ANALYZING 19th CENTURY PHOTOGRAPHS FOR FAMILY HISTORY DATA
By
Craig L. Pfannkuche
Some of us are lucky enough to possess old photographs of our ancestors. Many times these photographs do not have any identifying names on them. This presentation will focus on how a family history researcher might be able to identify such individuals. Additionally, suggestions will be made as to how “unnamed” photographs, even if they cannot be identified, can be used to add interesting material to one’s family history.
It should be remembered that not all identifications written on the fronts or backs of “carte-de-visites” (business card sized photographs
4 1/2 x 2 1/2 inches) or “cabinet cards” (generally about 4 x 6 inches) are accurate. Identifications might have been scrawled on the photographs years after they were taken at a time when the identifier’s memory might have grown hazy. Thus, this presentation will also discuss; how identification can be confirmed?The age of the person in the photograph (I have a hard time judging the age of females.) and the person who took the photograph are critical to determining who is actually in the photograph. Judging the age of the person in the photograph is mostly a matter of guessing. Finding the data when a photograph was taken can be done more easily. It is most often done by comparing the name and address of the photographer to those found in City Directories or, if they are not available for that area, in newspaper business card advertisements. Note when the photographer was at the specific address printed at the bottom or back of the photograph. Compare that to the date of the City Directory or newspaper edition.
If there is no photographer data on the photograph, take note of the hairstyles (especially of women), clothing, and, possibly, background props shown in the photograph: Compare these to what is seen in old reprint “Wards” or “Sears” catalogs, or use comparative photographs seen in one of the books listed below.
For “carte de visites”, note also whether there are brown or blue lines around the photograph. That means a mid 1860’s date. On occasion, blue or orange “postage” style stamps can be found on the backs of the photos. They mean an 1865 or 1866 date.
If one is lucky enough to have an album of 19th century family photographs but feels discouraged that most of the photographs are not named, a number of people in those photographs can still be identified. It is critically important here to understand the work “provenience.”
The person who put the collection of photographs together was most often thinking that “the most important members of the family come first.” Where husband and wife photographs entered first? Were siblings and cousins placed further to the rear of the album? Where were the photos taken? Relationships often lead to identifications.
The following books are recommended as being helpful in developing techniques for identifying people in photographs:
Svera, Joan, DRESSED FOR THE PHOTOGRAPHER. Kent, Ohio, Kent State University Press, 1995 (an absolute master work for comparative dating)
Mace, Henry O. COLLECTOR’S GUIDE TO EARLY PHOTOGRAPHS. Radnor, Pennsylvania. Wallace Homestead Books, 1990
Frisch-Ripley, Karen. UNLOCKING THE SECRETS IN OLD PHOTOGRAPHS Salt Lake City, Utah Ancestry, Inc., 1991
Morris, Andrew. DATING OLD PHOTOGRAPHS: 1840 – 1929 Lewiston, New York, Family Chronicle Publications, 2000