Photographing Children in Our Ancestors’ Day
In honor of Mother's Day, I'm including a short piece on photographing of children from Rhode Island photographers William Coleman and Orville Remington. They were business partners in their studio from 1867 to 1883. During their first year, the men published a booklet advising potential customers how to...
Read MoreHouse History Help: My Favorite Books
My bookshelves are an eclectic mix of volumes on everything from forensic identification of facial features to button history. Any book I think might help analyze a picture ends up in my library. This diversity of titles includes several tomes on house history. If you find yourself with an architecture...
Read MoreRaising the Roof: Architectural Images
This week's blog column is actually the second part of a photo mystery. The first installment appears in my Photo Detective article in the July 2009 Family Tree Magazine. That issue should be in your mail boxes starting this week. Here's a synopsis of the problem: Bergetta Monroe...
Read MoreWhy the Long Faces in Old Photos?
Every so often I bump into a 19th century photo in which the subjects are grinning. It's a rare event. Occasionally, you see a Mona Lisa smile, but it's difficult to locate an image from the 19th century where folks actually showed teeth the way we do today. So, you're...
Read MorePicture Origins: Overseas or in America?
In response to last week's column on tinted pictures, Barbara Stone sent in this oversize hand colored photo of a young woman. It's on canvas and framed in a gorgeous gold setting. According to Stone is was found in a collection of pictures of her father's Irish relatives who lived...
Read MorePicture Origins: Overseas or in America
In response to last week's column on tinted pictures, Barbara Stone sent in this oversize hand colored photo of a young woman. It's on canvas and framed in a gorgeous gold setting. According to Stone is was found in a collection of pictures of her father's...
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Hand-Colored Photographs
Do you own any photographs that are hand-colored? These tinted enhancements range from delicately shaded pink lips and gold jewelry to elaborate coloring that obscures the image and transforms a photograph into a painting. Powders, paints, crayons and pastels were all used to make photographs look more lifelike. Some photographers...
Read MoreHairstyles!
A few months ago, I asked for family photos of interesting hairstyles. I was overwhelmed with the response. So many photos presented a problem. How could I present them? A slide show was the answer. I used Picasa, a free photo organizing tool from Google. I included a...
Read MoreWish I Were There!
Hope it’s OK if I butt into the blog for a second. Maureen’s on a whirlwind trip to the Who Do You Think You Are? Live family history show in London, where she’s staying with genealogy Facebook friends.She says hi, and she sent a picture of the group queueing...
Read MoreTwo-Sided Mystery: On the Flip Side
I love a good mystery. Last week I analyzed a group portrait and provided a time frame of the early 20th century. It was on one side of a sheet of pink paper. Before I divulge the family information behind this image, let's look at the other side. It's a...
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