People may call me a hoarder, a sentimentalist, a pack rat. But I prefer to think of myself as a Keeper of the Lore, continuing the work of my brilliant ancestors who kept receipts, photographs, letters, cards, documents, books, and negatives.
YES, NEGATIVES ARE A POSITIVE
Today, I felt like fossicking through my closet family archives, and was rewarded with the discovery of 1950s negatives, treasured by father. Let me demonstrate why a negative is worth a thousand words.
Scan the negative, like it was a photo (jpeg) file, and then use your scanner to modify the file before saving it to your computer.
Find the tab for adjusting the color of the photo/negative, and INVERT the color.
Like magic, an image has appeared without chemicals or dark room!! Save this jpeg file to your computer, and you can spiff it up with a bit of photo editing. I prefer to use the online service, PicMonkey.com. Ultimately, I end my morning with this great shot:
Sure, I don’t know this particular dude, but I do know that he was important to my father. Even the tiniest peek into his past gives me a shiver of connection.
Anyone else have some negatives to share???
Shoots, Roots, and Leaves 
Only positives: I’m positive this is treasured advice, thank you, and I feel positive that curating your family (or whatever makes you happy) does not qualify you to join the pack of rats I have known.
Oh, thank gods!! I guess I am the leader of my own pack!!! 🙂
Oh, wow, I didn’t know I could do this. Great advice. Thanks so much!
You are so welcome! I will be excited to learn what you uncover!
I had a whole envelopes of negatives from 1919. I scanned them a couple months ago using the same technique. Now I just need to figure out who all the people are.
Ah, yes. The complications of this technique. What other family members had resigned themselves to never seeing, I have decided to discover. As if I didn’t have enough to read, sort, inventory, identify, and record. 🙂