If you have any questions or comments then please leave a comment below. But unless we know who is in the photos then they are practically worthless. Style of the building that your ancestors are standing in front of. First, let us look at the clues that will help you to date an old photo.
This is especially true of old family photographs taken by a professional photographer – the photographer’s name and address can indicate the general time period when it could have been taken. Understanding a little bit of the history of photography will help us to avoid the first pitfall and aid us in uncovering more information about those “unknown” family portraits. Clues in and on the photographs themselves can provide additional assistance in identifying the second class of images. And, of course, the hairstyle and clothing of the photographic subjects provide even more evidence to assist us in identifying that previously-unknown ancestor. Check for paper backings on cartes de visite and cabinet cards. Both cartes de visite and cabinet cards were mounted on thick paper stock.
Copyright Considerations for Using Online Images
Roger’s site has more information on the various card types and I’ll leave that to his expert knowledge. In this case we begin by using her hairstyle as it gives us the most assessable information about her. On my website, I have some simple outline hairstyles and hat line drawings to show how the hair changed over the century. You’ll see that 1840s hair and hatshighlights the KoreanCupid hair outlines of some Victorian decades, with the last image in this particular drawing being a hairstyle of 1870. I wrote to Lindsay – We are faced with a photograph that is harder to date because the young woman in it is sitting down. Any picture where the model is sitting down is generally less easy to date because her dress is difficult to see properly in silhouette.
Les Newall’s book, “A History of Vehicle Registration in the United Kingdom” is helpful in dating pre-1964 number plates. #6 Daguerreotype Flickr Group – Find almost 2,000 daguerreotypes to study and use for comparisons. The group also includes a discussion board to ask your questions. I’m sharing my favorite go-to photo resources with you below.
This photograph of Mary Elizabeth Scott was taken in the early – mid-1890s. The bodice of her dress along with the narrow sleeve is also indicative of this time period. Measuring 2 1/2″ by 4″, the photographs were mounted on a thick paper and used much as the calling card was used in the 1850s.
This first successful photo process is attributed to Louis Daguerre. The image is on a silver clad copper sheet which was then sealed inside a wooden case or a frame under glass to protect it. By combining various modes of research, however, you should be able to discover the essence of the era — and your family’s place within it. The team at Legacy Tree Genealogists has been helping clients worldwide discover their roots for over a decade. We’re based near the world’s largest Family History Library and connected with genealogists and archives around the world, and we love doing what we do! We also love sharing our genealogy tips with our readers.
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The world’s oldest known photograph was taken by Joseph Nicéphore Niépce around 1826 – a view from a window at Le Gras, France, which took no less than eight hours to capture. If you examine an autochrome using a magnifying glass, you can see coloured dots. These are grains of potato starch that have been dyed red, green and blue, and together make up the full-colour image. Animal skins on the floor were likely placed to convey worldliness. To our modern eyes, animal skins in Victorian photographs also suggest connections to colonial territories such as India. Extra special thanks also to Roger, a fantastic site for understanding more about photographs.
#5 Pictures of the Civil War on the National Archives site– Do you have photographs of your ancestors from the Civil War era? Tintypes are another commonly-found type of photograph—although they were not created on tin. If you are lucky, you’ll find the photographer’s name imprinted on the back.
How to Date an Old Photograph Using Costume History – Example 1910
You can do the same thing with your ancestors’ photographs. Using the individual’s hairstyle and clothing style, you can estimate an approximate date a photograph was taken. Narrowing the date range a photograph was taken will narrow down the potential candidates the people can be. Genealogist and blogger Lisa Lisson of Are You My Cousin? Shares her expertise when it comes to dating and identifying your old family photographs in your collection.
Close examination of sleeves and collars can provide valuable information. Other things to look for on women are the presence and size of a bustle and the fullness of the skirt. For men, look at vests, neckties, the fit of a jacket and how it is buttoned. If I needed more data points, other style cues I could research would be the fit of the dresses, the hairstyles, and their jewelry. Ambrotypes – images on glass which were underexposed or negatives of the original which had to be placed on a dark backing so the image could be seen. Sometimes we just get so caught up with the photos that we forget to take note of all those underlying clues.
To answer these questions you will need to know when the photograph was taken.
I have no information other than it came from the “Fedrick” side of my family, but so far, no one recognizing anyone. It was in an antique oval frame, with “bubbled glass,” all of which is currently in the back seat of my truck headed to restoration. Thought you might like to see the earliest in my collection, a carte de visite taken in 1873, my great-great grandmother, Katherine Sheets Faust, age 17 . If you need help organizing and preserving your lifetime of photos, videos, and keepsakes, find a photo organizer near you at theAssociation of Personal Photo Organizers.
Look for medals, headgear, and military uniforms, then check the historical period when they were commonly used or worn. If the photo is clear enough, you may be able to identify these important markers and narrow the photo’s time frame. Is a good resource for tracing your family’s genealogy or creating a family tree. However, budding family historians may be stumped when they notice that their ancestors’ photographs are undated. The First World War transformed photography’s social roles.
Genealogy Sleuthing: How to Date Old Family Photos – Part I
First-hand stories are always better than second-hand stories. By the time photography was invented, women’s dress was typically more period-specific and evolved faster. If you have a woman in your image, look at her dress and style first, as this may offer a more narrow time frame. Solving the mystery faces and places in your old family photographs requires knowledge of your family history, combined with good old fashioned detective work. When you’re ready to take on the challenge, these five steps will get you started in style. A number of resources exist for researchers to find examples of hairstyles for men and women from various time periods.