Our Mission

To collect and preserve historical photos and other media, make the material available to the public online at no cost, and return the material to surviving family members on request.

A Word From John

I started collecting lost photos after doing a project for my father.  He was keeper of the Perkins family archives, storing several generations of family photos.  A few years ago I set about scanning the entire archive, around 23,000 photos I think.  I finished that project and gave him a copy of the complete archive.  I sometimes ask him about some of those pictures (Who is this?  When did that happen?  Do you remember such-and-such happening?) but it bugs me that we don't know who a lot of the people are in the older photos.

I visit auctions, swapmeets, and thrift stores and I occasionally find photo albums or packets of photos from a few years back to over 100 years ago.  It bugs me the same way as my family archive- so many memories, so much time, so much history lost, all these photos destined for...what, a dumpster in back of some anonymous junk store?

I started this project because I wanted to preserve what I could of the lives and memories of the people that took these photos.

There is an extensive FAQ here.  If you have any questions or complaints, that's where to start.

Click on the link for each family under the Photos tab to see the page for that family.

If you are one of the people in these photos, if you know any of the people in these photos, or if you still have any questions, please contact me here.

>>> If there is any information you want to add to this site- especially genealogy info- please contact me here.

Photos

Family 1  (my family)

Since the rule of thumb for this page is to include photos that are at least 20-25 years old, most of the Family 1 photos are from the 1970's and 1980's. I haven't included the Perkins family archive because there are a number of people in them that I know and who are currently alive.  I know the photographers for many of these photos.  In creating this page, for Family 1, I am working under several conditions requested by various people as to which photos I can and can't post.  For this reason, the Family 1 photos posted here consist mainly of a trolley museum, cats, my early childhood, and my high school (graduated 1989). There are currently (as of April 1, 2016) 151 images in this set.

Family 2
Nothing written on the backs of these photos.  99 images in this set.

Family 3
Many notes.  265 images in this set.

Family 4
Many notes.  1,447 images in this set.

Family 5
A few notes.  419 images in this set.

Family 6
A few notes.  254 images in this set.

Family 7
Many notes.  747 images in this set.

Family 7A
From a montage included with family 7.  10 images in this set.

Family 8
148 images in this set.

Family 9
29 images in this set.

Family 10
45 images in this set.

Family 11
78 images in this set.

Family 12
305 images in this set.

Family 13
118 images in this set.

Family 14
48 images in this set.

Family 15
479 images in this set.

Family 16
517 images in this set.

Family 17
87 images in this set.

Family 18
Schloesser Family
1,344 images in this set.

Family 19,  Family 19-A
2,585 images in this set.

Family 20
Caulfield/Ritter/Southard Family
619 images in this set.

Family 21
Multi-Family
1,989 images in this set.

Family 22
1,535 images in this set.

Family 23
182 images in this set.

Family 24
699 images in this set.

Family 25
29 images in this set.

Family 26
53 images in this set.

Family 27
60 images in this set.

Family 28
28 images in this set.

Family 29
128 images in this set.

Family 30
40 images in this set.

Family 31
974 images in this set.

Family 32
219 images in this set.

Family 33
1,087 images in this set.

Family 34
1,378 images in this set. It's the Whitsett family.

Family 35
3,151 images in this set.

Family 36
328 images in this set. It's the Johnston / Reeves family.

Family 37
128 images in this set.

Family 38
2,502 images in this set.

Family 39
883 images in this set.

Family 40
222 images in this set.

Family 41
316 images in this set.

Family 42
210 images in this set.

Family 43
974 images in this set.

Family 44
3,283 images in this set.

Family 45
179 images in this set.

Family 46
303 images in this set.

Family 47
93 images in this set. It's the Bergman / Gregory / Shuptrine family.

Family 48
44 images in this set.

Family 49
667 images in this set.

Family 50
136 images in this set. It's a freemason family.

Family 51
314 images in this set.

Family 52
538 images in this set.

Family 53
1,118 images in this set.

Family 54
219 images in this set.

Family 55
813 images in this set.

Family 56
151 images in this set.

Family 57
19 images in this set.

Family 58
91 images in this set.

Family 59
3,774 images in this set. It's the work of Dr. Elinor S Benes.

Family 60
58 images in this set.

Family 61
27 images in this set. It's a bar mitzvah for Scott William Crane.

Family 62
126 images in this set. This lady liked her cats.

Family 63
179 images in this set.

Family 64
805 images in this set. It's the Dudley family.

Family 65
183 images in this set. It's the Dulinski family.

Family 66
2,140 images in this set. It's the Kohl / Kreutz family.

Family 67
404 images in this set.

Family 68
1,121 images in this set.

Family 69
253 images in this set.

Family 70
158 images in this set.

Family 71
159 images in this set.

Family 72
1,354 images in this set. It's the Winters family.

Family 73
910 images in this set.

Family 74
915 images in this set.

Family 75
2,309 images in this set.

Family 76
896 images in this set.

Family 77
2,320 images in this set.

Family 78
1,752 images in this set.

Family 79
3,235 images in this set.

Family 80
756 images in this set.

Family 81
959 images in this set.

Family 82
802 images in this set.

Family 83
806 images in this set.

Family 84
865 images in this set.

Family 85
820 images in this set.

Family 86
3,534 images in this set.

Family 87
3,836 images in this set.

Family 88
635 images in this set.

Family 89
725 images in this set.

Family 90
783 images in this set.

Donations

If you have a batch of photos that you want to donate, please contact us here.  You can get an invoice and declare the photos as charitable donations on your taxes.

If you are a person or company and you want to donate equipment, you can get an invoice and declare that as a charitable contribution as well.  We currently have several 8.5 x 11 flatbed scanners and a Wolverine single slide scanner.  We could use any flatbed scanner with a larger surface area and/or a slide scanner with an automatic feeder.  Please contact us here.

If you want to donate funds to Lost Photos, please click on the donate button below.  Contributions go toward equipment, increased hosting space, and scanning hours/employee time.  If we get an angel donor, our goals include at least 1 full time employee and perpetual hosting for the photos.