Intergenerational Storytelling: The Passing of Memories Through Family Photography

Authors: Cye Zhang, Annie Ngo, Sherry Liang, Maeghan Nordone, Lily Tierney, Sylvie Hoffman, Matthew Rucker, Eve Moses, Andrew Joseph Betro, Mandy Zheng, Sonia Pineda

Field of Study: Arts and Humanities

Program Affiliation: Source Project Research Program

Faculty Mentors: Gina Glasman

Abstract: This digital archival collection and exhibit explores the role of family photography as a dynamic tool for memory-making and identity formation, emphasizing how these images function as both personal artifacts and broader cultural signifiers. By analyzing and curating personal family photographs of milestones, such as weddings, births, and migrations, the project examines both unique and common ways in which different cultures engage with photography, creating visual narratives that transcend individual experience. Treating these photographs as material objects that carry meaning across time, the project draws on both primary and secondary sources, intertwining family photographs with a conceptual framework rooted in humanities research on photography and memory. By reframing family photographs as artifacts, this project challenges the assumption that only a public version of history matters. Instead, it argues that seemingly ordinary, personal images play a vital role in how history is collectively remembered and passed down within families.