This past year’s project was updating our Family Photo Tree. And that meant reacquainting myself with the Windows computer platform (ugh!) in order to use a remarkable piece of genealogical software called Gigatrees. For a Mac person, navigating the Windows operating system to edit code is not intuitive (frankly, editing code in ANY platform isn’t intuitive). Onward I slogged, following notes written a couple years earlier in the event I’d still be around to update our tree. What I didn’t realize at the time was the power of genealogical software to organize and share hundreds of family photos. That became the goal.
Sooney and I are officially the elders in our stateside Viani family. Were one to consider the entire Viani clan, my cousin Pietro Viani (in his mid-80’s) is the patriarch. But he’s over in Italy, growing grapes and pressing olives in Villa Viani. So, I’m taking on the task of compiling the tree for him and Vittoria. And, of course, for the hundreds of relatives I’ve been able to identify and add to our tree.
Revisiting this formidable task was inspired by 4 large plastic tubs, stacked neatly in our garage, containing nearly a dozen photo albums and boxes packed with mis-labeled envelopes full of prints and negatives. Our local Bi-Mart store frequently offered specials of three 3×5″ prints for the price of one. It worked; we had dozens of rolls of film processed there and would send the bonus copies to both sets of grandparents. That was back in the early 90’s after we’d returned from overseas teaching to live here in Ashland. Well, those extra prints ended up in envelopes, were shoved into boxes, and have been carefully stored in our garage for years with the passing of our parents. We promised ourselves never to do that to Alicia and, of course, those plastic tubs just sat there.
To be truthful, it took years getting these photos scanned into a digital format. Years ago, our nephew visited and dutifully scanned dozens of photos using our older Epson Photo scanner. Versions of this wonderful tool are still available. These scanners are different from conventional flat-bed scanners because, when enabled, a light in the lid permits transparencies and negatives to be scanned as well as paper prints. He seriously tackled the boxes and the resulting digital files have been stored on my computer ever since. But these images were poorly labeled, served no-one for years and, after much procrastination, the Family Photo Tree Project was launched.
The first step was organizing all the photo files in a single location. Let’s face it, with the ubiquitous phone cameras with us all day, the number of photos we’ve amassed has exploded like rabbits. Making matters worse, many of us tend to keep everything. And then there are the thousands of photos on our computers from years past. Well, these are NOT the ones that populate the Family Photo Tree; the photos I’m gathering are those of our ancestors. There’s not a single landscape in the bunch, no matter how beautiful that sunset was. Employing powerful photo editing software that comes with all computers nowadays, I created a special album called TREE and gathered all the keepers into it. I then exported them to a folder/directory on my computer’s hard drive (e.g. Documents). Fear not; the exported photos are copies, and the originals are safely stored in your computer’s photo library. Furthermore, if you’ve been prudent, everything has been backed up on a remote drive.
With all the photos in a single folder on my hard drive, I renamed them sensibly using the following protocol: (last name)_(first name)_(middle)_(some characteristic memo)_#. So, one file of my father looked like this: viani_joseph_lou_shadow_01. The reason for this is that they’ll be instantly organized in alphabetical order. If there are duplicates, I compare them later and simply append a letter to the number (1b, 1c, etc.). Once every photo of dad has been renamed, I place them in an appropriately-named directory of its own: Viani_Joseph_Louis. Once that’s done, all the Viani directories are organized into their own “family” directory: Viani Family. But wait—my mother isn’t a Viani, so take care to organize photos by their “birth” surnames. So far so good.
Genealogical software is readily available for desktop computers. I’ve used Family Tree Maker for years. Web-based providers (e.g. Ancestry and FamilySearch) also host family information. These tools are actually databases that provide an easy way to enter data about your ancestors (last name, first name, birth year, birth place, etc.). I take my laptop to our local library and use their licensed copy of Ancestry to search for family information and then enter found data into my laptop software. All said and done, I’ve got data on over 1,500 persons: aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins, and cousins of cousins. The key, however, is that I also have 412 photos of about 80 of these people and my computer’s software allows me to LINK the photos with people. With my eventual objective to make this web-based, I export a special genealogy-specific file to be used later. It’s called a GEDCOM file.
So here’s the significance of my earlier whining about working on a PC. There is a special Windows (only) program that imports that special GEDCOM file and, employing its features, I was able to produce a customized copy of our Family Photo Tree suitable for uploading to my server. This may not be for everyone, and the steps may appear formidable, but the software developer, Tim Forsyth, was right there via email when I needed help. The proof is in the pudding; the resulting publication meets my expectations to a tee—an online version of our Family Photo Tree, complete with photos that many relatives have never seen and, if desired, may download effortlessly to their own devices. How’s that for efficiency?
To summarize, here are the steps leading to creating a web-based Family Photo Tree:
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- Find genealogical software that works on your device. I use Family Tree Maker (for Macintosh), and it allows me to enter unlimited data and photos about individuals. All this is saved locally and backed up regularly. The wonderful Rogue Valley Genealogical Society Library has skilled staff who know a lot more than I about pairing your computer setup with your publishing strategies.
- Export the generic GEDCOM file if you wish to display your Family Photo Tree on the web. This is a basic function of desktop genealogy software.
- To post your Family Photo Tree on the web, there are services (e.g. Ancestry and FamilySearch) that permit members to upload information to their massive databases. In lieu of their products, I rent server space hosted by Hostinger that provides me web storage for my own projects (our Family Photo Tree, my photos, my sobirds.us website, and Alicia’s Music Vault). This is all backed up regularly.
- Enter Gigatrees software. This is the free Windows-based program that imports my GEDCOM file and spits out a comprehensive Family Photo Tree. I learned how to run Windows on my Mac so didn’t need any additional equipment. Important: Because posting personal data of living persons is unwise for security reasons, Gigatrees permits me to generate a Family Photo Tree that has “privatized” (a geeky verb) personal information about living persons. That means their first names, birth data, and links to photos is removed. Here’s the link to my privatized Family Photo Tree.
- There are circumstances when information about living persons is shared with others doing research. For that reason, I have also generated a version of our Tree that is password-protected. This version displays all the private information exported from my desktop software, including dates, family and photo links, and notes and stories related to the person.
Now that photos and personal data is streaming in from all my relatives (I’ve braced myself for the onslaught), there’s enormous potential to use this tool for legacy writing, voice recordings, and videos that should really spice up the product. I suppose that will be this year’s project.