they are terrified of doing that and think it would be a disaster if the president did it himself. >> lou: well, poor darlings. daffodils all. >> an ancestor they knew nothing about... >> i went through 50-some-odd years of my life and had no clue. >> an inheritance they can hardly believe... >> what was your reaction as you opened those first boxes? >> it was mind-blowing. >> why does andrew green have george washington's will? >> bare-knuckle politics, cold-blooded murder, a legacy all but snuffed out... >> this was a cloud of suspicion of having lived a double life. >> what did they do? >> what are the chances that those boxes would've just been trashed? >> very good chance of that. >> what would you do? >> well, it drove me crazy. >> how 'bout 6,000? >> and what's it all worth? >> you think you'll ever get another auction with a story like this?

>> no, i kinda doubt it. [ door creaks ] [ wind howls ] [ thunder rumbles ] [ bird caws ] >> i'm jamie colby. and today, i'm in kennebunkport, maine. it's renowned as the bush family's summer haven and also for its succulent lobster. but this story has a cast of characters that are up and down the atlantic seaboard. the heirs, they live here, a reclusive aunt from massachusetts and their gilded age ancestor once dubbed "the father of greater new york." >> i'm john green. >> and i'm lisa green buchanan. >> i think it's fair to say that our aunt julie was a hoarder. and when she died in 2009, she left us a mountain of stuff to sort through. >> oh, what a great house! >> thank you! welcome to kennebunkport! i got a story... >> john and his sister lisa belong to a new england family

whose history goes back to mayflower days but whose legacy had been largely forgotten. in 2005, that reclusive aunt i mentioned, julie green, is diagnosed with cancer, and john moves her from the boston area into a condo up here in maine, where the siblings can help care for her. it's a big job to be a caregiver. >> i never thought of it that way. she had nobody else. >> what was she like? >> she was single and independent. >> never married? >> no. >> no children? >> she did not want children. >> nor does aunt julie want anyone to get rid of all her stuff. >> even when we moved everything out of that house, we had a dumpster put in there, and she would guard the dumpster. she would make sure we wouldn't throw anything out. >> so the basement of julie's condo gets overwhelmed with stacks of boxes of books and who knows what else. john, what are the chances that, if you and your sister didn't care for aunt julie,

that those boxes would've just been trashed? >> very good chance of that. >> in her last years, the tight-lipped aunt julie does drop references to their ancestor she says accumulated much of it all. >> the only thing she would say is uncle andrew this, uncle andrew that. we'd tease her that she was living in the past. you know, you're talking about all these people that aren't here anymore, and little did we know why. >> aunt julie dies in 2009 at the age of 73. >> everything was left to my sister and myself. when we started opening boxes, we still didn't know exactly what we had at that time. >> first, they have to separate the wheat from the chaff. and there's plenty of chaff -- decades of old knickknacks, newspapers, mail, and clothing. how many boxes are we talking about? >> hundreds. >> among the boxes, lisa discovers this book which gives them a clue of what's to come.

it's a family journal going back to the 19th century. this is so cool! this is a caricature of andrew green, known as the father of greater new york. i'm from new york. i've never heard of him. did you know much about him before? >> no, we didn't. >> that's when i started to go down the rabbit hole. they learned that this guy, their great-great-great-uncle andrew green, was born in 1820 in an area known as green hill in worcester, massachusetts. >> he had 10 brothers and sisters. his father was a lawyer. they were well-off but not rich. >> 300 miles south of kennebunkport here in manhattan, historian mike miscione has pieced together the story of lisa and john's ancestor and how he left his mark here in the big apple. and while there's no skyscraper, highway, or airport named after him, it turns out there really ought to be.

