Oh My GOSH!

A couple of weeks ago, I attended Miriam's Scanfest, as has become my custom on the fourth Sunday of the month (third this month due to the holiday). I really didn't have anything that I was ready to scan (notice I didn't say I didn't have anything to scan, just nothing I was ready for!), so I worked on a little project for a cousin. However, as always happens when I attend Scanfest, I learned something new that might help me with a huge problem.

First the problem: Among the pictures that I found in my dad's house last summer was an old photo album with a courderoy-type fabric cover and hard pages. Of course the photos attached to the pages were attached with superglue that I'm sure would outstick any glue currently on the market. Not wanting to risk ripping the photos and really not wanting to tear out the pages, I was at a loss as to how I was going to scan these photos. I asked the group at Scanfest if anyone had used one of those pen scanners that you could run over a photo and scan. Leave it to this group to solve a problem I've had for almost a year now! No, I didn't get any good advice on the pen; rather I got really good advice against trying a pen scanner. However, someone mentioned that some scanners allow for removal of the lid to scan larger projects. Tonight I finally got around to searching my scanner's user manual. This here is the first scan from this old book, completed with the lid off my scanner! I am SO EXCITED! Here are what they look lide post-cropping:

Marianne McHugh

Unidentified folks

Various children on porch

Finally, a picture that is too precious to truly describe in words: The only known photograph of my father's oldest sister, who died as an infant of an unknown cause. The date of her birth is unknown, but it would be between 1925 and 1929. Folks, meet my aunt, Patsy McHugh.