Put names and dates

to mysterious old family

photos with step-by-step

guides and investigations of

real-life cases from Family Tree

Magazine’s professional picture

sleuth, Maureen A. Taylor

Photo DetectiveB

est o

f the

every family has boxes or albums full of old photos—

including pictures whose subjects or dates are a

mystery. But those images contain hidden clues that

can help you determine who’s in them and when they were taken.

how you do know what to look for? Family Tree Magazine’s Photo

Detective, Maureen A. taylor, is a professional photo historian and

genealogist who specializes in identifying historical images. here

we’ve compiled some of her best advice and most interesting cases so you can discover

how to tease out those clues—and solve your photo mysteries.

if you like what you see, you’ll find more of Maureen’s advice in Family Tree Magazine

and on our Photo Detective blog, where Maureen tackles readers’ photo conundrums

and shares tips for identifying and preserving pictures from the past. A new blog post is

featured each week in the free Family Tree Magazine e-mail Update newsletter. You’ll

also find in-depth help in Maureen’s book Uncovering Your Ancestry Through Family

Photographs, available through bookstores and online retailers. For more on Maureen’s

professional photo identification services, visit <www.photodetective.com>.

contentsClick any bulleted item to to go to that article.

Starting Strategies• Step-by-step photo identification guide and worksheet • Success stories

Clues in Clothing• Styles by era, 1840 to 1900• ethnic dress• Women in pants• halloween costumes• children’s fashion

Answers in Accessories• hats and headwear• Political campaign jewelry

Evidence in Group Portraits• two photos of the same family?• Unknown faces in a crowd• class portraits• Wedding portraits

Caption Conundrums• Labels as a starting point• inaccurate captions

Object Lessons• house photos• Automobile images

Special types of Photographs• Salt prints• Photo postcards

Unusual Cases• Woman under a blanket• Doctored photos

Visit the Photo Detective blog »

Learn more about this book »

May 2005 19

Having trouble

attaching names to

the faces in your

family portraits?

Fill in the blanks

with our step-by-step

photo-identification

guide and worksheet.By

Maureen A. Taylors s

So your great-aunt Alma bequeatheda boatload of family photos to you, but she didn’t label them—now

what? Whatever you do, don’t throw them away. Identifying and dat-

ing old pictures can be a challenge, but it’s also a good way to learn more about

your relatives. Have you ever wondered where you got your curly hair and

freckles? Now’s the time to find out. You might discover you’re the spitting image

of Great-great-grandma Lucille. Are you curious which side of the family a

group portrait depicts? With a little research, you can discover that, too.

The worksheet on page 23 will help you solve your picture puzzles one step

at a time. By writing down everything you know about an image, you’ll uncover

ancestral connections and ultimately save yourself plenty of genealogical grief.

Just fill out the form and attach a copy (not the original!) of your mystery photo

for your future reference. We’ll walk you through the entire photo-identification

process so you can start piecing those puzzles together like a pro.

Callingthe

shots

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20 TRACE YOUR FAM I LY HI STORY

1. Type of photographBegin by identifying the photographicmethod: Do you have a daguerreotype, tin-type, ambrotype or paper print? Certaintypes of photos were popular at differenttimes. The first photographs, daguerreotypes(1839 to 1860), are easy to spot because theyhave reflective metal surfaces, and you musthold them at an angle in order to see theimage. You’ll usually find glass ambrotypes

(1854 to 1860s) in protective cases(see step 2); look for holes in thebacking material. Iron tintypes(1856 to mid-1900s) resembledaguerreotypes because both aremade of metal, but they stayedpopular longer than daguer-reotypes and ambrotypes. Paperprints (1855 to the present), ofcourse, have endured the longest,and have come in a wide vari-ety of colors and sizes. For helpidentifying early paper prints,consult Care and Identifica-

tion of 19th-Century Photo-graphic Prints by James M. Reilly (EastmanKodak Co., out of print).

2. Type of enclosureDuring the 19th century, daguerreotypes andambrotypes generally came in cases. Con-sumers could buy tintypes in cases, too,though these images often had paper enclo-sures instead.

Cases came in a variety of sizes, shapes anddesigns—from simple to elaborate. Wood-framed cases, such as the one shown at left,were popular in the 1840s and 1850s. Theywere replaced by union cases, which were con-structed from gutta-percha (a tree resin) andother substances that could be molded intosturdier cases with elaborate surface designs.

Various shades of velvet line the insidesof most cases. Brass mats (plain in the1840s and embossed in later decades) framethe images.

To learn more about cased images, con-sult Adele Kenny’s Photographic Cases: Vic-torian Design Sources, 1840-1870 (Schiffer,$59.95). Note the type of enclosure (case,paper mat or frame) on your worksheet.