>> he was largely responsible for creating the institutions that transformed new york into a world-class city. >> mike explains that, as a teenager, andrew green left massachusetts and moved to new york city. >> he worked as a clerk at a dry-goods operation, and, eventually, he decided to settle upon a career of law and came into contact with a up-and-coming lawyer by the name of samuel tilden. >> tilden is making a fortune representing railroads. he's also becoming a big shot in new york politics. >> green's dealings with tilden brought him into democratic political circles. and soon, he was involved in new york city civic affairs. >> green becomes tilden's law partner and begins making a hefty salary. instead of marriage and children, he's devoted to work. but when tough times befall his family up in massachusetts, andrew returns temporarily to worcester to take charge.

>> he was able to not just get the estate out of debt but make it prosper, as well. he became the patriarch of his family for the remainder of his life. >> great shot. is that the house? andrew figures the family home could use some extra rooms, 42 to be exact. one of those rooms is a museum showing off artifacts from the green family's history. >> there was a museum in the home for the family, not for the public. >> and how do you know that? >> this book is the story of the family and green hill. >> can i look? >> sure. >> so this is the story of the home 1754 to 1905. that's a lot of family history. >> mm-hmm. >> andrew's ready to make history himself back in new york by shaping it into a world-class metropolis. among other jobs, he heads the commission that creates central park.

>> central park, the metropolitan museum of art, the american museum of natural history. green would be largely responsible for creating the bronx zoo, the new york public library. >> there's very little green doesn't touch during new york's gilded age. in 1871, when city coffers are almost bankrupt, he becomes the city's comptroller. >> andrew green needed to be escorted by a ring of mounted policemen as he was approaching the comptroller's office on his first day of work. and this was a blood sport in this era. >> green exposes the shenanigans of new york's corrupt democratic machine, known as tammany hall, and helps send the city's notorious boss, william tweed, off to prison. oh, and one other little achievement... >> it was green's efforts to get new york to expand beyond the borders of manhattan island and to annex the municipalities around new york harbor, which included the city of

brooklyn, and make that all one giant metropolis. >> so how could his own family 100 years later not know all about him? could it have anything to do with the way green died? that's next. >> but first, our "strange inheritance" quiz question. in the presidential election of 1876, andrew green's law partner, samuel tilden, won the popular vote but lost to rutherford b. hayes. the answer after the break.

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>> it's "a." among other problems, florida democrats printed ballots showing abraham lincoln's face in an effort to trick freed slaves who couldn't read into voting democratic. a special commission was set up to decide the contest, leading to the election of hayes over tilden. >> john green and his sister lisa green buchanan initially think their hoarder aunt julie has simply

left them a big headache when she dies in july 2009. but among the hundreds of boxes that filled her basement, they uncover a 19th-century journal that begins to open their eyes to the legacy of their great-great-great-uncle andrew haswell green, a man theodore roosevelt nicknamed "the father of greater new york." >> nobody told us the story. >> i went through 50-some-odd years of my life and had no clue how important he was. >> john comes to suspect that may be because of the scandal surrounding green's death in 1903. >> a man approached him and accused him of seeing his mistress and shot him in the back. [ woman screams ] >> the stranger -- his name was cornelius williams -- shot andrew green five times, killing the man instantly. he made no attempt to escape,

made no attempt to deny what he had done. >> the confessed killer claims green and a brothel owner named bessie davis were part of a conspiracy against him. newspapers across the country relish the salacious story. >> this was a very troubling, mysterious set of circumstances, and andrew green was under this cloud of suspicion of having lived a double life. >> the police determine green was a victim of mistaken identity. or was it payback from the political machine that he had taken down? whatever the case, the damage to his once-spotless reputation is done. plans to erect memorial gates in his honor at the entrance to central park evaporate. in worcester, green's mansion is sold to the city and later demolished. gradually, even his own kin forget all he accomplished and left behind, the effects of an important man boxed up in cardboard.

