Old Papers, Photos, Photography
and Bushongs

Photographs and family papers, are such a valuable part of our heritage. We need to go out of our way to find, identify, publish, and unite them with their proper families. The photographer above understood. John Chester Bushong, became a photographer at an early age and one of his children, Polly Bushong became a photographer too. Hundreds of the old Bushongs, went out of their way and paid "good money" to have their likeness made, all so they might be remembered. They understood.

My grandfather got his first camera around the turn of the 20th century and he took a lot of pictures. He and I would sit together and look at his photo albums, and as we went through the photos, already decades old, he would tell me the names of everyone and their stories, none of which was written down.

So easily, the stories and photographs can be lost. It can happen in the course of a single generation, and it's all gone. The names, photographs, and family papers, just become forgotten and are separated from their families, or worse. Then many generations of priceless photographs, can disappear. The only way to protect them, for the ages, is to publish them. So now it's our turn to step-up and to go through our photos, to publish and pass on what we know to new generations. So, if you have, or know of, an old Bushong photograph that needs to be shared, please see Sharing Your History.

Rick Bushong