3 Next Steps in Photo Identification
Last week's How to Tell Men's Faces Apart in Old Photos examined two photos thought to be the same man. Two branches of the family identified him as Patrick Sheridan, but the facial clues didn't add up. When looking at pictures, it's important to examine other family history details as...
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Identifying German Heritage in Family Photos Premium
Can we uncover the truth behind a reader's German ancestry in this family photo?
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How to Tell Men’s Faces Apart in Old Photos
Pat Dwyer reached out through Facebook to ask a question about some confusing family photos. This post is the first of two. Pat owns a photograph of Patrick Sheridan, and her cousin thinks he does too. Patrick Sheridan Unknown man thought to be Patrick SheridanWhen comparing two pictures of men...
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4 Tips to Identify Faces in Old Group Photos
Joseph Martin has a great photo, a big group portrait. You guessed the problem: figuring out who's who. He knows the identity of three of these individuals, but the rest he's not sure about. Here are four tips you can apply to group portraits in your family collection.1. Estimate...
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Political Memorabilia in Old Time Photos
Political memorabilia first appeared in John Adams' campaign of 1796, but that was too early for photographic political pins and advertisements. It was another 60-plus years before followers could wear pictures of their candidates. Tintypes of Abraham Lincoln's face debuted in his 1860 campaign: WikipediaCheck your family photos for banners...
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The Love Family Revisted
In the July/August 2016 issue of Family Tree Magazine, the Photo Detective column, "An Afternoon Outside" focused on this photo. It's from the collection of Bradley Richardson. His mother inherited the photo and knew it was from either the Love or Allan sides of her family. Bradley shared...
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Old American Flag Photo Mystery: Best of Photo Detective
Photo Detective was a long-running FamilyTreeMagazine.com blog. Here, we've combined the best posts about an old American flag photo mystery.
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Aerial Photographs and Ancestral Home Towns
In the 19th century, daring photographers climbed into woven baskets held aloft by balloons in order to take pictures of local landscapes. While French photographer Nadar's photograph of Paris from the air in 1858 no longer exists, other such landscapes still do. J.W. Black of Boston photographed Boston from...
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College Girls in an Old Mystery Photo
Did your grandmother, great-grandmother or great-great-grandmother go to college? The proof may be in an old photo album. In the early part of the 20th century, young women filled black paper albums and scrapbooks with pictures of their family, friends and college activities. You might have one of those albums...
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Daguerreotype, Ambrotype and Tintype: Telling Them Apart
At a photo studio in the late 1850s, you could choose the style of portrait—daguerreotype, ambrotype, tintype or a paper card photo. So which is which?
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