>> they cleaned the mansion out. and my grandfather's father took possession of all these items, and then it went to my grandfather. they were passed on to julie. >> and why julie? >> she took care of my grandparents when they got elderly. when my grandparents moved into assisted living, julie was the one that took 'em. >> and because john and lisa take care of aunt julie in her dotage, she leaves them this strange inheritance. what was your reaction as you opened those first boxes? >> it was mind-blowing, really exciting. >> there's china, tiffany silverware, coins, stamps, antique books, clothing, toys, and jewelry. and how many items are we talking about? >> thousands. >> so after tossing aunt julie's actual junk, including decades of old newspapers and mail, they reach out to richard oliver, a family friend and local auctioneer. >> we knew there was enough value

to get historians and people like richard involved. i mean, my brother and i couldn't have settled this estate by ourselves. >> indeed, richard will need an entire team to go through all those boxes and catalog everything. >> i said, "listen. john, you pay the expenses. i'll keep the buyer's premium." >> do all your clients pay up front? >> well, a good part of the time, we take 20% or whatever it might be, and we pay the expenses. >> john agrees but quickly learns he's taken a huge risk. research gets expensive. take this antique hebrew prayer book from andrew green's massive library. to find out where it came from, richard must run an ad in an antiques magazine. >> somebody picked up on it, and i started getting calls from israel and calls from all over the country. >> another example -- this silver cup with a wolf's-head crest. >> it drove me crazy. i wasn't able to find out

what the crest was. >> after much effort, historian bill ralph, a member of the research team, figures out it was from a group called wolf's head. sounds like a secret society. >> and it -- in fact, it is, and it was. it was the third secret society at yale. >> fascinating stuff. but can the siblings expect a return on that kind of research? did you ever say to richard, "i got your latest bill, and we're not gonna do any more research until we sell some of this stuff"? >> i didn't put it like that, but i questioned him. "are you sure we're discovering enough things of importance to pay this bill?" and, richard being richard, "oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. don't worry about it." >> i told john i had calculated we ought to be able to do $600,000 without a problem. >> that's because his team has found plenty. check out these letters apparently given to andrew green as a gift, penned by thomas jefferson, james madison, and james monroe.

>> they were... >> originals? >> yes. >> what were the letters about? >> my favorite letter, james monroe and james madison were talking about this gentleman who happened to be andrew jackson. they were afraid that he might be the ruination of their careful plans to carry on their ideology with the american public. >> the next big find? this rare copy of george washington's last will and testament, printed in 1800, right after washington's death. >> at the time, we knew there were only 13 existing copies. >> make that 14. >> it was in a plastic bag filled with other things, and it very well could've been thrown out without anybody ever knowing about it. >> by july 2010, john and lisa's strange inheritance is cataloged and ready for sale. they've invested a year and a lot of money in it. how much had john spent getting ready for this big auction? >> it was around $225,000.

>> whoa! >> i hope we get enough out of this to pay for what we've discovered. >> will they? >> sold at $1,000. >> that's next. >> here's another quiz question for you. when andrew green was new york city's comptroller, the brooklyn bridge was partially financed by renting what? apartments atop its towers, boat slips by its piers, or wine cellars at its base? the answer in a moment. ♪ the answer in a moment. hey, sir lose-a-lot! thou hast the patchy beard of a pre-pubescent squire! thy armor was forged by a feeble-fingered peasant woman...

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>> it's september 2010, and john green and his sister lisa are preparing to auction off thousands of items they inherited from their aunt julie. many belonged to their great-great-great-uncle andrew green, the long-forgotten father of new york city. they decide everything must go -- well, almost everything. >> these are dueling pistols. when you had to settle a score back in the 1700s, these are the dueling pistols that you used and the powder flask that goes with it. >> now, why would you keep these? >> i'm a gun nut. so i thought it was kinda cool to have dueling pistols. >> the stakes for the auction are high. to appraise and catalog the collection, the greens have spent $225,000. >> every box was another -- you never knew what you were gonna get into. >> the big question now -- will the auction bring in the money they need to break even?