3. SizeMeasure your photograph in inches (widthby height) and write down the dimensions.Cased images (daguerreotypes, ambrotypesand tintypes) were made in standard sizes,from the sixteenth plate (2x2 inches) tothe mammoth plate (61⁄2x81⁄2 inches orlarger). Diminutive 1x1-inch tintypes,known as gems or thumbnails, came inpaper enclosures.

Most 19th- and early-20th-centurypaper photographs were mounted ontocardstock or cardboard for support.These images also came in standardsizes. The carte de visite,which first showed up inthe United States in 1859,measured 41⁄4x21⁄2 inches;the cabinet card (1866)was 41⁄2x61⁄2 inches; theVictoria (1870), 31⁄4x5inches; and the Prom-enade (1875), 4x7inches. After you see

how your mystery photo mea-sures up, use these dates as aguide to when it could havebeen created.

cBoth tintypes (top) and daguerreotypes (bottom)are made of metal.

signed, sealed,DELIVERED

Certain clues can immediately date an image.Between Aug. 1, 1864, and Aug. 1, 1866, the US government levied a tax on photos. Photographershad to affix stamps to the backs of their images, andhand-cancel each one with their names or initials andthe sale dates. If your mystery photo has one of thesestamps, you’ll know exactly when it was taken.

Pay attention to postage stamps and cancellationson picture postcards and old envelopes that held photos,too. These clues can place a picture in a certain countryat a particular time. Postal history books such as theScott Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue series (Scott Publishing Co.), available in print and on CD-ROM at large libraries, will help you date international stamps.

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May 2005 21

4. Photographer’s imprintFinding a photographer’s name and/oraddress, known as an imprint, on a picture islike winning a prize. That one detail can tellyou where and when a photograph wastaken, narrowing the identification possibili-ties considerably. On cased images, you’lllikely find the imprint scratched into a plateattached to the case, or on the brass mat orvelvet interior of the case. Bear in mind,though, that the majority of cased photosdon’t have imprints. With paper prints, youdon’t have to hunt quite as hard for the pho-tographer’s name: You’ll see it on the front orback of the image. Study the photographer’simprint carefully, and record the informationexactly as it appears. Then see the next step.

5. Photographer’s dates of operationOnce you have a name, you can find outwhen the photographer was in business. Lookhim up in the surname section of an old citydirectory (a listing of a town’s residents, sim-ilar to today’s phone books—see the August2003 Family Tree Magazine for help findingone), or consult the commercial listings forphotographers in the back of the book. Useseveral directories to track his business over aperiod of time. You also might find him inBiographies of Western Photographers byCarl Mautz (Carl Mautz Publishing, $50) ora similar directory. And check out Photogra-phers: A Sourcebook for Historical Researchedited by Peter E. Palmquist (Carl MautzPublishing, $25) and the Finding Photogra-phers Web site <www.findingphotographers.com> for a list of books and online resourcesarranged by geographic focus.

6. Subjects &captionA caption such as “Aunt May” or“Aunt May’s sister” gives you apossible identification—but take itwith a grain of salt. You don’t knowwho wrote the caption or how reli-able the information is. Copy thecaption onto your worksheet andthen try to confirm it. Startby comparing your photo-graph to identified images ofAunt May or her sister, andsee if the facial features matchup. Examine the handwriting:Does it resemble other writingsamples in your collection? Tryto figure out whose it is.

7. CostumedescriptionsTake out a magnifying glass andlook closely at your ancestors’outfits. Notice the shapes of their sleeves, thelengths of their skirts, the widths of theirtrousers, their hairstyles and accessories. Fash-ion constantly evolves, and clothing cluessuch as these can tell you if you’re looking ata picture of your great-grandparents or yourgreat-great-grandparents. Write down every-thing you see. In the next step, we’ll explainhow to date your images based on these clues.

Note that baby boys and girls dressedalike until about age 5. You can tell themapart by their hairstyles: Girls usually woretheir hair parted in the middle, and boysparted on the side. After their toddler years,children generally dressed like mini adults.

Clothing can convey more than a timeperiod. For instance, folk costumes clue you

in to your ancestors’ ethnicities,and fraternal-order regalia—such as medals, buttons, sashesand badges—provide evidenceof membership.

8. Costume time frameBy comparing the clothing in your photo-graph with fashion depicted in a costumeencyclopedia such as Dressed for the Pho-tographer: Ordinary Americans and Fashion,1840-1900 by Joan Severa (Kent State Uni-versity Press, $60), you can establish a timeframe for the image. To get started, use this19th-century style timeline. You can learnmore about costume dating from the August2004 Family Tree Magazine.

■ 1840 to 1849: Dresses had long, tightbodices with fan-shaped gatherings that usu-ally were pointed in the front. Women oftenwore fingerless gloves, gold watches on longchains, caps, bonnets and ribbon bracelets.Men’s outfits consisted of coats with extra-long, narrow sleeves; tailored white shirtswith small, turned-up collars; and dark neck-ties worn in horizontal bowknots.

