How to Make Richer Heritage Scrapbook Pages With Research

In our interview with Katie Scott on working with heritage photos to make scrapbook pages that tell interesting and enduring stories, she shared a number of approaches she takes for research.

Her approaches range from using specific websites and databanks (like military records and local historical societies) to getting the word out on the internet (with a personal heritage website, ancestry-specific websites, and FaceBook). To listen in, click here — and read on below to see how our team researched their heritage photos before putting them on the scrapbook page.

[hr]

Ronnie Crowley says, ” The pictures here show my Dad with his family. I  guessed they were taken  just before they left the Island of St. Vincent to travel to  Guatemala and then on to the United Kingdom.”

I did research at our local Genealogical Research Center using their access to Ancestry.com and found travel documents via an incoming passenger list into the United Kingdom. This gave me the name of the ship and the shipping line. With this information, I was able to locate a picture of the actual ship which helped complete my story.”

“My Granny was a brave lady to be willing to travel across the adlantic ocean with such a young family. I did it myself but I took a plane which took less than a day. I imagine this journey took a little longer. I need to do a comparison page for my all about me album!”

[hr]

Carrie Arick says, “My great-great-great-great grandmother, Alice, emigrated to America with her husband and four children from Ireland only to loose her husband shortly after. Somehow, she lifted the family out of poverty, bought a house, and went on to be instrumental in raising the funds for her church to erect a building in which to worship.”

“To get a glimpse into grandmother Alice’s life in Ireland, I used History Lines, which pulled up the major events of the time. I was able to go farther in depth with research through various history websites, books and Wikipedia.”

Alice’s story didn’t truly come together completely until reading many editions of her local paper at FultonHistory.com. While time consuming, it gave me context to fill out  her story. It was there I found information about her work raising money to build a permanent location for her church. I was then able to contact the church for more information, which they were happy to share. While there are still gaps in her story, I feel like I know her well now.”

[hr]

Katie Scott says, “This is a photo of my great-grandmother’s friends and sister on vacation in Florida in 1959.”

“I am always thrilled to find an old photo with notes on the back of it.  I recognized the surname of one of the ladies as being my ‘Big Nana’ (great-grandmother)’s sister so I researched her life on Ancestry.com and discovered that the sisters were from a family of 15 children of Irish Immigrants living in Boston.”

“I put the photo up on FaceBook and tagged several of my relatives to ask for more information about this photo. Three of them responded within an hour, and I printed out the responses and taped them to the back of this paper layout.  I also researched the location of the photo: a warm mineral springs in Venice, Florida. I then found images of brochures of the springs from the 1950s, using a Google image search. I printed them out in the shape of a Florida cut-out collage.”

[hr]

Deborah Wagner says, “This is a photo of my maternal grandmother. I know very little about her because she passed away when my mom was only seven. After her death, my mom was sent to an orphanage. Because of her traumatic childhood, my mom doesn’t remember very much, and never liked to talk about it. Now, she has Alzheimer’s disease and cries every time we try to bring it up.”

“I searched many websites. After many hours, I tracked down long-lost relatives through the Rootcellar section of the Ancestral Findings website and I was able to get the details to record the progress of her life through schooling, marriage, personal struggles, illnesses, and children. It is a sad story, but I’m thankful to know a little more about her. It has given me an even greater appreciation of my mother. I wish I could thank my grandmother for giving her to me.”