>> here we are. we've extended a lot of time and a lot of money and a lot of resources just to get to this far. >> was it important for you to recover enough from the auction to cover your expenses? >> very important. >> lot number 22. let's start with... and how much? and get bidding where? >> john frets as auctioneer richard oliver unloads antique toys, dolls, and music boxes for just a few hundred dollars apiece. >> it was a slow start, like, "oh, boy. is this gonna come into it?" >> next on the auction block, that silver cup that bill ralph finally determined was from a yale secret society. even that only fetches 1,000 bucks. they're a long way from the 225,000k john and lisa paid up front to get their strange inheritance ready for auction and a far cry from the minimum of $600,000 the auctioneer predicted. and then, with one surprising bid, everything starts turning green!

>> none of us thought it was gonna go for what it went for. >> that's next. what's your strange inheritance story? we'd love to tell it! send me an e-mail or go to our website, strangeinheritance.com. you wouldn't accept an incomplete job from any one else. so why accept it from your allergy pills? most pills don't finish the job because they don't relieve nasal congestion. flonase allergy relief is different. flonase relieves sneezing, itchy, watery eyes and a runny nose, plus nasal congestion, which pills don't. flonase helps block 6 key inflammatory substances. most pills only block one. and 6 is greater than 1. start your day with flonase for more complete allergy relief. flonase. this changes everything. money managers are pretty much the same. all but while some push high commission investment products, fisher investments avoids them. some advisers have hidden and layered fees. fisher investments never does. and while some advisers are happy to earn commissions

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>> now back to "strange inheritance." >> it's september 2010, and john green and his sister lisa green buchanan are wondering if they're going to be able to cover the $225,000 they've spent preparing their strange inheritance for auction. >> uh, we had to pay for this somehow. >> at first, the sale moves slowly and ekes out only a few thousand dollars, nowhere near what they need. what was the moment at which it picked up? >> one of the most exciting was the small hebrew book that they found. none of us thought it was gonna go for what it went for. the rare 17th century hebrew prayer book, a gem from

andrew green's vast book collection? >> $33,000. >> that copy of george washington's last will and testament? $16,000. a single letter from thomas jefferson to president monroe? 13k. all of the presidential letters together -- just under 70 grand. 9 booklets from 19th-century india fetch 11k. a cherry tea table? $9,000. this windsor high chair goes for $11,500. the sales just keep ringing up. the final tally at auction's end -- $700,000. so were you pleased or disappointed? >> oh, very pleased. the things in that auction needed to go to people who cared for them so the general public could see it. >> in fact, the new york public library buys a bundle of letters written by green himself for only 500 bucks, a bargain for the guy who helped create the library in the first place. >> if it wasn't for him, who knows what central park would be?

he brought the five boroughs of new york together to make one city. this is a lot of history. >> we told you how john kept those dueling pistols. john's sister lisa keeps something, too -- that dusty old journal that reconnected her to the green family legacy. >> i learned a lot while we were going through this process. it's pretty astounding, and there's no way to deny where i came from anymore, the more i learned. >> in 2012, new york city finally got around to funding a small andrew green park here along the east river for $5 million. but then the city realized that the pilings along the river would need repairs, costing another 15 million. so for now, andrew green has a dog run and a beautiful view to honor him. and his story, which was in storage for more than 100 years,

is finally out of the box. i'm jamie colby for "strange inheritance." thanks so much for watching, and remember -- you can't take it with you. ♪ >> a babe who photographed babies... >> she would get them to do the craziest things. >> ...becomes a celebrity herself. >> people knew her by name. she was a pin-up. >> there were definitely stories of skiing with the kennedys, definitely a lavish lifestyle for sure. >> what was her secret? >> isn't she adorable? >> what a winner shot. >> is it still gold today? >> is this collection potentially worth six figures, seven figures? [ door creaks ] [ wind howls ] [ thunder rumbles ] [ bird caws ] ♪ >> i'm jamie colby, and today i'm in littleton, colorado. it's a suburb of denver that,

like all of suburbia, really expanded after world war ii because of the baby boom. and speaking of babies, every parent, including me, knows the frustration of trying to get your little one to smile at just the right moment for just the right photo. well, we're about to tell the story of a woman who turned that challenge into an art form. >> my name is lynda bannister. when my mother, constance, passed away in 2005, she left me more more than 100,000 baby photos. she was the most accomplished baby photographer of her day. >> hi, lynda. i'm jamie. >> hi, jamie. nice to meet you. >> nice to meet you, too. you wrote me about your mom and something about babies. >> yes. >> are they here? >> yes, they are. please come in. >> okay. >> inside lynda's house is her strange inheritance left to her by her mother, baby photographer constance bannister. >> you've basically put together a museum all about your mom and all these babies.

