Facial Features as an Old Photo Identification Clue
Who do you look like? I'm my father's child from the nose up and my mother's child from the nose down. Often, looking at family photographs will trigger a familiar response: "Ah, that's where I got that nose" or "those blue eyes." Using facial features to identify family...
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Using Women’s Collars to Date Old Family Photos
The last two images blog reader Kimble DaCosta sent me are from the same period, but show off two different collar styles: one from the mid- to late 1870s and the other from the late 1870s to early 1880s. Both photos are tintypes. You can read the first two installments...
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Adding up the Clues to Identify an Old Mystery Photo
Last week I wrote about the importance of knowing the lineage of your photos. The key details of provenance can keep you from making a photo identification mistake. Kimble DaCosta knows a lot about the photos she inherited. Her ancestor Ella Seamands identified most of the images in a chest...
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Tips to Trace the Lineage of Your Photos
Tracing the line of descent of your family is more than putting names and dates on your family tree. You can use those same genealogical techniques to trace the history of ownership—the provenance—of your pictures. Knowing how a group of pictures came to be in your...
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Photo Jewelry
Last week I showed you a picture of a piece of photo jewelry owned by Teri Luna and discussed a few clues. Teri saw the column and wrote back with a few more details. This particular pin is 1 3/4 inches high and 1 3/8 inches wide.&...
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Identifying Old Photos in Lockets and Brooches
Teri Luna's grandmother Catherine Walker Brown Robson owned two pieces of photo jewelry. Her locket contained two photos, one of Catherine and the other of her sister Jean. When Teri removed them, two other images fell out that had been stored behind the other pictures. One was Catherine's...
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Old-Time Baby Pictures
Social media today is full of pictures of children and grandchildren, but posting historical, black-and-white baby pictures hasn't really caught on yet. Babies born 100 years ago are just as cute as the darlings posted today. Take this image for instance: Maria Baker submitted it and wants to...
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Big Hats in Family Photos
Ronnie O'Rourke's great aunt Mary (Mamie) Smith (b. 1892) wears an enormous hat in this family portrait. Her grandson identified her in the image, but now the family wants to know who's standing with her. Her hat and dress are quite stylish for this outdoor event. The presence of the...
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Civil War Photo Clues Revisited
Last week's mystery photo featured a mother and daughter. Winston Cochrane owns the image and wanted to know if it depicts the daughter's wedding. I tentatively dated the image to circa 1868 until more details became available. The back of a card photo can reveal other facts. The presence of...
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Clues in a Civil War Era Photo
Winston Cochrane sent in this adorable photo of a mother and daughter. Mary Meaux and her daughter Nannie M. Cochrane posed for this image, which shows the close connection between the two. Winston would like to know if the daughter is wearing a wedding dress. She married in Louiseville, Ky...
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