Thanks to Denise Olson at Family Matters for pointing out the value of Flickr for family history projects. If you don’t already know, Flickr is a web based application which allows you to upload, edit, archive and share your photographs with others. The basic account is simple to set up and free. For a modest $25 a year, you can get a Flickr Pro account with unlimited space. I discovered Flickr when I was writing my mother’s life story. It was perfect for uploading her photographs and organizing them into groups. I could even edit and clean up some of the more damaged pictures. To me, Flickr’s great value is that it provides a secure place to keep your treasured photos. You no longer have to fear that should your hard drive crash, all your photos will be wiped out.
Of value too are Flickr groups:
Groups are a way for people to come together around a common interest, be it a love of small dogs, a passion for food, a recent wedding or an interest in exploring photographic techniques. And if you can’t find a group which interests you, it’s super-easy to start your own.
Groups can either be public, public (invite only) or completely private. Every group has a pool for sharing photos and videos and a discussion board for talking.
Flickr has 36 million users and an assortment of groups of particular interest to personal historians. Here’s a sample:
- Old Photos has more than 4,600 members and over 47,000 photos in the collection.
- 100 Years Old has more than 4,000 members and over 9,000 photos – each more than 100 years old.
- Scrapbook has 1,754 members and close to 17,000 photos.
If you want to organize and manage your family, check out Flickr. You won’t be disappointed.
Photo by Mohammad Tajer
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Posted in Editing, How to, Life stories, Photos, Preservation, Resources, Tips
Tagged Editing, family history, flickr, photo organization, photo sharing