■ 1850 to 1859: Broad-collared dresses hadsleeves that were narrow at the shoulder andwidened at the wrist, displaying white under-sleeves. Men wore generously cut suit coatswith vests and wide-legged pants. Shirt col-lars turned over 2-inch-wide ties, worn inwide half-bows.

■ 1860 to 1868: Women wore hoop-skirteddresses with military trim and sleeves gathered

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Pay attention to the hairstyles,clothing and props in your photos.

A photographer’s imprint can pointto the date and place where yourphoto was taken.

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at the wrist or flared. Accessories includedshawls, hairnets, wide belts, elaborate earringsand brooches. Men favored white shirts withnarrow ties, oversized sack coats, wide-leggedpants and suspenders.

■ 1869 to 1882: Ruffled bodices and neck-lines were all the rage. Skirts trimmed withapronlike overskirts had large bustles. Com-mon accessories were hairpieces, black-velvetneck ribbons and large jewelry. Between 1875and 1877, skirts had smaller bustles and longoverskirts and trains. Into the early 1880s,bodices extended over the hips, and womenposed with fans and parasols. Wide black orstriped ties worn in a loose knot or overlap-ping ends accented men’s close-fitting jackets,which were buttoned only at the top to displaythe vest and watch chain underneath.

■ 1883 to 1889: Form-fitting bodices extendedbelow the waist and had low-standing col-lars and tight, three-quarter-length sleeveswith trim at the cuff. Women accessorizedwith muffs and novelty jewelry. Men sporteda variety of hats, from straw sailor hats toblack homburgs (felt hats featuring dentedcrowns and shallow, rolled brims).

■ 1890 to 1900: By mid-decade, womenfavored balloonlike “leg-o-mutton” sleevesworn tight at the wrist. After 1896, sleevesgot smaller, with fullness at the shoulder anda slight flare over the hand. Feather boas, largefans and parasols show up in pictures from1893 to 1896. Later in the decade, womenwore small earrings, watches pinned to theirbosoms, and small decorative combs placedhigh on the back of the head, but visible fromthe front. Throughout the 1890s, men worenarrow coats buttoned to the top, narrowblack or patterned bow ties and slim trousers.

9. Props & backgrounddescriptionIt’s easy to overlook background details, butthey can be the most telling parts of a picture.Some people sat for portraits with tools oftheir trade: A milkmaid might have posedwith her stool in one hand and bucket in theother. Perhaps you have a picture of an ances-tor holding a foreign-language book—that’sa clue to his origins. Use antiques guides suchas Treasures in Your Attic by Joe L. Rossonand Helaine Fendelman (HarperCollins, $18)to research such props.

10. Owner’s name &contact informationNote the name of the image’s current ownerand her contact info. Ask where she got thephoto and if she knows who originally ownedit. Tracing the picture’s provenance can leadto more photos held by the owner’s relatives.

11. Clues in genealogical recordsOnce you’ve narrowed the photo’s time frame,use genealogical records to identify the sub-jects. Vital records provide a person’s life dates,census records and city directories confirm aplace of residence, and military papers supplyevidence of service and sometimes a physicaldescription. If your portrait was taken inBoston, for instance, scan your research for arelative who lived there—even for a shorttime. Record any details that look promising.This is a good place to jot down family sto-ries associated with an image, as well.

12. Possible subjects &their life datesAfter examining clues in the photo and rum-maging through records, you should have anidea when the picture was taken. Now listeach family member whose age, sex and loca-tion at the time make him a possible matchfor the photo’s subject(s). Further narrow theoptions by comparing the mystery image toidentified pictures of people on your list.

Store your photo worksheets with yourgenealogical research forms (see page 65) soyou’ll have all your data in one place. Weguarantee this form will keep nagging you tofill in the blanks until you finally solve yourpicture puzzles. 3

Contributing editor Maureen A. Taylor is theauthor of Uncovering Your Ancestry Through Family Pho-tographs, revised edition (Family Tree Books, $21.99).

22 TRACE YOUR FAM I LY HI STORY

Paper stereographs, which you view through a special lens for a 3D effect, usually date from 1854 to1938. Most stereographs were collectible scenes—it’s rare to find one showing a family member.

cask the PROHaving trouble identifying a familyphotograph? Send it to photo historian Maureen A. Taylor. If sheselects your image for identification,we’ll publish it along with Taylor’sanalysis in the online IdentifyingFamily Photographs column < www.familytreemagazine.com/photos /current.htm>.

Scan the picture you’d like to have identified in JPG format with aresolution of at least 300 dpi. Thensend it as an e-mail attachment tomtaylor@taylorandstrong.com. Ifyou can’t scan the photo, mail aphotographic copy (no originals,please!) to Family Tree Magazine,Attention: Identifying FamilyPhotographs, 4700 E. GalbraithRoad, Cincinnati, OH 45236. Sorry,we can’t return photo submissions.