>> in total, there are more than 100,000 baby pictures -- yes, 100,000 photos. >> there are many files full of negatives. >> all negatives? >> all negatives. >> lynda has mom's old cameras, too. >> she was able to carry this? >> yes. actually, she would wear a harness and strap herself into it, as you can see. one of the first self-portraits, she's got the clicker in her hand. >> a selfie? >> yeah. >> lynda's mother's story begins in 1913 on a farm in tennessee. >> what kind of childhood did your mom have? >> she's second from the oldest of 17 children. >> 17? >> 17. she talked about playing in the creek, riding the cow -- just a real simple, healthy lifestyle. >> in the mid 1930s, young connie leaves her country home with dreams of becoming an artist in the big apple.

>> she wanted to be somebody and somebody big. >> in 1937, she enrolls at the new york institute of photography, and later that year marries the first of three husbands, stephen arthur bannister. >> that was finishing school for her. >> the marriage? >> yeah. >> why? >> he took the country girl, and he really showed her the life of an upper-class woman in manhattan. >> but the rich investment broker just can't compete with connie's greatest love -- the camera. they soon divorce, and connie gets her first paying gig as a society photographer in palm beach for the associated press. >> women, when she first started out, they were not doing careers. she basically stepped into a man's world and ran the show. >> after one year on the job, she returns to new york and works as a public-relations photographer on the maiden voyage of the s.s. brazil. then a lightning bolt of

inspiration strikes. >> she went into central park, and she basically just started photographing babies. >> why babies? >> when she was a young girl, she was always around babies. she naturally gravitated towards babies. she ended up going back the next day with prints selling some of her pictures to a mom, and the career was born. >> in 1940, constance opens a photo shop on central park south. she quickly becomes known for her ability to capture faces and expressions other baby photographers cannot. >> how unique were her techniques? >> she had a way with communicating with the baby, and she would get them to do the craziest things. [ camera shutter clicking ] >> she develops a lot of tricks, like filling her studio with plenty of toys, using honey to achieve that perfect hair curl, and brushing the baby's face with a feather before snapping the shot.

>> she just knew exactly when to snap that shutter and get that perfect shot. >> today lynda's gonna let me in on a few more of her mother's trade secrets at an actual baby photo shoot. >> oh, no, no, no. >> adele. >> look. we have a feather. >> i got a feather for you. >> [ crying ] >> ohh. >> this is more difficult than i thought, lynda. >> [ crying continues ] >> what's a wannabe to do, seriously? lynda tells me that's why mom always had back-up models. >> wow, two little teeth and a lot of drool. >> [ laughs ] >> can i take your picture? yes? >> no tears yet. >> can you explain, lynda, what you would do to make this perfect baby even more perfect? >> mom would always have a little jar of lemon juice and water, and she'd just take her finger and put it right in her mouth, and that's to get that kind of puckered face. isn't she adorable? >> what a winner shot.

i got a whole calendar. >> oh, wonderful. [ camera shutter clicking ] >> i may not have captured a bannister-caliber photo, few ever have, but constance has a knack for much more than photographing babies. she'll learn the camera loves her, too, and soon all of america will know her face. >> was she a celebrity? >> yes, in every sense of the word. >> that's next. >> but first, our "strange inheritance" quiz question... is it brad pitt and angelina jolie? kate middleton and prince william? or ivanka trump and jared kushner? the answer when we return. you totaled your brand new car. nobody's hurt, but there will still be pain. it comes when your insurance company says they'll only pay three-quarters of what it takes to replace it. what are you supposed to do? drive three-quarters of a car?

