Jennifer
Latest posts by Jennifer (see all)
- MYTHBUSTING:Memory-Keeping Myth #1 - April 7, 2017
- What Does My Everyday Life Have to do with Family History? - March 31, 2017
- Four Creative Ideas for Sharing Family Stories - March 24, 2017
Did you know there are MYTHS about memory-keeping? It’s true! There are things people believe about preserving photos and memories that are just plain false. This month during #familyhistoryfriday on Evolve, we’ll look at four memory-keeping myths and BUST them wide open!
Myth #1
The myth we’re going to focus on today is one I hear quite a bit: “I’m not creative, so I’m not into memory-keeping.”
This may surprise you, but memory-keeping really only requires memories. If you’re preserving photos and memories, you only need two things: photos and memories.
The first photograph was taken in 1827. It took until about 1839 to perfect the photography process and make cameras commercially available. Believe it or not, when cameras were first sold, they were not sold only to creative people. They were sold to people who wanted to make a physical record of something through a picture. People didn’t have to show a valid Creative License to buy a camera.
Nothing has changed! Taking photos of things you want to remember doesn’t require creativity. Neither does making those photos into something tangible so you can appreciate and remember them.
Memory-keeping doesn’t have to be as hard as we sometimes make it. Take the picture. {Preserve it in print} so that you can see and enjoy it. Record the details and memories associated with that photo. That’s it.
Creativity is NOT a Requirement For Memory-Keeping
This myth is BUSTED. Nowhere is it written that you must be creative to have or preserve either photos or memories. If you have photos and memories, you qualify as a memory-keeper. I will go so far as to say it’s both your right and your responsibility as owner of the memories and of the photos to preserve them. Creativity is not a requirement.
Creativity Might Surprise You
By definition, a person who creates something is creative. So if you take pictures, you have created something. Unfortunately, these days, photos often remain a digital creation. Going a step further to make your digital creation into something tangible is important because the digital version doesn’t have any details or memories. And people don’t usually sit down and pull out a digital file to look at. Having something physical on a shelf or coffee table gets much more attention and makes REAL the {benefits of memory-keeping that I mentioned last month}.
The “I’m not a memory-keeper because I’m not creative” myth has come about because of trends and varied ways to preserve photos and memories. A style like this shown at the right seems to be accepted as the norm. People tend to think this is how you have to do it.
But it isn’t. You can preserve memories and photos in a style like this shown at the left. It really doesn’t matter!
I’ve delved more into the {specifics of creativity, particularly as it relates to memory-keeping, in this post}, so if you need some additional proof that this myth is BUSTED, you can find a little more insight there.
Moving forward
Whatever you do, don’t let the idea that you have to be “creative” in order to preserve your photos and memories keep you from doing it. It’s far too critical for that.
We’ll bust some more memory-keeping myths over the next few weeks on #familyhistoryfriday to help you get to the important business of telling family stories and making connections.
~Jennifer
Photos: Scrapbooking pages photos are from Anthology DIY Kits (all creative elements included as simple kits) at www.heritagemakers.com/jenniferwise under the “products” tab. “52 Weeks” digital family yearbook is template 61136 at www.heritagemakers.com/jenniferwise.
