November, 2007. Madeira, Portugal. Patricia Burrow

The public is invited to the Davis Genealogy Club’s monthly program, “They Ought To Be in Pictures — Keeping the Memory of our Ancestors” by family historian Patricia Burrow at 1 p.m. Monday at the Davis Senior Center, 646 A St.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then ensuring the preservation of that old family photo is priceless. The subject of properly caring for photographs is a popular one, not only among genealogists. Nobody wants to let their precious photographs fade or deteriorate because of neglect.

Inheriting old photos, particularly very old and valuable ones, can be intimidating. Photos from every era have their issues, and how they have been stored can compound problems for the person who ends up being the family historian, by choice or by default.

Most people are aware of the dangers of the “magnetic albums” that were so popular a number of years ago. These albums hold photos on sticky pages with acetate overlays, and they are some of the worst offenders because the adhesive damages photos over time. Care must be taken when removing photos from them, and then the photos must be stored properly to protect them.

Burrow will present a quick and safe methods of preserving old photos — as well as organizing them — so they can be appreciated by future generations, thus ensuring their continued care and preservation.

Burrow retired from a Silicon Valley tech career and went on to publish several articles and stories about her ancestors.  Now she’s working on a book about her adopted grandmother. She leads several groups in the genealogy community, a GenStudy group of friends, an indexing project at the Santa Clara County Archives, a small publishing support group, a family surname group and a surname DNA project.

The Genealogy Library at the Davis Senior Center is open to the public each Wednesday and Friday from 1 to 4 p.m. A volunteer is available during these hours to help with questions. To learn more about the Davis Genealogy Club and library, visit http://www.davisgenealogy.org or call Lisa Henderson at (530) 753-8943.

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