Old Family Photo Mystery: Is This the Father or the Son?
Carole Bemke has a question. Is this photo of a father in her family tree, or his son? Seems simple, right? But not if both men have the same name. You know how it goes. Someone in the family is sure that a photo depicts a certain person, but your...
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Old Family Photo Mystery May Be Solved!
See how four key photo dating strategies help identify a turn-of-the-20th-century Findlay family photo depicting two parents and their five children.
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4 Steps to Solve Old Photo Mysteries When You Have But a Few Clues
Reader Barbara Rivers has no idea who's in this her unidentified old family photo. I'll outline four steps she (and you) can take to solve old-photo mysteries.
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Readers Respond: Mistaken Identity in Old Photos
There are a lot of sharp-eyed family photo detectives out there. I asked you to compare these two men and give me your opinion, and you did!
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Mistaken Identity in Old Photos: A Facial Recognition Challenge
Last week a woman at one of my lectures raised her hand, pointed at an old photo on the screen, and said "the man in that photo is my great-grandfather!" But was it really?
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Amelia Earhart Found? Clues in an Old Photo May Solve 80-Year-Old Mystery
For more than 80 years the world has wondered what happened to pilot Amelia Earhart, who disappeared over the South Pacific in 1937. The History Channel documentary "Amelia Earhart: The Lost Evidence" suggests an old photo holds the key to the mystery.
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Get the Story Behind Your Fourth of July Old Family Photos
Symbolism abounds in old family photos taken on the Fourth of July. These three young men posed as the iconic drummers and fife player commonly seen on the Fourth of July as the trio from the song Yankee Doodle Dandy. Search newspaper websites for events shown in photos A search of newspapers on GenealogyBank.com turned […]
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Does This Old Photo Have a Hidden Message?
Houston County, TN ArchiveHistorical societies all over the country have old mystery photos of local citizens. The picture above is from the Houston County, Tenn., archives. Thank you to Archivist/Records Manager Melissa Barker for submitting this image. Melissa knows from the photographers imprint it was taken by Edward E...
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Our Ancestors’ Photo-Ready Family Record Sheets
Family milestones are well-known as photo occasions. Births, marriages and even deaths show up in family photo collections. There's another family photo op in your family history: The purchase of a photo album or a family record like the one below. c. 1886, Library of Congress Family records...
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How to Figure out Which Holiday Is Shown in Old Family Photos
Here's a picture problem that family photo historians often encounter: Photos of an unnamed, unknown celebrations. It could be local event, a national holiday, or a gathering of relatives for some family event. All too frequently, it's unclear. For instance, let's look at Flag Day. Flag Day, June...
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