Painted Woods Mystery: Part Two
Yesterday morning, I called Richard Levine to discuss his photograph of a family group possibly posed at Painted Woods, ND. I featured the photo and the mystery in last week’s column. Levine has known about this photo for only a few months. His cousin Sally showed it to him and...
Read More
Is this Painted Woods, North Dakota?
Photographs and history go hand in hand. Take this photo for instance. It likely represents a bit of North Dakota history.Richard Levine's cousin Sally sent him this photo. Her mother had given it to her. The mother always thought it depicted a group at the Painted Woods settlement in...
Read More
Trick or Treat in Your Family Album
It's Halloween and time for trick or treat. You might have images of this holiday in your family album. These two young girls, c. 1920 are dressed in the style popular for the period. On the right the dots on this girl's outfit suggest she's a...
Read More
Asking Permission
Last night I had an interesting discussion with a colleague. She mentioned that she's researching a Civil War soldier from Vermont and that she'd found a great website, Vermont Civil War. It includes lists of photographs of men from various units. On the site was a mention of the man...
Read More
1890s Fashion in Color
It's so easy to look at a vintage photograph and image that our ancestors dressed in drab colors. If you're as curious as I am about fabrics and colors then watch my new video on hand-colored images. These two women wear cotton dresses from the circa-1890 period. Their sleeves and...
Read MoreSign up for the Family Tree Newsletter
Plus, you'll receive our 10 Essential Genealogy Research Forms PDF as a special thank you!
Get Your Free Genealogy Forms
"*" indicates required fields
Mother and Daughters
Family photographs are endlessly fascinating. There is the life story of the individuals in a picture and then there is the story of the person who took the image. I've looked a thousands of photographs over the years so I can spot a talented studio photographer just by looking at...
Read More
Foreign Intrigue
Each photo has a life story. Who took it, why was it taken, and if it's in this column, who is it. This picture from Maureen Ballantine's collection has an additional issue—how did it get so damaged?The scan she sent me was so faded that I enhanced it using...
Read More
What is Crowdsourcing?
Crowdsourcing has been in the news lately relating to photo identification. According to Wikipedia, the term refers to the outsourcing of tasks to a community. The Library of Congress (LOC) is using the historical, photographic and genealogical community to help identify their photo mysteries. In its Flickr collection...
Read More
Oral History and Family Photos
Behind every family photo is a story. It might be a simple tale of how your ancestor visited a photo studio or a complex story interwoven with local, national and family history. Bonnie Farver, Farver family historian for Pennsylvania, sent me this great portrait. The Farvers have an oral tradition...
Read More