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photo-identification worksheetSolve your family photo mysteries one step at a time. Using the accompanying article as a guide, fill in the following informationabout your mystery photo, then attach a copy of the image to the form. (Feel free to photocopy this form for personal use.)

Type of photograph

Type of enclosure

Size

Photographer’s imprint

Photographer’s dates of operation (cite source)

Subjects & caption

Costume descriptions

Costume time frame

Props & background description

Owner’s name & contact information

Clues in genealogical records

Possible subjects & their life dates

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34 Family Tree Magazine February 2005

S herlock Holmes solved many a mystery, but his exploits

don’t compare to the patience and persistence required by

genealogists trying to identify old family photos. I’ve spent

four years analyzing readers’ picture puzzles for the Identifying

Family Photographs column at FamilyTreeMagazine.com <www.

familytreemagazine.com/photos / current.htm> and the Photo

Detective column in this magazine. Although I haven’t cracked every

photographic code, I have put names to dozens of unfamiliar faces.

Successful identifications result from partnerships: Readers supply

their family data, and I sort through the clues. Faithful readers know

it’s possible to identify a picture based on their knowledge of family

history and attention to photographic details, such as image type,

photographer’s imprint and costume clues.

The following eight strategies have brought me success, either by

dating a picture, identifying the subjects or eliminating suspects.

Employ these surefire methods to tackle your own mystery pics.

OF SUCCESS

Our expert photo sleuth reveals how she solved

8photographic mysteries—and how you can piece together your own picture puzzles.

BY MAUREEN A. TAYLOR

Pictures

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www. familytreemagazine. com 35

Get fashion conscious, and youcould solve a photo mystery. Thewoman’s dress in the pictureabove helped date the image.Sometimes you have to consultgenealogical resources in orderto make a positive identification.An obituary confirmed the identity of the man at left.

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1. Consult family.In 2001, Rita Werner sent me a candid pho-tograph of two women and a young girl (seeabove), which appeared in the column“They’ve Got Personality—But Who AreThey?” at <www.familytreemagazine.com/photos/may10-01.htm>. Werner had foundthe image in an album that belonged to hergrandparents, both born in 1910. At the time,

she wrote, “It’s possible thatthis picture is of my grand-mother’s mother, who wasorphaned in Indiana andraised by family members inIllinois.” She had shown thepicture to several relatives, butno one could identify its sub-jects. Yet they did notice a

strong resemblance to her grandmother’s sideof the family.

Werner specifically wanted to know if thepicture predated World War I. The little girl’shair bow and the length and style of thewomen’s dresses dated the image to 1900 to1910. Although I answered Werner’s ques-tion, I couldn’t identify the image’s subjects.

The photo seemed to be a dead end. Noone could identify the group, and having adate didn’t help, either. Then a cousin mailedWerner the missing piece to the puzzle—anearly 1900s picture of her grandfather’s fam-ily (see above left). Werner sent me a jubilante-mail: “When I saw this picture along withthe original one in question, I knew beyond adoubt that I had the identity! Notice the tinywaist on the woman on the right in both pic-tures. Also, the hairstyle of the woman on theright is the same in both pictures.”

Connecting with family and comparingimages resulted in a positive identification.The women belonged to Werner’s grandfa-ther’s side, not her grandmother’s, as othershad suggested. Werner discovered that thewoman on the left in both pictures is hergreat-grandmother Adah (Whitaker) Brown,born in 1880. The woman on the right isAdah’s sister Dessa Mae Whitaker, born in1885. The child in the first picture is DessaMary Gerzella Brown, the only sister ofWerner’s grandfather. She was about 5 yearsold when the picture was taken. Wernerrecalled that her great-aunt never went byDessa Mary, only Gerzella. “Now when I lookat her with fresh eyes, I can see the resem-blance to my grandpa!” she wrote. “Gerzellawas born in 1904. So now I know that it’sGerzella holding onto her mother’s and aunt’shands in a picture taken prior to 1910 becausethat’s when Grandpa was born—and as youcan see, Adah is definitely not pregnant.”

2. Use genealogical resources.Some of the same resources used to collectfamily history information—such as city direc-tories, newspapers and vital records—can

solve picture puzzles, too. The photographer’simprint “M. Chandler, Marshfield, Mass.” onthe man’s portrait on the previous pagestarted the identification process. (See “Unrav-eling the Past” <www.familytreemagazine.com/photos / june10-04.htm>.) By checkingA Directory of Massachusetts Photographersby Chris Steele and Ronald Polito (PictonPress, $89.50), I learned that a Martin Chan-dler worked in Marshfield between 1853 and1896. You can find information about thephotographers of your family pics by con-sulting city and professional directories andthe Web site Finding Photographers <www.findingphotographers.com>. Knowing whena photographer was in business can help nar-row a picture’s time frame and the identifica-tion possibilities. In this case, a date appearedon the back of the image: 1879.