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♪ [ objects rattle ] >> so, which power couple sold photos of their newborn for $15 million? it's "a." in 2008, people and hello! magazine bought the exclusive rights to the baby photos of twins vivienne and knox jolie-pitt. the couple donated the proceeds to charity. ♪ >> it's 1941 and constance bannister has built a reputation as the go-to photographer to capture just the right baby shots. "she was a true pioneer," says getty images executive eric rachlis. >> she was able to capture the emotions of babies in

a very pure form. a lot of people relate to that sort of very innocent expression of emotion. >> during world war ii, her photos are used to help sell war bonds and promote the u.s.o. but when a magazine article is printed about her pin-up babies, connie becomes the babe the troops want to see. >> look magazine did an article called "pin-up babies," and they put a little picture of her in a bathing suit, a pin-up picture, and the servicemen just wrote her from all over the world, asking for an 8x10 signed picture of her for their foxhole or their bunker, and she did. >> i mean, a lot of guys had your grandmother's picture in their locker. >> oh, lord. yeah. [ laughs ] yep. that definitely happened -- yeah. she was definitely involved in some different shoots that were a little edgy for her time. >> meanwhile, after the war, births in the u.s. start surging as soldiers return home. america's great baby boom is on.

perfect timing for a celebrity baby photographer with tv-ready looks and a savvy business plan. >> she was a bit of a wheeler and dealer, so she would negotiate with the families and say, "okay, i won't charge you. you sign the release, and i'll give you beautiful pictures of your child for free." >> so your mom owned the pictures. >> she owns them. >> smart. >> very smart. ♪ >> with the photo rights secured, connie uses the images in her own business ventures -- books, calendars, magazines, her babies often accompanied with sassy one-liners. >> she took sort of traditional cute baby photography and kind of put sort of a satiric bent on how she pictured children and babies. >> soon bannister and her babies are everywhere, from newspapers... >> this is a comic strip that she did called "baby banters." it was syndicated for six years across the country. >> ...to department stores.

>> mom produced a doll? >> mom produced a doll. she produced that in the '50s, and, actually, macy's had it on sale for $9.98. >> did she also earn a lot of revenue? >> she did very well. she had an apartment at 24 central park south, her summer house, which was an estate on the north shore of long island -- 15 acres, pool, tennis court. >> tv host jack paar dubs constance the world's most famous baby photographer. her photo tips are even used to promote flashbulbs. >> was she a celebrity? >> yes, in every sense of the word. i have all her appointment books from the '40s and '50s, and every single page is filled with appointments, meetings, radio shows, television shows. people knew her by name. they knew her on sight. >> there were definitely stories of skiing with the kennedys, taking fabulous trips to different international places -- lavish lifestyle for sure. >> by the late 1950s, constance,

now in her 40s and on her third marriage, wants to start a family of her own. but the world's most famous baby photographer is the victim of a cruel irony. >> she wanted children, but she went to the doctor, and he said it just was not gonna be possible for her. it was actually very sad. >> connie and her husband, joseph hatcher, are blessed in 1958, adopting a baby girl, lynda. two years later, lisa joins the family. the real bannister babies quickly become regulars at mom's photo shoots. >> that's me and mom. >> oh, how sweet. >> and that's me. >> oh! oh, my god. she really could get babies to do everything. >> constance is still a hot ticket in the 1960s as the final frontier inspires another bannister business venture. >> the astronauts went to the moon, she created a baby book called "astrotots."

