Sewickley company helps save family legacies 1 snapshot at a time

Shelley Murray saves memories.

She collects messy boxes of images, documents and newspaper clippings and sorts, organizes, cleans and scans or digitizes them to curate a legacy history for future generations.

“We transform your memories by bringing your story to life, while also preserving that story,” Murray said while in the studio of her Sewickley company, Rescuing Photos.

She got inspired when she discovered scrapbooks that belonged to her paternal grandmother Ruth Ogle, who died in 2001.

“These were scrapbooks my grandmother had made over the years, documenting our family stories all the way back to the 1800s,” said Murray, as she held one of them. “I was enamored with them. Now each of those scrapbooks is digitized and shared with all the family.”

Another family heirloom, a photo album of Murray’s grandmother Doris Beck on her mother’s side of the family, contains vintage images of Beck as a dancer wearing costumes her mother had made.

“These are so valuable to our family,” said Murray. “They did the best with what they had to preserve our family history. The next generation will lose this history if you don’t preserve it.”

Murray looked for a way to preserve the memories.

She found a solution with Forever, a Pittsburgh-­based permanent digital photo and video platform. As a single mother of four, Murray went to work for the company.

In 2019, she launched Shelley Murray Photo Organizing Services, then rebranded to Rescuing Photos. The certified photo organizer purchased a Jeep that looks like a rescue vehicle with a red cross on the side, and began going into homes in search of pictures, bulky photo albums, framed images and any other important documentation.

There aren’t a lot of people who can do what Murray does, said client Joe Platt of Sewickley. Murray gathered photos, racing documents, articles, memorabilia and large portraits and with her team preserved everything for Platt in a book chronicling a decade of horse racing, identifying each horse, the location and the race.

“Her personality is so positive,” Platt said. “It is compelling how she approaches each project with intensity. Her organizational skills are incredible.”

Douglas McAdams of Sewickley had a scrapbook made by his mother documenting the family history. Through additional genealogy research, stories, photos, newspaper articles, documents and key facts were incorporated into a 100-page coffee table-style book. A local author wrote the story and Murray’s graphic designer incorporated additional images. Murray uses a variety of book vendors depending on the size, style and number of pages.

“I gave my family members each a book as a Christmas gift,” McAdams said. “Shelley did a phenomenal job. It’s a family legacy and an heirloom for future generations.”

Murray recommends having a plan for family photos. If not, they are at risk of being lost and forgotten. If you wait until someone dies, then you are overwhelmed and a lot of times these are the items that get tossed, she said.

Murray has rescued 1800s heritage photos, black-and-white prints, 16 mm and 8 mm film, slides and early color prints as well as Super 8 films, VHS and Betamax and color prints and today’s digital media.

“One of the most valuable parts of what Shelley does is archivally protecting people’s heritages,” said Elise Keely of Sewickley, who had albums digitally preserved. “Young people today have electronic photos and documentation but they might not be archiving those images. If I didn’t do this, then future generations will be disconnected. I have great admiration for what she’s doing.”

Murray will drive to a client and can work there or take the items to her studio. She curates the collection, selecting the best images. Rescuing Photos charges an hourly rate that includes organizing, sorting, cleaning, scanning, curating, digital organizing and archival box packing.

When you average out the cost per photo when doing standard scanning, it is between 65 cents and 85 cents per photo. That includes scanning, color correcting, renaming, uploading and digitally organizing each photo. The company safely removes photos from albums, eliminates duplicates and duds and can repair tears, marks, missing areas, fading and other damage.

Administrative assistant Isabella Carver of Sewickley said she learns something new every day.

“I love being part of helping to tell people’s stories,” Carver said. “Shelley treats every photo with respect.”

Murray’s most memorable project is one for her dad, Ted Ogle, and his twin, Terry Ogle, about a 2,000-mile canoe trip the brothers took in 1965 in Canada. Their original film was developed into slides.

“I went to my dad’s basement and found the slides,” Murray said. “I used these photos and newspaper articles and other photos that I found in my grandmother’s scrapbooks to make a printed book for them telling the entire story. Doing that encompassed so much of what I love most: rescuing photos from his basement to bring his story to life.”

“I am always taking pictures because I want the memory,” said Murray, a board member for the Sewickley Valley Historical Society who digitized photos and documents for its 50th anniversary celebration. “This is very meaningful work. It is emotional and extremely powerful to watch an 80-year-old looking at themselves when they were 2 years old or a couple that has been married for 50 years getting a glimpse of themselves on their wedding day. The smiles. The tears. The laughter. Those reactions are priceless. That’s why I am rescuing these photos.”

Details: 412-716-6161 or hello@rescuingphotos.com or rescuingphotos.com