UPDATE ON 5th AUGUST 2023
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On 17th July, the Fromus Centre in Saxmundham was the venue of a most interesting and challenging talk by a Group member, Jane Evans, who spoke about making a photobook about your family history.  She and fellow member, Maggie Strutt, had brought along several examples, showing their own family stories using family photographs and documents.

You may think, “I can’t do that” – but you can with practice - using a selection of computer programs.  I have made only one family history book (so far).  It is a book containing photographs of my two children throughout their childhood with added photographs of my husband and myself, plus our parents (the children’s grandparents) and their aunts, uncles and cousins.  I bought two identical copies so that my son and daughter can remember their early years and their grandparents (all sadly deceased now).  Hopefully they will share them with their own children.  Before I made this book I had made books of some of my holidays – it took time to learn how to use the program, but in time I conquered it and now have several.  The very first one I made featured my trip to the Galapagos Islands, showing the incredible birds and animals I saw there.

So you need to check out various programs and manufacturers.  Family Tree Maker, Ancestry, and Bonus Print are some of those to try.  Jane was able to show us on her laptop how to make a book.  If you don’t feel you can write about the pictures straightaway, you could purchase a recording device for less that £30 from a well known online retailer, or there is a free app which you can use called otter.ai.  This records your voice, transcribes your words, and saves them in a document.  If you don’t feel very confident, you could ask for help from a younger relative (I find my grandsons very good for this), or ask if any pupil at the local school is looking for a project to help with.  Failing that, you could advertise for help in a family history magazine, or seek help from a local family history society.

If you don’t possess a scanner, Snappy Snaps will scan photographs for you.  You can also take photographs of the required photographs using a digital camera or mobile phone.  However, if you decide a photobook is beyond you, Amazon has a product called Family History Book which enables the recording of eight generations, with Book 2 enabling the next two generations to be added (ten in all).  The National Archives also has a book available called My Family History in which ten generations can be recorded.

But you’re going to produce a photobook.  That needs some thought.  What is the focus going to be?  Not just a collection of photographs.  Is it going to be about an individual?  A life story?  Multiple people’s stories?  Just one family?  A specific topic?  A period of time?  What a lot of choices!!  It is so much better if the book tells a story – not just a list of facts.  Stories not facts, so much more interesting to the reader.  Once you’ve decided your subject, you are ready to begin.

Jane demonstrated the making of a book; going through the various stages, the size, landscape or portrait, the choosing of and position of the photographs, deciding on your scripts.  The beauty of the programs is that you can play as much as you like without any payment.  Once you are happy with the look and content of the book, you then proceed to order and pay for it.  Some time ago, one of my cousins, a member of the group, said that in time to come photo albums (which are usually bulky) may get discarded but photobooks, so much smaller and neater, would probably be retained.

Seven non-members as well as members attended the talk, which gives an idea of the interest in this subject.

Pat Carter

example Tribute page that 'our' Maggie Strutt kindly brought to the talk

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UPDATE ON 17th JULY:  Members may download Jane's 'slides' as promised — 
especially for our Zoom attendees who couldn't follow the whole presentation today, 
for which our apologies.

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On Monday 17th July, with our own Jane Evans, we'll be looking at making different types of Family History Books.  Whether you are experienced with IT or not, our member Jane will make suggestions ranging from compiling a book from notes, to something more eye-catching, such as creating your own book from scratch, with pictures and text — an interesting way to display your old family photographs.  There will be a demonstration and comparison of how to create books using Family Tree Maker, Ancestry & DIY Photo Books.