Hey create a Flickr or other image site maybe even an Instagram account. Take pictures of Everything with a good phone… then share it with the world !!

After that figure out what to do with the physical stuff…donate or other options. Maybe you can find someone at upwork.com or locally who can take on the job of selling them for a commission?

You might be able to sell it as a whole, or in chunks, to someone/persons who collect vintage film/scans/postcards/etc. I have some friends from the industry who did this for a while. It likely won’t be gobs of money, but it may be finding good homes this way. I’m not sure how you’d go about selling it in the most efficient way possible though.

I’d reach out to your local museums, galleries or maybe colleges to see if they would have any suggestions on where it could be sold or possibly donated if anything.

Depending on your time to dedicate to it, photo books could be a way to share the work. I don’t know if it’s worth the effort to sort/organize it all, make sure everything is scanned, and design it, but if you have the time it could be a good way to keep the memories alive.

Depending on the content it could also be marketable for sales or finding a publisher who’s willing to handle it. It still puts a lot of work on you, but if the emotional effort of going through all of it is manageable and you have the time to dedicate to it, you could have a good product in the end for people to view.

Definitely museum. Libraries? Definitely don’t just throw them though. See if anyone would be keen to get the film printed or see if any galleries would be keen to come take a look?

Talk to the library system, they might want it for their collection.

Definitely repost this in r/analogcommunity

There are a bunch of old timer film people in there that’ll know what your best options are.

/r/AnalogCommunity /r/analog might help you find someone who’d be interested. Providing a (vague) location could help.

Sorry for your loss and I hope you’re able to find something.

I would try to donate? It’s what people will also remember him by. It’s part of his legacy. It should be celebrated, not erased.

If he taught classes, get in touch with the school. If he won contests, get in touch with whatever organization held them. And libraries would also be a good option. Any documentation of your husband inheriting them and subsequently you inheriting them will help if you intend to publish or sell them.

I had a teacher who passed away who was a very talented photographer. His family put some of his work up for sale in a gallery and there was a show. It was a great opportunity for friends and family to get together and celebrate his life and his work.

What kind of photography was it? Travel? How much material are we talking about? How much effort are you willing to put in to do something meaningful with it? Please don’t just throw it out!

Library(s) for sure.

Like others say, you would have to see who the executor of his estate is to figure out ownership. There’s a website you can upload images to, and they will post it on many stock sites. I don’t know what kind of royalties come from that. Might be a market for older retro images? Your could donate too. The work though is in digitizing good scans of everything. I have some old film stuff I want to get digitized and was quoted about 50 cents an image.

I don’t think I can add much on to what’s already been said (donating to an organization or library), but I’m sure if you were willing to scan at least some of the work, you could find some folks on Reddit who would be more than happy to help you compile it somehow! If you do decide to go this route, feel free to DM, I’d be happy to help however I can!

Usually you can offer the photos to whoever or whatever is in the photo. Person, establishment, city, brand, etc. You may also offer it as an archive for the city. But you gotta sit down and sort them out. You’ll eventually see themes here and there that can be compiled to a book of some sorts. Go at it, savour the time travel.

A stock agency wouldn’t take them (probably) because of chain of title, i.e., establishing who actually owns the copyright. Did your late husband have any siblings, do you have any kids, and what state did all of this happen in, etc. You’d need signify from everyone and even then someone might claim something.

Creative Commons might be an option. Or museum, historical society.

I work with an archive that is building a photographic reference library making hundreds of thousands of images available for historic references and research etc. At a minimum it would fulfill a fully credited legacy of preservation for your photo collection. Feel free to reach out and we can speak a bit more in detail about what we’re up to. Thanks.