A 87-year-old grandmother in Texas has sold a rare and valuable collection of more than 500 Civil War-era photographs to the Library of Congress after building her personal collection for four decades.
Zach Belden's 80-year-old great-grandmother Betty was recently diagnosed with terminal cancer. Knowing that she would have to endure unimaginable hardship, both physical and emotional, Belden came up with an idea that would help keep her spirits high and make the remainder of her time on this planet as joyous as possible.
His solution turned out to be Instagram.
A few years ago, photographer Sacha Goldberger discovered that his 91-year-old "mamika" (Hungarian for "grandmother") named Frederika was feeling lonely and down. To put a smile back on her face, Goldberger suggested that they shoot a series of silly portraits featuring Frederika dressed up as a superhero. Frederika agreed, and Goldberger's project Mamika was born. The photographs took the web by storm back in 2010, and the viral views gave Frederika a huge boost in cheer as people from all over the world sent encouraging messages to her.