In 1879, Marshfield was still a small town,and it couldn’t have had many residentsaround this man’s age (I guessed he was atleast 90). Working with that hypothesis, a col-league checked Vital Records of Marshfield,Massachusetts to the Year 1850 compiled byRobert M. Sherman and Ruth Wilder Sher-man (Society of Mayflower Descendants, outof print), which actually included vital databeyond 1850. A quick scan of the listings pro-vided a possible candidate: “Samuel Curtis,died 21 August 1879, aged 100, 22 days.”The final clue was Curtis’ obituary in theBoston Daily Advertiser Aug. 25, 1879. Thissentence confirmed my hunch: “On his lastbirthday he had his photograph taken twice,once alone and once in a group.”

3. Get fashion conscious.Recognizing fashion details, such as aleg-o-mutton sleeve or a shawl col-lar, and knowing when they were instyle can help you date a photographat a glance. When Barbara DiMunnosubmitted a group portrait of a womanand her children (see the previous pageand “More Than Meets the Eye”<www.familytreemagazine.com/photos/may08-03.htm>), owned by either hergreat-aunt Lillian (Clark) Hewitt (1873-1955) or Lillian’s mother, Harriet (Ogden)Clark (1842-1912), she asked for help dat-ing the image.

The woman’s clothing provides the mostclues. With one hand on her hip and theother on the photographer’s chair, she drawsattention to her small waistline, which is held

36 Family Tree Magazine February 2005

UnsolvedMysteries

Need help identifying one of yourfamily photos? Send it to photo historian Maureen A. Taylor. If sheselects your photo for identification,we’ll publish the picture andTaylor’s professional analysis in the biweekly Identifying Family Photographs column, online at<www.familytreemagazine.com/photos /current.htm>.

Scan the picture you’d like tohave identified in JPG format with aresolution of at least 300 dpi. Thensend it as an e-mail attachment tomtaylor@taylorandstrong.com.If you can’t scan the photo, mail aphotographic copy (no originals,please!) to Family Tree Magazine,Attention: Identifying Family Photographs, 4700 E. GalbraithRoad, Cincinnati, OH 45236. Sorry,we can’t return photo submissions.

A cousin couldprovide the missing piece of a picture puzzle—in this case, it wasanother image.

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in by a restrictive corset. According to Sup-port and Seduction: A History of Corsets andBras by Beatrice Fontanel (Harry Abrams,$19.98), these undergarments were popularfrom the 1870s through 1914, which pro-vides a tentative time frame for the image.

John Peacock’s costume encyclopedia 20th Century Fashion (W.W. Norton & Co.,$31.85; see the box on page 38 for otherresources) indicates that the mother’s dress—with the deep V-neck opening, white high-necked shirt with full collar, and tight lowersleeves with fullness at the upper arms—resembles dresses worn around 1906. Thesedetails suggest the picture was taken between1900 and 1910, accounting for style varia-tions within the decade. The three girls in thisphotograph wear dresses of similar designand fabric. Girls’ attire mimicked women’sfashions; notice that the oldest child wears herhair in a topknot like her mother’s.

At this point, DiMunno can’t name thefamily in the portrait. Hewitt would be theright age for the picture, but other portraitsof her disprove this theory. Although the cos-tume clues weren’t enough to identify theseindividuals, they did allow DiMunno to nar-row the possibilities.

4. Know your photo history.Determining the photographic method canestablish an image’s time frame and correct a

misidentification. Dif-ferent types of photoswere popular at differ-ent times. For instance,the earliest images—shiny metal daguerreo-types (1839 to 1860),glass ambrotypes (1854to 1865) and iron tin-types (1856 to mid-1900s)—all debuted in themid-19th century, but only the tintyperemained popular into the 20th century.

Daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, tintypes andpaper prints all came in cases like the oneabove, which Carole Dolisi Bean discoveredin her grandmother’s sewing box. (See theJune 2004 Family Tree Magazine.) If youhave to hold a cased image at an angle to view it, you know it’s a daguerreotype.Ambrotypes often have holes in their backingmaterial; this makes them look transparent.Tintypes are magnetic. If at first glance youcan’t determine the photographic method,resist the temptation to remove the image

from its case. Doing so can cause irreparabledamage to both the picture and the case. Thecover glass is missing on Bean’s image, so Icould tell that it’s a paper print.

Dating an image’s enclosure—frame, mator case—also can aid the identification process.Cases came in a variety of sizes, shapes anddesigns. Two great guides to cased images areFloyd and Marion Rinhart’s American Minia-ture Case Art (A.S. Barnes, out of print) andAdele Kenny’s Photographic Cases: VictorianDesign Sources, 1840-1870 (Schiffer, $59.95).The Rinharts’ book lists names and locationsof case manufacturers—a handy reference toolif your case bears its maker’s name.

All the evidence in Bean’s photo case—thewood frame and ornate mat—dates theimage to the 1850s. The man’s patterned vest,colorful tie, white shirt and loose sack coatwith velvet collar suggest the picture wastaken in the late 1850s. These clues disprovedBean’s theory that the subject’s her great-grandmother’s brother August Edward Moll(born 1847). Using the photo’s date, she’s stilltrying to discover the man’s identity.

