In my recent dalliances with Twitter, I found this lovely website.
I'm so looking forward to getting involved with them and perhaps having a lovely conversation by letter.
I think their opinions will be really useful for my project.
Excited at all the pretty things!
http://thecuriositybox.blogspot.com
Friday 30 December 2011
Tuesday 27 December 2011
Back to work!
OK, enough Christmas shenanigans. Besides, if I drink any more, I will definitely have kidney failure.
So, I'm writing up my methods and methodologies for the next 2 years. Which, to any non-university people means, I've messed around with the ideas for this project so much, I now have to rewrite my project proposal, as it's completely different than what I was accepted on the course with!
This is as far as I've got! These are my themes that I plan to explore.
So, I'm writing up my methods and methodologies for the next 2 years. Which, to any non-university people means, I've messed around with the ideas for this project so much, I now have to rewrite my project proposal, as it's completely different than what I was accepted on the course with!
This is as far as I've got! These are my themes that I plan to explore.
The family album
The future
Memory
Letters vs email
The value of the object
Digital age vs past
Storage- boxes vs computer files
Project- Patricia and me
Visiting old memories, places, people.
Recording recollections
Cine film, old film cameras
How do we recover the missing magic
It's not looking good at the moment is it? I've had a week off which has been lovely, but now my brain is having problems shifting back into gear. It must be all the rich food (and maybe has something to do with the alcohol).
I still haven't heard from Patricia, but I'm making plans around that idea to allow for any eventuality. It would be lovely to work with her for this project, but if it all goes pear-shaped, I shall be working the same ideas with my personal family history. Visiting old places, people and memories. Recording recollections orally and visually. Writing letters. And at the same time, my main body of writing will be exploring the ideas of the loss of the object in the digital age, the future of the family album and how it might be regained.
It's a lot to think about, but it's a whole two years. It's nice to get my teeth into something that I can run with, not worrying about deadlines in 6 weeks.
Tuesday 13 December 2011
The Waiting Game
OK, starting to get slightly antsy now (this is quite normal for me).
I sent the letter before the weekend. It had my phone numbers and address on. How long shall I wait for a response?
If she was going to ring, surely she would have by now.
But then, if she's writing a letter, I should wait at least a week before stressing out.
I can't help thinking though, that I won't get anything back. I know I worry a lot, about nearly everything, but I do try to keep faith in people.
Oh, I'm so confused!
I'll wait for a week, then start thinking about how this project should proceed if she doesn't want to know.
Everyone cross your fingers for me!
I sent the letter before the weekend. It had my phone numbers and address on. How long shall I wait for a response?
If she was going to ring, surely she would have by now.
But then, if she's writing a letter, I should wait at least a week before stressing out.
I can't help thinking though, that I won't get anything back. I know I worry a lot, about nearly everything, but I do try to keep faith in people.
Oh, I'm so confused!
I'll wait for a week, then start thinking about how this project should proceed if she doesn't want to know.
Everyone cross your fingers for me!
Sunday 11 December 2011
The Night Mail
Wandering around Eden a couple of nights ago, I came across a couple of lines of this poem. It defines everything I believe is being lost in the modern age of email. It's magic. Enjoy!
This is the Night Mail crossing the border,
Bringing the cheque and the postal order,
Letters for the rich, letters for the poor,
The shop at the corner and the girl next door.
Pulling up Beattock, a steady climb:
The gradient's against her, but she's on time.
Past cotton-grass and moorland boulder
Shovelling white steam over her shoulder,
Snorting noisily as she passes
Silent miles of wind-bent grasses.
Bringing the cheque and the postal order,
Letters for the rich, letters for the poor,
The shop at the corner and the girl next door.
Pulling up Beattock, a steady climb:
The gradient's against her, but she's on time.
Past cotton-grass and moorland boulder
Shovelling white steam over her shoulder,
Snorting noisily as she passes
Silent miles of wind-bent grasses.
Birds turn their heads as she approaches,
Stare from the bushes at her blank-faced coaches.
Sheep-dogs cannot turn her course;
They slumber on with paws across.
In the farm she passes no one wakes,
But a jug in the bedroom gently shakes.
Stare from the bushes at her blank-faced coaches.
Sheep-dogs cannot turn her course;
They slumber on with paws across.
In the farm she passes no one wakes,
But a jug in the bedroom gently shakes.
Dawn freshens, the climb is done.
Down towards Glasgow she descends
Towards the steam tugs yelping down the glade of cranes,
Towards the fields of apparatus, the furnaces
Set on the dark plain like gigantic chessmen.
All Scotland waits for her:
In the dark glens, beside the pale-green sea lochs
Men long for news.
Down towards Glasgow she descends
Towards the steam tugs yelping down the glade of cranes,
Towards the fields of apparatus, the furnaces
Set on the dark plain like gigantic chessmen.
All Scotland waits for her:
In the dark glens, beside the pale-green sea lochs
Men long for news.
