Social media project reconnects people with old photos

If you’ve ever lost a cherished family photo or video, you’ll really appreciate this story.

The Museum of Lost Memories is a social media project that started to pass time during the pandemic for David Gutenmacher.

Gutenmacher finds old slides, reels, film and photos at flea markets and thrift stores that were probably scooped up in estate sales or donated by mistake. Then he and his hundreds of thousands of followers sleuth out who the memories belong to and return them.

One woman recognized her friend Diane in rediscovered photos of Diane’s time at Chapman University in the nineties.

“The first photo I was like oh that’s my friend Diane and I think it’s wonderful,” said Diane Prunier.

Gutenmacher says people are sometimes skeptical that a lost memory of theirs got in the hands of a helpful stranger, but they’re always grateful once they have the memories back.