>> this is adorable. >> she also weighs in on the civil rights movement. >> she's one of the first women to put a black baby on a cover. >> so it wasn't just about picture-taking. >> no. >> she had a message. >> yes, she did. ♪ >> in the mid 1970s, however, constance, now in her 60s, decides it's finally time to hang up the camera and enjoy a well-deserved retirement far from the limelight. >> she was done. she just wanted to have peace and quiet. >> and that is pretty much all america hears from constance bannister, though she does pick up the camera from time to time behind closed doors. >> did she ever take your picture? >> um, sure. absolutely. it got very interesting behind the camera when she got back there. you can kind of see this different side of her. she got very expressive and silly almost. >> she would always bring out the best expressions out of children. >> in 2005, constance bannister passes away at age 92. lynda is named sole heir to her mother's baby pictures, all 100,000 of them.

by then she assumes her mom and the bannister babies are long forgotten. boy, is she wrong about that! >> i was fielding phone calls left and right from reporters from all over the country. >> that's next. >> here's another quiz question for you. this constance bannister model went on to become a big hollywood star. is it...? the answer after the break. ♪ if you wear a denture, you not only want a clean feeling every day, you want your denture to be stain free. did you know there's a specialty cleanser that's gentle enough for everyday use and cleans better than regular toothpaste? try polident cleanser. it has a four in one cleaning system that kills ten times more odor causing bacteria than regular toothpaste, deep cleans where brushing may miss,

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>> so, who is this child model who grew up to become a famous actor in hollywood? it's "b," christopher walken. the star of "the deer hunter" and numerous "saturday night live" appearances kick-started his career working with constance bannister.

>> over her four-decade career, connie bannister snapped some of the most iconic images of infants and toddlers known as bannister babies. after her death in 2005, her daughter wonders how the woman once known as the world's most famous baby photographer will be remembered, if at all. >> when she passed, i contacted the associated press 'cause i didn't know if it was news or i had to write an obituary. >> the family quickly gets their answer. for the first time in decades, the name constance bannister is back in the public view. >> i was fielding phone calls left and right from reporters from all over the country. it was a celebration of her life. it was just wonderful. >> lynda is determined to keep her mother's memory and photos from fading into oblivion. one of her first steps in honoring the family name is to adopt it herself.

she changes her given surname, hatcher, to bannister. her next challenge, sorting through the massive photography archives that she's inherited from her mom. >> we're talking hundreds and hundreds of pounds of cabinets and drawers. >> pounds? >> it wasn't just the photos and the negatives. it was the cameras, it was the dolls, it was the books. it just was such an enormous collection. >> i was overwhelmed when i first got it all. it was just so mind-blowing. >> did she ever tell you what she wanted you to do with it? >> no. she actually told me, "don't mess it up, lynda." >> those are some fighting words. >> i know the pressure's on for me to do a good job and to make her proud. >> lynda starts to catalog and digitize over 100,000 photos. fortunately, mom left at least a little guidance. >> that's a signed release that she kept from when -- the '50s? >> i have them dating back to the early '40s. >> a little o.c.d.?

>> yes, a lot o.c.d., actually. >> among those old releases, lynda discovers some familiar names who modeled for her mother. >> name names. >> christopher walken, paris hilton's mother, kathy, kristina hagman, larry hagman's daughter. >> here's actress anne francis. she would star in two 1950's classics -- "blackboard jungle" and "forbidden planet." but what really gets lynda thinking is the thousands of regular old american babies. she decides to see how their lives turned out. >> how much time are you putting in to finding these bannister babies? >> i'm spending some serious time with it, but i'm enjoying every minute of it. >> what is it like for you when you hear from a bannister baby? >> it's a treat beyond treats. it intrigues me to know that she made so many people happy. >> people like lindley thomasset, a bannister baby from the late 1940s. >> she had a very special way of getting kids to respond

to her. many of these photos were used in advertisements for things like gerber baby food. >> were you a gerber baby? >> yes, that's right. >> excuse me. i've just met a gerber baby, okay? >> today lindley is hosting a bannister baby reunion at her home here in bedford, new york. >> i'm so glad you could all get together. it's incredible. i feel like you're a part of history. lynda has a surprise for you. >> lindley, we have from her archives for you... >> [ gasps ] >> oh, lindley. >> that's for your collection. >> thank you. >> this is linda byers. >> oh, linda. >> oh, my. >> let's see yours. >> oh. >> oh, wow. >> oh, my hair is different. >> and, also, mom made a note under the remarks that linda was cute. >> [ laughs ] >> how many bannister babies are there left? >> oh, there's hundreds left still. >> i bet we find more. >> that'd be great. >> it could make a good book, lynda thinks. meantime, as word gets out about the collection, lynda receives

