Hi Reader,

Last week’s email was all about mystery photos and the names that slip away when nobody writes them down. This week, I want to make the writing-down part easy. 📝 If you’ve ever held a photo in one hand and a pen in the other, wondering whether you were about to ruin it, this one’s for you.

Plenty of us grew up labeling photos with whatever was in the junk drawer. Ballpoint pens, felt-tip pens and sticky notes all made their way onto the backs of family snapshots, and I won’t tell anyone if you’ve done it too. Over time, ballpoint can press through and show up as ridges on the front, and some inks bleed or smear. Sticky notes fall off, or worse, leave adhesive chemicals behind (even if you can't see or feel it). Neither one is a disaster for most photos, so please don’t panic about the ones you’ve already marked.

The swap is simple. For most older photos with a paper-feeling back, a soft pencil like a regular #2 works beautifully. Lay the photo face down on a clean, flat surface and write lightly along the edge so you don’t press an outline into the image. Newer prints often have a slick, plastic-feeling back that pencil just slides across. Those need a photo-safe marker, and it’s worth letting the ink dry for a minute before you stack them.

Here’s what’s worth writing down, in whatever order it comes to you:

• Who: Full names plus relationships, like “Ruth Miller, Dad’s mother.” For groups, go left to right and note the row.
• When: An exact date if you know it, or a best guess like “about 1958.”
• Where: The town, or something like “Aunt Edna’s farm.”
• The story behind the photo: Even one sentence about what was happening that day.

You don’t need every detail to start. A first name with a question mark (“Ruth?”) is far more helpful to your grandchildren than a blank back. If you’re the one who remembers, this is your chance to pass that along, one photo at a time. Labeling even five photos this week counts as real progress.

Labeling comes up in a couple of my articles if you’d like to dig a little deeper. My article on what to do with printed photos will take you right to the section on labeling them safely. You’ll find more in step 6 of how to save old photos, which makes a good follow-up read once those older pictures have their names back. And if last week’s mystery photo turned up a name, hit reply and tell me about it! 🎉

Warmly,

Fancy

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