Family History

Old reels and cases that stored our family history!
Pic courtesy of Mom.


Mom had old family movies from the late 1940's going into the 1950's on reels. I remember watching these with her projector on a screen when I was a little tyke, but I think that was the last time anyone was able to watch these movies. The films were getting brittle and would crack whenever you tried to watch them. For the last thirty years they have been stored in her basement.





We did not want to lose the family history, but did not know what to do with them until fifteen years ago. Once they could be made into VHS tapes, we never got around to it for one reason or another. Now VHS tapes and VCRs are also a part of the past. We had to get them burned onto a DVD.

In August we finally dug the reels out of Mom and Marv's basement and took them into our local photography store. The photographer then sent them to somewhere and they were able to burn her old movies onto DVDs for us.

Mom and I picked up our DVD's Saturday and sat down to watch them Saturday night. I am so glad we finally took our family history in and had it modernized! It was neat to see videos of my Mom and Aunt when they were little girls. It was neat to see videos of my Grandpa who passed away before I was born. My Grandpa would have been in his late twenties and thirties when these movies were filmed. My cousin who is now in his thirties looks alot like our Grandpa did! I was blessed to know several of my great-Grandparents when they were in their seventies and eighties. I got to see what they looked like as much more active people in their fifties.

There were faces that Mom recogized from her childhood, but did not remember their names. Could not remember if they were family or friends. I'm sure if Grandma was still with us she could fill in some of the missing names for us. We have other members of the family who may be able to help with some of the faces.

We have several VHS tapes from when our kids were little. At this time we are still able to watch them on a VCR. By the time our kids are grown and have families of their own, VCRs will be obsolete. I better make sure to take care of those tapes and get them made into DVDs or whatever technology will bring to us next.