“The Marquette County Genealogical Society wants to promote interest in genealogical research and preservation of family history information,” Lynette Suckow, genealogy liaison at Peter White Public Library, wrote in an email. “The organization is offering a three-part series of genealogy topics to help researchers carry out that task.”

Reference librarian Samantha Ashby led the most recent session.

“A lot of people have old family photos that are in bad shape, and digitizing them will help them share the photos, possibly preserve them, upload them to their family tree, whatever they’d like,” Ashby said.

During a short presentation, Ashby offered advice on the best practices for digitizing photographs. She defined technical terms and discussed file formats, equipment, storage practices and more.

Participant Mary Turvey holds an image of her grandmother and her great-grandmother. Turvey’s grandmother, Marie Prisland, came to the United States from Sylvania when she was 15 years old, right around the time the photograph was taken. Turvey, a long-time member of the Genealogical Society, described uncovering family history as addictive and a “puzzle that never ends.” (Journal photo by Corey Kelly)

“Digitization is not preservation,” Ashby warned during the presentation. “Only keep the things you want to maintain.”

After the presentation library staff helped attendees scan images. Participant Mary Turvey brought a photograph of her grandmother and her great-grandmother to digitize.

Turvey, a long-time member of the genealogical society, described uncovering family history as addictive and as being like “a puzzle that never ends.”

Ashby explained that revisiting old images can lead to curiosity about what is going on in them.

“A lot of times I don’t think of it as preservation but the exploration into your heritage,” Ashby said. “It encourages you to learn more about where your ancestors came from.”

The last workshop in the series called Genealogy Scrapbooking Ideas will feature ways that photographs can be preserved and presented as a family record.

The event is open to the public at 6:30 p.m. Nov. 14 in the Peter White Public Library Community Room.

For more information on these Marquette County Genealogical Society events contact the PWPL reference desk at 906-226-4312.