The Archive is our online treasure chest containing our family albums and the Ojala Family File Box. Here we can organize, preserve, and enjoy our photos and documents, tracing the story of our family from Finland to today.
To access the Archive, first join the Ojala Family online forum. Please read the "Help" sections to understand how the Archive works.
View our collection of Ojala family albums. Easily add items in image and video formats.
Explore our Ojala Family File Box. Add files in document and audio formats and more.
Our family albums are stored in Google Photos. Signing up lets you view, save, add, edit, share, and download our family photos. Use the same account that you use for the Ojala Family online forum and Google Drive.
There are several ways to get your prints into a digital format:
Scan them with a flatbed scanner (best for fragile photos) or an auto-feed scanner. High resolution scans are best, as family members may wish to have prints made.
"Scan" them with your phone using Google’s PhotoScan app. It's very easy! The images may not be as sharp as with an actual scanner, but there are distinct advantages over your phone's native camera app (such as glare removal and perspective correction). Images auto-upload to Google Photos, saving you a step.
Use a professional service such as Capture (it integrates seamlessly with Google Photos).
Upload photos to your Google Photos account. Use photos.google.com on your computer, or the Photos app on your mobile device.
Our albums are organized by descendant. We currently have albums for Generation 0 (John Ojala & Sophia Vähämaa, the immigrant progenitors of our Ojalas), Generation 1 (their twelve children, the first native-born descendants), and Generation 2 (their twelve grandchildren). More albums will be added in the coming weeks.
Add each photo to the album corresponding to the eldest descendant shown in the photo. If any siblings of that descendant also appear in your photo, add it to their album(s) too! If a photo shows Ojala-related property (but no descendants), add it to the most appropriate album. (For example, a photo of the house at 92 Town Hill St. might go in John & Sophia's album.) Photos with neither descendants nor Ojala-related property do not belong in the Archive (but you can create your own album and share it with interested parties).
It’s helpful to know the who–what–when–where of old photos. If you have information about your photo, click "ⓘ" and tell us what you can (you'll be able to do this later).
To find out when new photos are added to an album, turn on notifications. Go to the album > ⋮ > Options > Notifications > Get notified about new activity.
The list of albums and links is private, visible only to Ojala Family online forum members.
File types not supported by Google Photos can be placed in the Ojala Family File Box, our private folder in Google Drive. This includes document formats (e.g. docx and pdf), audio recordings, and some others. For folder access, use the same account that you use for the Ojala Family online forum and the family albums.
Use drive.google.com on your computer, or the Drive app on your mobile device.
To add a file from your Drive account to the Ojala Family File Box:
Click "Share" and enter the Archive email address in the blue box (this is not the same address you will enter in the next step). Select "Viewer." Leave the "Notify people" box checked. The webmistress will know to make a shortcut to your file in the Ojala Family File Box (please allow a few days for this to happen).
Click "Share" again, and enter the online forum email address—ojalafamily@googlegroups.com—in the blue box. Select "Viewer." Uncheck "Notify people." This gives group members permission to view your file.
The Ojala Family File Box is visible only to members of our (private) Ojala Family online forum.
All Archive and group content should be relevant to other descendants of John & Sophia Ojala. Please avoid potentially divisive and unrelated content (religion, politics, what you had for dinner, etc.).
Photos and files may be cross-posted to our private groups, by any group member, for other descendants to enjoy.