Oral History Project Photo Information

Information on Contributing Photos

*Please note, this is only for participants of the WCGS's Oral History Project. The WCGS doesn't have an archive for old photos.

If you participated in our Oral History Project, we would love to see some of your photos and showcase them in the book, on the companion website, or in both media. If you have some to contribute, please read the following first.

What Photos Can I Contribute?

We'll accept up to 10 photos per participant. When you go through your photos, look for ones that show important times in your life. Perhaps you have some family photos that make you proud, or photos of your home in Europe. Perhaps you have pictures of your dance group, or co-workers, or friends, or of the church you frequented growing up. Select up to 10 of your most important photos and submit them to us. Read on to learn how.

Contribution Guidelines

  1. We have a release form attached. If there are others in the photos, please be sure you have their permission to submit those photos. (For anyone who is just in the background, permission isn't needed.) We don't want people surprised when they see themselves in the book or on the website.
  2. Please include a short, clear description for each photo. Please point out if you are in the photo, and mention your relationship with the others, e.g., "Me (Maria Meier, front left) with friends and family at a baptism in Germany circa 1953."
  3. Photos can be submitted via any of the following ways:
    1. By mail. We will scan them and return them to you. We will do our best to take care of your photos, but please know we cannot be responsible for anything that happens to the photos, especially as they go through the mail.
    2. In person. You can make an appointment with Lori Straus during her office hours and wait while we scan your photos.  We'll then hand them back to you right away.
    3. Electronically. You can send us scans of the photos. Please make sure the scans have a resolution of at least 400 dpi. If you're unsure of each photo’s resolution, a general rule of thumb is that the file size of each photo will be in megabytes (MB) and not kilobytes (KB). E.g., a photo that is 3.2 MB likely has a sufficient resolution. If the file size of the photo is 240 KB, then the resolution is likely far too low. Check your photo software's documentation to find the actual resolution information. If the resolution is too low, we can only use the photos for the website.

Thank you for contributing to the first book of its kind on the history of Waterloo Region!