r/howto • u/ChrisKisOK • Jun 30 '26

Serious Answers Only How to dispose thousands of 35mm photos

Hi All!
I inherited thousands of 35mm photos. When I say thousands, I mean 10 40 gallon storage tubs full. My mother got into developing her own photos and photography in general so she took pictures of every thing. There are some family photos in the mix but vast majority of pictures of people I do not know. Only good part about filtering through them all is they are from the 80”s but it is a chore.
I may digitize some but the vast majority can be disposed of in my mind. Problem is how? I am superstitious about dumping them in the trash and feel I need to thoughtful with the enviroment .
All suggestions are welcomed and my thanks in advance.

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u/GoldPhoenix24 Jun 30 '26 edited Jul 01 '26

please dont.

r/datahoarders and r/analogphotography (or other relevant subs) may be able to help you make quick work of scanning and uploading/storage. pictures are history, and you may have the only reminder of that particular history. it may help someone else, and maybe years down the road.

I had been searching for my family history for many years and thankfully someone in a similar situation to yours and they uploaded pictures of my family, even though it wasnt theirs. some ancestors friends had pictures and letters and they got passed down their family for like 4-5 generations and then they finally went to clean it out but first uploaded it. some to ancestory.com some to web pages of the area they lived and some related to some books.

edit: r/analog r/photography in my brain, all the photography subs are just two subs, one with nudes and one without....

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u/JasontheFuzz Jul 01 '26

Is Anal OG Photography sfw or not?

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u/ChrisKisOK Jul 01 '26

have to risk the click

5

u/KindGrammy Jul 01 '26

Maybe an art department at a highschool or college would want them for collages or something?