5. Magnify your images.The key evidence in the photograph at left,submitted by Valerie Moran, was so obviousthat she initially overlooked it. (See “StarSigns” <www.familytreemagazine.com/photos/june05-03.htm>.) Sometimes the smallestdetails can be your biggest clues. In this case,the details were the flags. By simply magnify-ing the image, counting the number of starson each flag and reading up on Old Glory’shistory, I discovered the picture was takenwithin a four-year time frame—July 4, 1908,to Jan. 6, 1912.

Can you name the typeof photograph in this

case (right)? Knowingyour photo history will

make the identificationprocess easier.

The key to dating this picture wasthe number of stars on the flags.Magnify your images to see detailsyou’d otherwise overlook.

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Everyone in this picture wears summerattire—most of the women have on white summer dresses or shirts, while the men posewithout jackets. The women’s pouched-frontblouses, wide belts, straight skirts and GibsonGirl hairstyles fit the flags’ time frame.

When identifying a photograph, I usuallytry to narrow the time frame even further. Theflag’s history came in handy here. Oklahomajoined the Union Nov. 16, 1907, but the newflag didn’t debut until July 4, 1908. The sub-jects’ summer attire and crisp flags suggestthese people were celebrating the Fourth ofJuly, or maybe the introduction of the new flag.

Based on her family data, Moran suspectsthe photograph was taken in 1912. She thinksthe young man on the right is Clifford JohnCaminade (born 1885), who would havebeen 27 that year, and the older man on theleft is his father, Louis Cass Caminade (born1852). Their apparent ages and the photo-graph’s date support this conclusion.

6. Examine props.Many photos submitted for analysis haveidentifications, but no dates. Such is the casewith Betty Ann Tyson’s hand-colored tintype,tentatively identified as “Grandma Tyson”(see above left and “A Rosy Glow” <www.familytreemagazine.com/photos/may22-03.htm>). Positive identifications rarely rely on a single piece of evidence; you must add up allthe clues before drawing a conclusion. Here,the child’s dress and chair date the picture. Thegirl wears a white summer dress with a wide,open neckline; ruffled (perhaps eyelet) trim;and shoulder bows—features of dresses popular in the late 1860s and early 1870s,according to The Child in Fashion 1750-1920by Kristina Harris (Schiffer, $29.95) andDressed for the Photographer: OrdinaryAmericans and Fashion, 1840-1900 by JoanSevera (Kent State University Press, $60).

The chair in this image was a commonphotographer’s prop during the same timeperiod. Since it usually took a few minutes fora camera to capture a scene, photographersused furniture or special braces to hold sub-jects still. You’ll find examples of this furni-ture in Identifying American Furniture byMilo M. Naeve (Altamira Press, $15.95) andThe Tasteful Interlude: American Interiorsthrough the Camera’s Eye, 1860-1917 byWilliam Seale (Rowman & Littlefield,$19.95). Judging by the furniture, clothingclues and subject’s age, we’re sure this imagedepicts Betty Ann’s grandmother LizzieTyson, who was born in 1867.

38 Family Tree Magazine February 2005

StyleSources

Reading up on yesterday’s fashiontrends can help you analyze yourancestors’ dress and ultimately datethose old photos.

■ Battledress: The Uniforms of theWorld’s Great Armies 1700-Presentby I.T. Schick (Artus Co., $95)

■ Illustrated History of Hairstyles 1830-1930by Marian I. Doyle (Schiffer, $39.95)

■ Men’s Fashion: The Complete Sourcebook by John Peacock (W.W. Norton & Co., $29.95)

■ 20th Century Jewelry: The CompleteSourcebook by John Peacock (W.W. Norton & Co., $35)

■ U.S. Army Headgear, 1812-1872 by JohnP. Langellier and C. Paul Loane (SchifferBooks, out of print)

■ Victorian Costume for Ladies 1860-1900by Linda Setnik (Schiffer Books, $29.95)

■ Vintage Hats and Bonnets, 1770-1970 bySusan Langley (Collector Books, $24.95)

■ Women’s Shoes in America 1795-1930by Nancy Rexford (Kent State UniversityPress, $60)

Be sure to examine the props in your pictures. Mid-1800s photographers used thisstyle of chair to hold children still.

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www. familytreemagazine. com 39

7. Network online.By connecting with cousins over the Internet,Michael R. Boyce has discovered that someof the seemingly far-fetched stories his fathertold him—including the one about their relation to a Dutch sea captain—are true. (See “Tall Tales and True Stories” <www.familytreemagazine.com/photos/may16-02.htm>.) Through these “Internet cousins,”Michael also has uncovered a surname change,an unexpected link to his ancestor Stephen V.Boyce and a tintype (above) of a man he thinksis Stephen’s father, John Boice (born 1794).