an offer from a buyer who wants to purchase the entire photo library. it could be a big payday. other vintage collections are said to be worth millions. >> is this collection potentially worth six figures, seven figures? >> no idea. i don't know, and as far as i'm concerned, homina, homina, homina, i don't want to know. >> will lynda mess it up? or does she inherit her mom's business genius, too? find out in a snap. >> what's your "strange inheritance" story? we'd love to tell it. send me an e-mail or go to our website -- strangeinheritance.com. i'm just worried about the house and taking care of the boys. zach! talk to me. it's for the house. i got a job.

it's okay. dad took care of us.

>> now back to "strange inheritance." ♪ >> lynda bannister inherits more than 100,000 professional baby pictures taken by her mom, a true genius who was once the most famous baby photographer in america. >> and is this collection potentially worth six figures, seven figures?

>> no idea. i don't know, and as far as i'm concerned, homina, homina, homina, i don't want to know. >> it could be worth millions, but lynda won't talk to any potential buyers. >> you didn't even let him tell you what they were willing to pay? >> no. i don't want to sell it. my goal really is to just share the baby pictures with people around the world. her images were just so loved, beautiful pictures of children, and i just would like everybody to enjoy them. >> but we're not talking charity here. lynda's betting she can make more holding on to her strange inheritance. in 2010, she cuts a deal with stock photo agency getty images, which markets the pictures to clients who pay each time they use them. >> looking at constance's work, her eye, and the way that she captured these babies has really been a very commercially viable type of imagery that our customers, even today, are using. >> over time,

the bannister babies begin to regain some of their former popularity, starting with greeting cards. >> this is adorable. so they're taking the original images and then they're making them into characters? >> reinventing the babies. >> it's almost, john, like grandma's coming back. >> yeah. i'm seeing a rebirth of her through my mother. it's pretty incredible. >> getty strikes similar deals with the likes of microsoft, yahoo!, and sony. more cash flows in. >> so are you cleaning up financially? >> it's growing. i'm looking at it as my retirement. >> what can one image be worth? >> well, we actually got $25,000 for one image. it can be worth quite a bit of money. >> and here's that photo -- a cute girl in braids hugging her dog licensed for a national ad campaign for the tv show "true blood." >> you're sitting on thousands of these. this could be more than your retirement. >> it could be, it could be. we'll see. >> a tennessee farm girl hits

the big time, becomes a glamorous celebrity, then retires to the quiet life. but now she's back in the spotlight thanks to a dedicated daughter and all those adorable babies. >> i think what my grandmother accomplished was really remarkable, and my mom is giving us an opportunity to bring that amazing work back up to the surface, and that has just been such a remarkable thing for our family. >> she was bigger than life. she had a vision of just creating things with babies and making people laugh and happy, and she was just a wonderful woman. >> you've seen a lot of baby pictures in this episode, but there is one you haven't seen -- mine. here i am propped up on my brother jonathan's shoulders. this photographer got him to smile. i guess i needed some of constance bannister's magic. nope, i was no bannister baby, but if you were, i'd love to hear from you. e-mail that photo to me at

jamie@strangeinheritance.com. thanks so much for watching. and remember -- you can't take it with you. ♪ >> a man who can have anything... >> he'd lay awake nights trying to think of a way to make a dollar. >> ...throws nothing away. >> you must have said to grandpa, "this can go, can't it?" >> yes. and we told him that a million times. >> one strange inheritance. >> wow, and it's packed! >> one heavy burden. >> how much do you have? >> oh, about 3 million pounds. >> one heck of a yard sale. >> this has got to be the largest i've ever seen in my life. i said, "if you can organize it, we can inventory it, and we can sell it." >> [ auctioneer calling ] [ door creaks ] [ wind howls ] [ thunder rumbles ] [ bird caws ]