Letters of thanks, letters from banks,
Letters of joy from the girl and the boy,
Receipted bills and invitations
To inspect new stock or visit relations,
And applications for situations
And timid lovers' declarations
And gossip, gossip from all the nations,
News circumstantial, news financial,
Letters with holiday snaps to enlarge in,
Letters with faces scrawled in the margin,
Letters from uncles, cousins, and aunts,
Letters to Scotland from the South of France,
Letters of condolence to Highlands and Lowlands
Notes from overseas to Hebrides
Written on paper of every hue,
The pink, the violet, the white and the blue,
The chatty, the catty, the boring, adoring,
The cold and official and the heart's outpouring,
Clever, stupid, short and long,
The typed and the printed and the spelt all wrong.
Letters of joy from the girl and the boy,
Receipted bills and invitations
To inspect new stock or visit relations,
And applications for situations
And timid lovers' declarations
And gossip, gossip from all the nations,
News circumstantial, news financial,
Letters with holiday snaps to enlarge in,
Letters with faces scrawled in the margin,
Letters from uncles, cousins, and aunts,
Letters to Scotland from the South of France,
Letters of condolence to Highlands and Lowlands
Notes from overseas to Hebrides
Written on paper of every hue,
The pink, the violet, the white and the blue,
The chatty, the catty, the boring, adoring,
The cold and official and the heart's outpouring,
Clever, stupid, short and long,
The typed and the printed and the spelt all wrong.
Thousands are still asleep
Dreaming of terrifying monsters,
Or of friendly tea beside the band at Cranston's or Crawford's:
Asleep in working Glasgow, asleep in well-set Edinburgh,
Asleep in granite Aberdeen,
They continue their dreams,
And shall wake soon and long for letters,
And none will hear the postman's knock
Without a quickening of the heart,
For who can bear to feel himself forgotten?
Dreaming of terrifying monsters,
Or of friendly tea beside the band at Cranston's or Crawford's:
Asleep in working Glasgow, asleep in well-set Edinburgh,
Asleep in granite Aberdeen,
They continue their dreams,
And shall wake soon and long for letters,
And none will hear the postman's knock
Without a quickening of the heart,
For who can bear to feel himself forgotten?
W H Auden
Friday 9 December 2011
Friday 9th December
I have just composed my letter to Patricia.
It is written on handmade textured paper, in a matching envelope. I believe in writing proper letters, by hand, on nice paper. It's all about the object for me! Oh and I won't start ranting about how hard it is to buy nice writing paper and envelopes any more (but it is impossible!).
I had to be quite gentle and tactful in the letter, as I spoke to someone yesterday, who pointed out that getting a random letter from a complete stranger, saying they have your wedding album and they've been tracing you, might be construed as 'creepy'.
I can see their point. I can only hope that she's not easily freaked out, and that curiosity gets the better of her. After all, that's why I started all this........curiosity. It is the bane and the blessing of most artists.
Now.....everybody cross their fingers, I'm off to the post box.
It is written on handmade textured paper, in a matching envelope. I believe in writing proper letters, by hand, on nice paper. It's all about the object for me! Oh and I won't start ranting about how hard it is to buy nice writing paper and envelopes any more (but it is impossible!).
I had to be quite gentle and tactful in the letter, as I spoke to someone yesterday, who pointed out that getting a random letter from a complete stranger, saying they have your wedding album and they've been tracing you, might be construed as 'creepy'.
I can see their point. I can only hope that she's not easily freaked out, and that curiosity gets the better of her. After all, that's why I started all this........curiosity. It is the bane and the blessing of most artists.
Now.....everybody cross their fingers, I'm off to the post box.
Wednesday 7 December 2011
Update to 7th Dec
Earlier today, I decided that things would be much easier if I paid someone to trace Patricia.
I ordered the trace, I paid my money and waited.
I expected it to be a couple of days at least, so imagine my shock and surprise when about 2 hours after my order went through, I had a lovely email from someone called David at the tracing service, complete with a current address for Patricia!
Writing implements out! Lovely writing paper out! (This is vital to my project as it links in with the idea of treasured objects. Email is the current equivalent of the digital album. Type, send, read then throw away. I like letters, especially pretty ones that someone has taken time over. You want to keep them).
Oh look, I'm digressing again! I shall have a letter sent by the weekend!
I ordered the trace, I paid my money and waited.
I expected it to be a couple of days at least, so imagine my shock and surprise when about 2 hours after my order went through, I had a lovely email from someone called David at the tracing service, complete with a current address for Patricia!
Writing implements out! Lovely writing paper out! (This is vital to my project as it links in with the idea of treasured objects. Email is the current equivalent of the digital album. Type, send, read then throw away. I like letters, especially pretty ones that someone has taken time over. You want to keep them).
Oh look, I'm digressing again! I shall have a letter sent by the weekend!
