The Value (or not) of Old Photographs

the photos I ended up with from a recent estate sale

So anyone that knows me, knows I absolutely love estate sales. I readily admit that I am an estate sale junkie. If I could make half a living going to estate sales, I'd be rich! Ha ha! I remember the very first estate sale I went to, I was a little apprehensive. After all, I was going to be going into someones home and rummaging through their things. After that first one, I was hooked. I try (TRY!) to get to one at least once a week. It's not just getting a good deal on someones old stuff, it's getting a little peak into someone else's life. I've always been fascinated on how others live (which I guess is why I am also a self-proclaimed reality TV junkie), whether good or bad, rich or poor, and everything in between. 

I recently went to a pretty large estate sale. When I say large, I mean, I had to park quite a distance away and stand in line to actually get in the house! Once in this particular home, it became to be quite overwhelming with the amount of items that were in there being sold. Every room was packed full of stuff. I wouldn't say this home was on the lines of hoarders at all, but they did have a lot of stuff. 

I quickly noticed how many photo frames there were. Every room had several boxes full of frames. The basement, which had 3 or 4 rooms itself, had even more. Upon further inspection of these frames, I noticed that many of them had photos in them. Not the stock photos of a model family that come with the frames, but actual photos of people, of children, of pets. I thought that was kind of odd...why wouldn't someone take those photos out and put them in a safe place? Digging even further, I found several photo albums. FULL. Full of birthday parties, new cars, family vacations, and silly snapshots. 

I flagged down a woman working at the sale and casually said, "You do know that there are a lot of photos in frames and albums, right?" She smiles and said, "Oh that's fine! If you buy them, you can just toss them out." and walked away. 

GASP! Pinch me because now I am in complete shock. 

Toss away photos? Who does that? I have huge Rubbermaid type containers jammed packed with photos that, if there was a fire, you better believe that those totes are being saved no matter what (after my family and dogs are safe of course!). Most people I know say they would save their photos if God forbid their home caught on fire. It's probably the number one answer on Family Feud too ;)

I am assuming that whoever lived in the home, passed away. Most families do end up having estate sales only when one passes away because there is so much stuff. But wouldn't you think that relatives would want those photos? What about these peoples children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, cousins, nieces, nephews? Not one person was even remotely interested in keeping family history in the family, to pass down to future generations? 

This really makes me sad.  

My grandma recently passed away and there are tons of photographs in her basement and in albums upstairs. Photos of her growing up. Photos of my grandpa growing up. Photos of them together. Photos of my mom, my aunts and uncle. Photos of me and my siblings growing up. And of course, there are photos of people we don't know, but we save them all the same. It would pain me if anyone remotely thought of tossing them out (which I know they won't). Those are part of our family history and are cherished. We have loved looking through them and will continue to value them and what they mean to us. 

It was obvious, with the enormous amount of frames, albums and photos, that whoever lived here really did love their family and loved to be surrounded by their photographs. Now, unfortunately, those photographs will be tossed out like yesterdays news and end up some landfill. 

In my purchases for that day, I did end up with a few photographs that were in the frames I bought. I felt bad though, that I was taking these photos...but then I also felt bad for not taking all of the photos, especially the photo albums full of pictures even though I don't know who any of these people are. It may sound silly but I feel that someone needed to save these memories... I now wonder what ever will become (or already has become) of all those photo albums at that sale. I also ended up with a roll of film in one of the older cameras I bought and I do plan on eventually developing the film (yes, there are places that still develop FILM! lol)

So tell me...what are your thoughts on old photographs and what to do with them? Would you actually leave them out to sell in an estate sale? Have you ever purchased frames or albums with someone else's photos in them? Do you (or have you ever) just tossed out photographs?