Three Steps to Identifying Ancestors in Old Group Photos
Don't know who's who in that old black-and-white family photo? We'll show you three steps to identifying ancestors in old group photos.
Read MoreA Halloween Mystery: Women Dressed as Men in an Old Photo
Our reader inherited this old family photo of young women dressed as men. When was it taken? Why the costumes? We'll examine the mystery photo for clues.
Read More4 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.
Read MoreA Year of Passionate Photo Detecting: What Did You Miss?
On this Photo Detective blog, 2016 was a year of early color (and colorized) photos, photo-ID tips and crowd-sourcing. If you missed the most-popular posts, don't worry. The links in this 2016 wrap-up will take you them. Photo Identification TipsNewspapersWe started the year off right with a big...
Read MoreClues in a Curious Old Family Photo: The First Mannequin Challenge?
It's not the first time a family photo begs the question "What were they thinking?" That's the case with this image of family sitting as though they're doing a mannequin challenge. The story behind this clowning for the camera has been lost, and the picture lacks identification. It was...
Read MoreClues in a 1900s Mystery Photo of the Old Family Farm
Thanksgiving is right around the corner. Planning a menu for that important family meal makes me think about how all that food ended up on my grandmother's table. There are no farmers in my family history, so I love to see reader's photos of rural life. Darlene Sampley...
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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...
Read MoreCaption Confusion in a Foreign Photo
Caption confusion is a common condition. You may suffer from it. The main symptoms are squinty eyes and a headache from trying to figure out what someone wrote on a picture years ago. You can't read the handwriting or follow the cryptic clues. Maybe you discover that what's written isn't...
Read MoreForeign Photo Caption Mystery
Ownership is a clue to who's in a mystery photo. The problem is while most people know who gave them a picture—such as an aunt, parent or grandparent—but before that, ownership information may be unknown. Debra Allison can trace the provenance (ownership) of this picture back to her great-grandmother Antoinette...
Read MoreWho’s Who in an Old Family Gathering Photo?
Last week's column explored some of the identification clues in this family gathering. Heidi Thibodeau thinks it depicts members of the Tibbetts and Hodgson family of Massachusetts, Maine and New Hampshire. Bessie Mabel Hodgdon, born in 1877, owned the picture, and it was handed down to her granddaughter (Heidi's first...
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