A RAINY-DAY PROJECT; A VISIT TO THE '80s

Donna Cronk Photo /// Order in the house, or at least in the bookcases, begins.

Did you ever wrap your school books in paper to make dust jackets? I never did. But daughter-in-law Allison did back in the day, and she came up with an inexpensive solution to organize our photo albums.

She suggested craft paper and numbers. So far today, with one done before church and two after church and lunch this afternoon (it's not even 2:30 p.m. yet), three are finished.

Through the decades I have taken lots of photos. We have about a dozen random photo albums. It's been a long time since I added albums but I do have envelopes full of photos from many different vacations, occasions and a whole lot more hiding in The Cloud from my cell phone.

But my dilemma at hand is: How to attractively organize and display the existing photo albums that display snapshots from our family's life -- literally -- from the 1970s through about 2010 when I stopped buying these.

I told Allison that I don't plan on scrapbooking these. You'll note the several scrapbooks I created for the boys in time for display at their high school graduations (at left). These are nicely done, as are some other specialty scrapbooks, including a This is Your Life for Brian's 50th and scrapbooks I created for Brian and his brother Steve of their father's World War II history.

But scrapbooking done "by the book" is labor intensive, expensive, and frankly, no longer anywhere on my to-do list. I also didn't want to buy new albums. 

Allison's idea is ideal. I already have a big roll of the craft paper, cheap and plentiful if I need more, rolls of excellent-quality postal tape, and I picked up some numbers. Starting with the first album of photos from high school (number 1), and going through the years in order, I'll number the photo albums and place them back on the bottom of our new bookcases.

Our progress in completing the space I think of as our new study is on hold at the moment as we need to buy two more bookcases, move our vinyl records upstairs for placement on the bottom row of one new bookcase, wait for our new chairs to arrive, select a lamp and throw rug to hide the cord, and then--I'll show you the end result.

I have a little patch of free time this afternoon so I'll get two or three more of these albums covered and numbered, and work on the rest as I can.

I searched Pinterest for ideas on storing and organizing family photos and nothing much resonated. Allison's idea is the best solution by far that works for our situation. 

And, I've had a chance to walk down memory lane as I've worked on these. Right now, I'm in the 1980s. Here's one of me while managing editor at the Attica newspaper, now the county-wide Fountain County Neighbor.

Next are a couple photos I took when I had the opportunity to accompany some kids from Attica Elementray School go see President Ronald Reagan arrive at the Purdue University Airport, and give a speech.

It was exciting for this small-town reporter. Welcome to my 1980s...

Along with the President, center, do you recognize the white-haired gentleman? That is Indiana Gov. Robert Orr. I had the opportunity to attend a meeting accompanying two community activists make their case for prohibiting an explosives detonation company from locating in the county. I got to sit inside Gov. Orr's office with them and write about the meeting for an exclusive. X-plo-Tech was defeated by the community's will. Sue Barnhizer Anderson and I won a second-place state journalism award for our coverage.

Back to 2019. (Is that even possible?)

What I would like to know is how YOU store and display your family photos and in particular, what about all your random family photos stashed in albums like mine?