Photo album —what to do with this?

[iris lilies]

Here I am again crowdsourcing opinion on what I should do with a bunch of old photographs. ( you guys helped me decide on action with a previous batch of photographs going to an estranged family member. )

I have an album of photos. The album belonged to my friend who was murdered by her husband in the year 2001. I pulled the album out of the dumpster after her family had cleaned out her house and they threw stuff in the dumpster. That was my first mistake of course because now I feel responsible for it.
It coontains photos of her and varios people, including her murdering husband.

ugh.

Suggestions on what to do with this?

[Tradd]

Throw it out after removing any pictures of your friend you might like to have.

[razz]

Throw it out after removing any pictures of your friend you might like to have.

+1

[Yppej]

If there is a website commemorating her possibly upload some of the pictures there.

[Teacher Terry]

I agree with tradd.

[pinkytoe]

Yikes, I would pitch it and as mentioned perhaps save 1-2 photos of your friend. I have the same dilemma with a file folder I have saved of my brother's bits of paperwork/photos. He died at 31 and few will remember him except me - so I feel the guilt of letting go of the traces of his short time on earth.

[SteveinMN]

+whatever. Save whichever images you want and don't feel badly about tossing the rest. Hey, even her own family did that...

[Tybee]

That's a really sad situation. I guess I'd keep a few of her and like Steve said, if her own family did not want them--but are you sure about that, or did the husband throw them out? And how would you find her family members again?

I guess if I were going to destroy them I would do it in some way that blessed her life, sort of like a neighborhood memorial service or something.

Maybe other neighbors would like the pictures?

So awful.

[catherine]

Can you digitize the pictures that best represent your friend and pitch the rest? Does she have any family deserving of these photos?

I don't know if you're like me, but it sounds like you feel that you are responsible for her memory. I feel exactly the same way about my greataunt--the one I loved so much. She had one son who died when he was 3 years old. After that, it was my mother (her niece--an only child) and me. I have lain awake nights sad because I am the last keeper of her memory, and she deserves to be remembered.

But, in the end, who of us will be remembered in 50 years? 75 years? 100 years? We may be some link on Ancestry.com, or a gravestone in a cemetery, but that's it.

So if having those photos gives YOU comfort, keep one or two or ten. If not, cherish her memory, and accept it for what it is.

[Gardnr]

Here I am again crowdsourcing opinion on what I should do with a bunch of old photographs. ( you guys helped me decide on action with a previous batch of photographs going to an estranged family member. )

I have an album of photos. The album belonged to my friend who was murdered by her husband in the year 2001. I pulled the album out of the dumpster after her family had cleaned out her house and they threw stuff in the dumpster. That was my first mistake of course because now I feel responsible for it.
It coontains photos of her and varios people, including her murdering husband.

ugh.

Suggestions on what to do with this?

Do you have a contact to the family? If yes, make that contact. Tell them you salvaged the album and ask if they would like it back.

I say this because Mom had me get rid of Dad's stuff and then later was angry it was gone. I had kept it and she was grateful to have it back.