Archives for Maureen A. Taylor
Clues in an Old Photo Copy: Who Is She?
Two weeks ago I wrote about Shirley Dunkle's image, a copy of an earlier photo. The clues added up to suggest the photo was copied about 1900, but that this woman in the image sat for the original portrait in the mid 1850s. Shirley has a possible identification for this...
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Spotting a Copy of an Old Family Photo: Part 2
Last week, I discussed photographic copies. It's a big topic. I used Shirley Dunkle's photo as an example. In the case of her photo, it was the context and the costume of the image that clued me into it being a copy. I've received several questions about the topic this...
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Spotting a Copy
Here's a pretty typical family scenario: Mom and Dad have their picture taken in the early 1850s. Years later each of their five children wants a copy, so someone takes the original picture to the photo studio to have paper prints made. Each of those children pass that paper copy...
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A Photo Identification Home Run
The little girl in last week's column has a name! She's Lydia Rock. It only took a few hours of research by Dan Gwinn. I'd suggested that he look for a child born in the early 1860s. He began by re-examining his Rock family history. I was thrilled to get...
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“Reading” a Family Photo Album
I love a good story, don't you? Every photo album tells one if you know where to look. The arrangement of the images is a key part of unraveling the threads of the tale. If you're like Daniel Gwinn, you probably inherited a family photo album with few (if any)...
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Photo Detective: Old Lumber Camp Photo Premium
What clues did our Photo Detective uncover in this old lumber camp photo, featuring early photo-editing.
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More Ancestors at Work: Early 1900s Meat-Cutting Plant
If you've ever read The Jungle (available free on Project Gutenberg), author Upton Sinclair's 1906 novel describing Chicago's meatpacking industry, then you may have tried to imagine what it was like to work in that industry in the early 20th century. Roxanne Munn's photos provide an glimpse into how meat...
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Ancestral Occupational Portraits
Thank you for sending in your photographs of ancestors at work! I've got quite a selection to show you. This is going to be a two-part article. There are too many to show in one blog post. Wendy Negley owns this lovely picture (above) of her great-grandfather Frank Stefani with...
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Ancestral Occupations
Do you know what your ancestors did for work? My paternal grandfather painted houses and so did his father. My maternal grandmother worked in a cotton mill alongside the rest of her family. Their stories were passed down in the family and evidence in documents like city directories and census...
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The Marsteller Old-Photo Mystery
Last week I outlined the mystery of the Ralph Marsteller photo. This week I'm back with more details. Let's start with some basics. What are they wearing?Clothing clues can be very helpful, BUT it's important to remember that there were lots of different styles every season and...
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