so it is important to know how to preserve them.

Many experts recommend photographing documents and saving them to CDs for future reference. There are also places such as ASU’s Chicano Archives that welcomes a family’s personal papers; copies of the documents are kept for public research at the archive while the family keeps the originals. Special non-acid, non-lignan sleeves can preserve these fragile documents in scrapbooks or document folders.

Among local resources you can access are the Arizona State Archives, where you can search public records such as tax assessment rolls, coroner or justice court records, Territorial Prison records, Superior Court documents (including pre-WWII marriage licenses, wills and probate cases, plus civil and criminal cases).

Should you find an online reference to a family document, you will have to request a copy in writing. The Internet has made this process easy, but not necessarily faster, so be patient.

Here are some key forms and certificates that can add immense value to your legacy project:

Birth certificates: Besides your relatives’ birth date (sometimes the time) and place of birth, this document will also list parents, and sometimes their birth information. You can also check the archives of churches where your family’s baptisms were conducted.

Death certificates: It may seem morbid at first to look for a death certificate, but there are items on the paper that help add context to the time of the subject’s death. Besides the date, there is the location of residence and place of burial. Depending on where the certificate was issued, there may be extra information about the deceased’s parents (as well as their dates and places of birth); how long the deceased was a resident; and whether he/she was a veteran. Other death documents to consider looking for: wills and probate files, in which heirs will be listed (spouses and children); in some cases, a will may be the only document written by your ancestor.

Wedding certificates: Besides place, names and date, this document will also list the person who administered the vows plus the couple’s witnesses, who often are relatives as well.

Immigration records: These types of documents are kept in the National Archives. You might also look for passenger lists, which can sometimes be found online.

Military records: You’ll need the time period, branch of service and specific war, if your relative served on the battlefield. These records are also kept in the National Archives, but many veterans’ groups also maintain online archives.

Land records: Land deeds and other documents showing transactions are usually found at the county courthouses where you’ll be searching for your family’s vital records. However, there are more than 2 million federal land records (from 1820 – 1908) at the Bureau of Land Management’s site, glorecords.blm.gov.

Letters: These, perhaps, are the most precious of personal papers. Correspondence can be mundane, but the beauty of letters is being able to discern a personality behind the words. Letters can make family documentaries come alive with feeling and description. If you should decided to undertake creating a short movie in digital form, consider reading from a letter to add a very personal touch to your film.

Ephemera: These papers can be anything from event tickets to dance cards to grade school report cards to papel picado. Again, these pieces add context to your project, allowing the viewer to catch a glimpse of times past.

Can the average person tell a family story effectively?

Yes, according to a storytelling expert who gave us a look at creating digital mini-movies.

Daniel Weinshenker, director of the Center for Digital Storytelling in Denver, says finding a family story, or interviewing a family member, can be a very natural process.

“We tell stories all day long, every day. That is how we communicate with people,” he says. “The first hurdle to get over is thinking that the things we do every day don’t count as stories.”

Instead, we need to realize that telling stories distills the essence of the things we do, he says. This is important for Latinos, who have a rich oral history that largely has not been documented, particularly from within its own community. This last part is crucial to the passing on of accurate information.

“Once you’ve taken the stories out of the hands of the people who lived it, you lose what’s important,” Weinshenker says. “It’s the ability to maintain control over your own story.”

You should begin by narrowing the story down to a particular theme, event or incident, he advises.

“Start with something small. You should not tell a life story, but rather a short story that will tell your life well and have an impact,” he says, adding that “long chunks of video are sometimes not even of interest to our own families!”

Take a cue from professional journalists, who learn not to ask questions that can be answered in one word. (Check out our interviewing tips box for guidance.) You’re seeking a conversation, not an interrogation. Also, remember that if the subject suddenly recalls something remarkable, let them talk – it could end up being the highlight of your story.

Once you have written down questions, it’s time to begin interviews. Events like family reunions are ideal for gathering several interviews. Pick a quiet corner for the interview; you may also set up a video camera on a tripod. Go for natural lighting, and clear audio. Have your questions ready -- then go for it. If the subject or interviewer messes up, try again – you can always edit these flubs out of the final movie.

“The idea is to get families to do them with each other,” Weinshenker says. For example, pair a grandson and a grandmother. “Not only do you get an (interview), but the process of doing these stories together connects the generations and family.”

Software to make mini-movies can be found free online; even Windows has Moviemaker software, which can use both video and still photos. You can also access the Center for Digital Storytelling’s Cookbook, which is loaded with advice on creating a digital mini-film. The Center, which is opening a Phoenix office, hosts three-day digital boot camps in which participants write, shoot and edit their own stories. (For more on the center, visit www.storycenter.org.)

Adding music is also a nice touch, especially if you are stringing together photos. Most software will have simple instructions on how to add music.

For Weinshenker, though, what “really brings that story to life is the words.” Correspondence from the past about another person or event, observations and memories, even a thank-you letter penned to someone who’s died can provide powerful words for your mini-movie. Read your scripts out loud, for timing and feedback. Write no more than a page of writing; Weinshenker estimates a 300-word narrative will fit about a three-minute piece.

Use a conversational tone when reading out loud, Weinshenker says, to impart a feeling of intimacy.

“There’s a misconception, that the only audience for this piece is this one person, but you tap into society’s voyeurism, and it makes the audience feel special, like you’re being told a secret,” he says.