7th December. The brick wall
Argh! It has happened. I have hit a brick wall of doom!
The family records are either very thin on the ground viz a viz the genealogy site, or the family didn't get married or have any children, therefore letting the family die out needlessly! I mean, do they not realise what I'm trying to do?
i think a lot of the problem is that after the 60's and 70's it became more common to have children out of wedlock, and a lot easier to move around the country (and indeed abroad). Hence, the records are extremely hard to trace and keep track of.
As I'm realising the work is getting harder and harder, I have decided to be sensible about this (or cheat, as some might call it), and hand over to some professionals. I have paid for a person trace on Patricia.
They say I will know within 7 days, and they will refund me if a) they cannot find her, or b) she's not the person I'm looking for.
I hasten to add, this is not one of those 'sneaky detective agencies' where they spy on the family and take photos, no....this is a full disclosure service, where they contact anyone they can to find out what I want.
i did this for 2 reasons. 1- It feels more honest and 2- It was a lot cheaper for some reason (maybe it costs more to hide in bushes, or maybe it's all those trenchcoats, dark sunglasses and false noses).
Fact is, if they find the missing Patricia, I don't care how they do it. I dearly want to write her a long letter (I'm already composing it in my head).
I think I was born in the wrong era.
The family records are either very thin on the ground viz a viz the genealogy site, or the family didn't get married or have any children, therefore letting the family die out needlessly! I mean, do they not realise what I'm trying to do?
i think a lot of the problem is that after the 60's and 70's it became more common to have children out of wedlock, and a lot easier to move around the country (and indeed abroad). Hence, the records are extremely hard to trace and keep track of.
As I'm realising the work is getting harder and harder, I have decided to be sensible about this (or cheat, as some might call it), and hand over to some professionals. I have paid for a person trace on Patricia.
They say I will know within 7 days, and they will refund me if a) they cannot find her, or b) she's not the person I'm looking for.
I hasten to add, this is not one of those 'sneaky detective agencies' where they spy on the family and take photos, no....this is a full disclosure service, where they contact anyone they can to find out what I want.
i did this for 2 reasons. 1- It feels more honest and 2- It was a lot cheaper for some reason (maybe it costs more to hide in bushes, or maybe it's all those trenchcoats, dark sunglasses and false noses).
Fact is, if they find the missing Patricia, I don't care how they do it. I dearly want to write her a long letter (I'm already composing it in my head).
I think I was born in the wrong era.
Tuesday 6 December 2011
6th December. 2011
Well, back to the search today.
More digging in the pool of genealogy. Interesting always, but tiring.
Realised I have to go back before I go forward in history. The key might not be in the direct family members, but in cousins, Aunts and Uncles. So I shall be spreading the net a little wider.
Also searching on Facebook, Friends Reunited and 192.com (although that's proving quite pricey).
I think a visit to London in the new year might be in order. If all else fails, I have the address they lived at until 2003. I could just trawl the street, knocking on doors to see if anyone remembers them. Here's hoping!
More digging in the pool of genealogy. Interesting always, but tiring.
Realised I have to go back before I go forward in history. The key might not be in the direct family members, but in cousins, Aunts and Uncles. So I shall be spreading the net a little wider.
Also searching on Facebook, Friends Reunited and 192.com (although that's proving quite pricey).
I think a visit to London in the new year might be in order. If all else fails, I have the address they lived at until 2003. I could just trawl the street, knocking on doors to see if anyone remembers them. Here's hoping!
Sunday 4 December 2011
The initial idea
OK, here goes.
I'm a middle aged woman doing a Research Masters in photography. My plan is to explore the ideas behind the family album and the future of it.
When will people realize that they're not leaving anything for the future generation?
You take hundreds of pictures on your fancy digital camera, then what? You delete all the rubbish ones before you even get home, then you upload them to an obscure file on the computer, most likely never to be looked at again. Very, very rarely, we might print one or two out, but they don't go into an album. They maybe get pasted onto the wall or put in a wallet.
What has happened to the joy of the actual, physical photo album...with actual, real, physical photos that you can touch? Remember them?
Anyhow, I digress. This was my idea.......until.......I bought an old wedding photo album from eBay, just as an interesting idea to go with my family album Resurrection plan.
The album is from a wedding in Stratford, London, dated 1965. In the back of the album is the photo of the marriage certificate, in all it's brilliant clarity. It was just asking me (begging me really!), to trace these people and return their wedding album to them.
I mean there are so many questions! Why did they get rid of their album? How did it end up with me?
So instead of following my family history, my plan is now to trace the couple in the photos, ask them if I can do the history thing with their family tree.
I am now learning the ropes of genealogy sites, slowly. Going back seems to be quite easy. Finding out where they are now will be the harder part.Wish me luck, and in the mean time....if any of you know the whereabouts of Patricia Ann O'Leary (nee Fleet) and /or James Dennis O'Leary around the East End of London, help me with my quest please!
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