Photo Tips to Start Your New Year Right
Ready to kick off 2018 with a bang? Here are Photo Detective Maureen Taylor's photo research and preservation tips to start your year right!
Read MoreHow to Figure out Which Holiday Is Shown in Old Family Photos
Here's a picture problem that family photo historians often encounter: Photos of an unnamed, unknown celebrations. It could be local event, a national holiday, or a gathering of relatives for some family event. All too frequently, it's unclear. For instance, let's look at Flag Day. Flag Day, June...
Read MoreWhat’s the Story in this Old Family Photo? The Big Reveal!
It's time to look at the big picture, the whole image and the rest of the details. If you've followed the last two posts, you've heard Mikael Hammerman's family story and seen some of the clues in the picture. Let's answer his big question: Is this his great-grandmother's...
Read MoreHow Clues in Your Old Family Photos Can Keep You Out of Trouble
It's time for another installment of Mikael Hammerman's mystery photo, which shows a mother and a daughter—and just might shed light on his family legend about a young mother who ran away with her employer to America. Clues in a picture can keep you from jumping to conclusions...
Read More3 Old Photo Stories You Can Tell Today
What are you going to do with all your old photos? You can tuck them away for safekeeping or you can use them to tell your family about their ancestors. Or, you can do both. Your original prints belong in acid- and lignin-free boxes, but you can use...
Read MoreThree Techniques for Solving a Military Mystery
You know the expression, "There's something about a man in uniform." Well I can finish that phrase with "that's so mysterious." One of the most difficult photo mysteries to solve is a person in a uniform. There are a few reasons why that's true. First there were...
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Finding Your Ancestors’ Graduation Photos
This time of year makes me think about graduations. I live near two universities and often see graduates in cap and gowns smiling for pictures. Our ancestors also posed for school pictures, whether they were graduating from eighth grade, a trade school, high school or a college/university. In the mid-19th...
Read MoreA Click Away: Eight Years of Photo Identification Clues
Every week I sit down to write a new blog post about picture mysteries. On this blog that archive goes back eight years. That's a lot of photo clues and picture facts! It's easy to use this blog as a free resource. Here's how...
Read MoreCousin Connections Through Old Pictures
Never underestimate the power of a picture. A single photo can connect you with a missing piece of evidence, point you in a new direction or help you meet "new" relatives. Last week's picture brought two women closer together and solved a more than 60-year-old mystery...
Read MoreReuniting Orphan Photos With Family
Have you ever walked into an antique store and found a photo with a name on it? This is known as an orphan photo. At some point in its photographic lifespan, it became separated from its family. Photos are rarely mentioned in probate records, their inheritance often a...
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