Photo Detective Talks Roots on Today
This isn’t Maureen. I’m Diane from Family Tree Magazine’s Genealogy Insider blog—I'm dropping in to share the video of Maureen’s spots on NBC’s "Today" show this morning, giving tips on how to trace your roots. She answers viewer questions in the first spot with Al Roker, and talks about photo...
Read MorePostmortem Images
Remember how last week I mentioned that this column would feature a "viewer discretion advised" image? The sight of a deceased person in a photo is the reason for the warning. Like it or not, our ancestors began photographing the dead members of their family in the early 1840s. If...
Read MorePhoto Detective: Posing with the Old Homestead Premium
Photo Detective Maureen A. Taylor examines photos taken in front of the family homestead.
Read MorePhoto Detective: Keeping the Peace Premium
Photographs entertain us with glimpses of the past and trigger long-lost memories, but in this case, one caused a minor family feud. Two of Lisa Wooldridge's aunts disagree with her about the man in this group portrait—is he the children's father or their grandfather? Wooldridge has compared these two...
Read MorePhoto Detective: On the Job Premium
In your own collection there are probably images of individuals wearing clothing that puzzles you. Some may be recognizable as work outfits while others remain mysterious. You might have an occupational portrait and not know it because you don't associate the clothing worn in the picture with a particular...
Read MorePhoto Detective: Candid Mystery Premium
Discovering clues in a candid of photo of family fun.
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Photo Detective: What a Doll Premium
This photograph of two girls belonged to LaVonne Murray's great-grandparents Maitland Willits House and Louise Anna Gonion. The younger girl bears a resemblance to another relative, Lydia Lymburner (1867-1947); Murray wonders if the girl could be Penelope Lymburner (1897-1980), Lydia's niece. Assigning a date to this photograph would allow Murray...
Read MorePhoto Detective: Woman in Mourning Premium
Clues that indicate you have a Civil War-era carte de visite photo of a woman in mourning.
Read MorePhoto Detective: Western Mystery Premium
Front Back In this case study, three different people wrote captions on the back of a photograph. The earliest identifies the image as "My dady (sic) + half brother." Other individuals named the men as "Great Grandfather Pugh, Grandma Youngs father + her brother" and "...
Read MorePhoto Detective: Go West Premium
A single family photograph can serve as a valuable social history document. Take for example this group portrait (Figure 1), which provides a link to a violent chapter in American history: the settlement of the West. Phyllis King found this picture among her great-grandparents Arthur D. Barrows and Francis A...
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