memory | Photobooth Journal

HENSHAW Grace1_baby SLOAN Sherri 1967 late

This is a very special post of photobooth photos from one of my blog readers, Sherri. I have tried to present this story mainly in Sherri’s own words.

“My love for photobooth images comes from those that I have of my mother. She was killed in an auto accident when I was just 7 months old, so all I have of her are photos, no memories. My favorite photos of her have always been the photobooth strips. It may sound silly or strange, but I feel like they are the next best thing to having a memory of her. In those strips, I feel like I can feel how she was feeling in the booth, trying out poses, smiling, laughing.

They are all attached to a page in my baby book. (See the full page, below). There are also booth photos of my maternal grandmother (who, by the way, is the person who raised me after my mother’s death).

I found a note in the baby book telling that the photos taken in July, 1967 in a Fort Wayne, Indiana KMart store. The other booth images would also have been taken in Fort Wayne, Indiana, but I can’t be sure of the store.

My mother was Grace Charline (nee Henshaw) Sloan, born December 26, 1949 and died October 7, 1967. My name is Sherri Lynn and I was born March 5, 1967. My grandmother’s name was Mary Louis (nee Shenfeld) Didion, born February 6, 1925.”

HENSHAW Grace1_baby SLOAN Sherri 1967 Aug

Sherri has a wonderful vintage photo blog The Rescued Photo, which I encourage you to visit. She meticulously researches the lives of the sitter/s from any scant detail she can glean from a scribbled name or note. Sherri’s philosophy about blogging is closely related to her feelings about her photobooth photos of her mother – that the story behind the images allow the person, or people in them, to live on.

Most unusually and unselfishly, Sherri will give the photos back to family members. However it is not always an easy process.

“I hope that someday relatives will find my posts. So far, I’ve only located one relative of a photograph but not one I’ve blogged about. They said they would love to have the photo and would send me their address, but they never did. I followed up once and still didn’t hear back. I noticed they’re using the photo in their ancestry family tree, so maybe the digital copy was enough for them.

I did find a home for the most recent photo I blogged – Orlo C Mathews and his brothers. Orlo is the survivor of the Sultana maritime disaster. While researching him, I discovered a book he owned (about the Sultana) is housed in the Bedford Ohio Historical Society Museum. I contacted them and they are excited to add the photo to the book. Imagine how much more interesting it will be for people to be able to see a photo of the man who owned the book and survived the disaster! I’m so thrilled with how that turned out! I hope to have more of those moments!

Just like my blogging about photos I find, makes me feel like I’m helping the people in the images to live on, I feel like that’s what you will be doing for me by blogging the photos of my mother.”