Confirming that identification requirescomparing family pictures to eliminate otherprospects. Michael thinks the portrait abovedepicts his third-great-grandfather because healready has identified images of two of John’sthree brothers. The third brother died as ayoung man, so this couldn’t be him.

Clothing clues further support the identi-fication. This man wears work clothes sug-gestive of the 1860s. At that time, John wouldhave been in his 60s.

Although Michael still can’t confirm thisman’s identity, he’s off to a good start. Per-haps his photographic family tree posted onthe Buys/Boice/Boyce Web site <webpages.charter.net/boyceweb> will help bring newinformation forward. Consider creating yourown family Web site, or connect with distant

kin through surname message boards, such asthose at RootsWeb <www.rootsweb.com>.Through photo-reunion sites such as DeadFred<www.deadfred.com> and AncientFaces<www.ancientfaces.com>, you might evenfind some long-lost images of your ancestors.

8. Be persistent.It took Jackie Hufschmid three years, but shefinally identified the young couple in a photoshe’d submitted for my first Identifying Family Photographs column (see “Frame ofReference” <www.familytreemagazine.com/photos/feb08.htm>). Initially, I researched the photographer, Bonell, and the couple’sclothing to place the portrait in Eau Claire,Wis., between 1875 and 1890, but that’s asfar as I got.

An amazing thing happened when the picture appeared online and then again in theAugust 2000 Family Tree Magazine. Wereceived e-mails from several people who saidthey’d seen the photograph before—someeven owned copies of it. A network of familyhistorians developed, and they workedtogether to try to identify the couple. Huf-schmid refused to give up.

In summer 2003, she finally found themissing link to Eau Claire. A cousin in Wisconsin revealed that two of their femalerelatives had moved there in the late 19th century—one to open a dress shop and theother to work in it. Upon hearing theirnames, Hufschmid realized that she hadanother picture of the couple taken years later.Once she placed the identified 1920s image of the couple and their children next to theoriginal portrait of the young couple, sheknew she had a match. The mystery peopleare Julia Gullickson (1872-1948) and herhusband, James Wood (1868-1933). Scan-ning and enlarging sections of the images to compare facial features confirmed the identification.

Like Hufschmid and these other FamilyTree Magazine readers, you can date andidentify your own old family photos. Just puton your detective cap, pull out the magnify-ing glass and start sleuthing. All it takes is alittle time, perseverance and old-fashionedgenealogical research. 3

Contributing editor Maureen A. Taylor is theauthor of Preserving Your Family Photographs (Better-way Books, $19.99). Her Identifying Your Family Pho-tographs (Family Tree Books) is due out this fall.

Still can’t put a name to that mystery face?The owner of this tintype found success by networking via the Internet.

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Page34-39.qxd 11/15/04 1:32 PM Page 39

Tracking ~ e s terday's fashion trends could solve your picture

P uzzles. We'll show you how to analyze your ancestors' dress for successful photo identification. BY M A U R E E N A . TAYLOR

When we h n k of destones in US hstory hats in her youth, the image likely dates back to the 1840s. (Of

the Revolutionary WX Civil Wir and civil course. W'II have to examine other clothing clues to certain.) , ,

nghts movement immdately come to mind Once you've narrowed the photo's time frame, you should consult your genealogical records to determine whether your

Knowing the details of events such as these female ancestors' ages at that time correspond to the age of dx picture's subject. With luck, you'll find a match.

puts your ancestors into historical context. You don't have to be a fashion maven to spot clothing clues

But rnrning points in American fashion in photog~~phs. JW follow these identification t i p and OW 19th- century fashion-trend timelines, and you'll be putting names to

history-for instance, the first riveted blue those mystery faces in no time.

jeans (1873), sunglasses (1885) and nylon stodungs (1940) -matter, too. Match them with clothing and accessories in old photos, and you can identify those mystery faces.

Fashion constantly evolves, and our photographs reflect the changing styles. By examining the clothing clues in your unidentified images, you can narrow their time frames to just a few years, and determine which relatives peer back at you. Even a single accessory could tell you whether you're looking at your great-grandmother or your great-great-grandmother.

For example, during the 1840s, women wore daycaps (bon- nets made of starched white cotton) for everyday and special occasions. By the 1850s, this headgear had fallen out of fashion, though elderly women continued to wear them for several more decades. If you have a picture of a relative wearing one of these

STYLE baSzc~ Begin by enlarging segments of an unidentified picture with a magmfymg glass or by scanning it. Examine every detail of the subject's outfit. Look at the shape of a woman's bodice, neckline, sleeves and skirt-and don't forget accessories and hairstyle. Pay attention to a man's coat shape, trouser width, necktie style, hair- style and accessories. Any of these details could clue you in to when the photo was taken. Of course, shoe styles have changed, too, but they're usually difficult to distinguish in old photos.

Most family portraits show relatives dressed in their "best."

