Woman Recovers Photo Albums Containing 125 Years of Family History After They Were Trashed

A woman recently enlisted the help of the New York City Department of Sanitation to recover five photo albums that had been thrown away by a family member. According to WABC, the albums contained 125 years of family history.

The albums were stored at Patricia Turco's home in the Throggs Neck area of the Bronx, WABC reported. When she moved in with her niece after her apartment was damaged by Hurricane Ida, Turco left the photo albums behind, said UPI.

On October 9, her niece's stepson accidentally tossed the albums in the trash while cleaning Turco's damaged apartment.

"I was angry, extremely upset, hysterical crying. And the first thing I did was call up the Department of Sanitation, and the Department of Sanitation could not have been more nice," Turco told WABC.

Once the department located the truck that picked up the trash from Turco's building, Sanitation Supervisor Edward Clavelo and Turco's friend Johnny Rodriguez dug through the garbage, UPI said. After 15 minutes of searching, the men found the albums.

"Another Lost & FOUND success! These Bronx residents were able to get their photo album back after it was accidentally thrown out with the trash," the department said in a celebratory Facebook post. "They quickly got in touch with us, and we located the truck with the albums. After just a bit of searching ... success!"

A spokesperson for the New York City Department of Sanitation told Newsweek that they receive a "fair number" of calls about lost items.

"When the Department receives a 'lost item' report, we check to see if we still have the material in the truck (you generally need to call us the same day)," the spokesperson explained. "If so, we take the truck to a location where the resident and their helpers go through the material to find the lost item.

"Depending on when we collect the material on the route, we can usually tell approximately, where, within the line of dumped material, the lost item may be. Pretty frequently, we are happy to report that residents WILL get their lost item back — everything from wedding rings, to religious items to wallets," she continued.

Turco's recovered photo albums aren't the only "found" items to make headlines this year.

In May, a freediver recovered a woman's engagement ring from Lake Windermere, England's largest lake. Newsweek reported that the diver, Angus Hosking, used an underwater metal detector to retrieve the rings.

"Such lovely people and we're so glad that we could help them," Hosking said in an Instagram post. "And what an amazing ring, white gold and diamond!"

Similarly, a diver found a gold wedding band at the bottom of Sacramento's American River. A few days later, he was able to reunite the ring with its owner.

Facebook commenters were happy to see Turco reunited with her photo albums.

"Wonderful to [be] reunited with an important lost possession," said one commenter.

"Good job guys! NY tough," exclaimed another.

"Excellent outcome," another posted wrote.

10/22/2021: This story has been updated to include comments from the New York City Department of Sanitation.