Dorothea

2023 is Chandler Designs’ 40th anniversary!

We’re celebrating 40 years of helping you tell your stories, display your art, find solutions for digital problems. We’ve framed a bottle of Holy water, antique prints, restored and printed treasured family photos, created family trees, digitally archived collections of family photos and letters, created clean vector graphic files for corporate branding, helped restore voting

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1911 Photo of Ambulance in Shanghai, restored

Restore old photos, find your family story

Restoring an old photograph can refresh a memory and bring your ancestors’ stories to life. This torn photo of a 1911 ambulance in Shanghai, is one of many that brings to life the story of my grandparents, Dr. Albert Dunlap and Eva Dunlap. Dr. Dunlap was on call through many armed conflicts in early twentieth

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What’s in that box of family photos and papers?

You won’t know if you don’t look! One of the services I offer through Chandler Designs is archiving family collections of photos and documents. Digital versions of your heirlooms and written materials such as letters, are easy to share. The more people that can read the letters left by a parent or great aunt the

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Andover Maine Community Covenant

Historical Documents: Community Covenant, Andover, Maine

Historical documents are particularly useful when researching family history. They take us to a point in time and to an era and can give insight into how groups of people handled complex and every day decisions. They also shine a light on the path our ancestors took in forming beliefs and customs—what is referred to

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Translating Old Family Tree Data Files

The challenge of translating old family tree data files with current software happens in all digital areas of interest and for do-it-yourselfers this problem can be particularly vexing— or exhilarating depending on how you feel about being your own IT person. Before getting into a few tips on file format translation for family tree applications

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Crewel Stitching Project – Part 2 Choosing colors and stitches

Continuing from Part 1: In the last week I have drawn the design onto linen, chosen several colors and stitches and started the stitching. This past week was Thanksgiving and with the time spent visiting there was a lot of opportunity to chat and stitch. The final image has been simplified to emphasize the rich

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Daisy on the hunt

Crewel stitching project Part 1. Creating an heirloom of a family vacation.

Framing needlework and textiles happens fairly frequently in my shop but in the last few years I have begun to work in stitching myself. So it follows that creating an original from concept to pattern to completion is my latest challenge. In keeping with the idea of art combined with family story I have chosen

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Restoring historical documents – 1840 Land Grant signed by President Martin Van Buren

Why do we humans love story so much? Reaching into our past for a story is part of all our lives. The collective story of a country or culture gives insight on current events and helps us navigate our own times. Your family history—oral or documented—adds dimension to cultural traditions which otherwise might languish as

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