Photograph Your Contact Information
After inserting a fresh memory card in your camera, take a shot of a card or page with your contact information–whether name and address or just a phone number. My newspaper recently included a lost and found item where a person found a memory card in a store parking lot. This could be a really devastating loss for some of us. With the identifying information on the memory chip, the finder may be able to contact you to return it.
 
Thank you,
Sharon

Something to Keep
I am learning the value of keeping what others throw away. When my daughter married and had children, she took pictures almost every hour of their life. She decided she didn’t need to keep negatives because she had the prints! Now twenty-five years later, her color pictures are fading. I kept all of my old color negatives (back to the 1950s.) I have scanned some and the color is as vibrant as when they were new, while the original prints are just brown.

Carolyn Shimek

Locating Living Relatives
I’ve found indexes of documents recorded at the county level, such as mortgages and deeds, to be helpful in finding living relatives. If you have a name and a location, that county may have an online index of recorded documents searchable by name. The responsible office is often titled Recorder or Clerk of something. The most helpful index I’ve found had a full name search function and the ability to view the document online, and the option to purchase an official copy. The least helpful index required a researcher to use the computers in their office, but you never know. The index may help you detect a name change or locate the residential address. Combined with a reverse lookup phone listing, you might be able to find a phone number and call them after supper. Good luck.
 
Bill Stewart
Toms River, New Jersey

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