I In the 19th century, popular magazines such as Godey's Lady's Book advised women on what to wear. But if your ancestor lacked the latest accessory, some studios kept shawls, pins and hats on hand for patrons to borrow. After all, a happy cus- tomer meant repeat business and referrals. 4

Our ancestors' economic circumstances did influence their clothing choices, but style variations between classes usually aren't significant. Women who lacked financial resources or 1

period, though the center part is ~ not. The bride's 1 dress has a tight 1 bodice, small

ustle and trim - t the wrist and I

alongthe hem. , Her short, frilzed hangs andflower-

dorned veil Iso suggest the

lived in rural areas still followed fashion trends-they would remake dresses or add a few accessories to fit the current styles.

You'll find more-significant style variations in portraits of recent immigrants or ancestors living in foreign countries. These differences actually could simplify the identification process, though. For instance, a headdress worn for a wedding photo could tell you whether the image comes from your Russ- ian mother's side or your Scottish father's side of the family. See the February 2002 Family Tree Magazine to learn more about clues in immigrant images.

Dating a photograph through costume requires some knowledge of fashion historyand that's easy to get. Consult the books on page 39, and keep this guide handy. Here, we identify key components of 19th-century fashion since the advent of photography, decade by decade, so you can sta.rt solv- ing even your toughest picture puzzles now.

WHAT women wore Women's fashion has changed dramatically through the years, so even the length of a skirt or the shape of a sleeve can help you date an image. Accessories such as gloves, jewelry, hats and fans -

have fallen in and out of fashion, which means they can aid identification, too.

The basic elements of our female ancestors' clothing remained the same regardless of their economic status. Pants weren't pop- ular unt~l the mid-1900s, so women typically wore dresses. Fru- gal women often pieced together two or more dresses to create an oudit reflecting current styles. Be on the lookout for dresses

Before drawing conclusions about your photographs, be sure to add up all the clues, rather than focusing on a single style detail. When in doubt, make a list of an outfit's significant char- acteristics. Look not only at the shape of a sleeve, but also the width of the cuff. Since most women made their own clothes until the 20th century, you will see some style variation. But watch out for these common elements:

The first photographs, known as daguerreotypes, appeared in the United States in 1840. Throughout the next decade, a resur- gence in religious and moral conservatism led women to dress in modest, restrictive clothes, which often inhibited natural movement, according to Dressed for the Photographer by Joan Severa (see box, page 39). Worn over corsets, back-fastening dresses had long, tght bodices with fan-shaped gatherings. The wide, shallow, horizontal necklines gradually narrowed later in the decade, when high-standing collars came into vogue. Sleeves were long and tight, especially on the upper arms. Popular accessories included fingerless gloves, gold watches on long chains, ribbon bracelets and bonnets that extended past the chin. Women wore their hair close to the head, with a center part, long ringlets and large combs.

Women's fashion loosened up a bit in the 1850s, and ladies' magazines such as Godey's increasingly reported on the

with bodices and skirts made of different materials. trends. Dress sleeves were still narrow at the shoulder, but

collars; center-parted koirr hoopskim ,

'18338s clothjng clues: draped ovmkirl

ered at the wrist once again.

During the Civil War, women selected bodices that buttoned trimmed with apronlike overskirts, and bustles--some quite down the front and had pointed or round waists decorated large-expanded underskirts. Accessories included black vel- with d i t a r y braid. Most dresses featured high, narrow, round vet neck ribbons with brooches or charms attached to the collars, but some had V-necks with lapels. Sleeve styles varied: front, large lockets on gold chains, crosses, and long jet-bead Some came in at the wrist, and others flared. Skirts worn over necklaces with matching earrings. Women continued to part hoops were pleated, and some looped up (with assistance of their hair in the centel; and began to wear false locks with large cords on the inside of the skirt) to expose underskirts. Women combs. They often braided their hair at the crown and left the accessorized with shawls, hairnets, wide belts, elaborate ear- rest streaming down their backs. Small hats and bonnets rings and brooches. They wore their hair with a center part trimmed with feathers, lace and flowers accented these high, and covering their ears. Some opted for braids or short ringlets. full hairstyles. Bonnets changed shape from round to oval early in the decade. As hairstyles became more elaborate after the war, women sported smaller hats.

(1875 t0 1877) During the mid-1 870s, waistlines lengthened, and two-piece

(1869 to 1874) dresses gained popularity. Front-opening necklines featured low collars or V-necks with ruffles. Sleeves were narrower and

Ruffles were all the rage during ths era: Bodices featured ruf- decorated with trim. Skirts began to lose their fullness, and fles and large, prominent buttons; necklines were high with had long overskirts and trains.

1

to the chin. In the early 1890s, women wore large, balloonliie "leg-o-mutton" sleeves that were tight at the wrist. After 1896, sleeves got smaller, with fullness at the shoulder and a slight flare over the hand. Skirts were smooth at the hips, but flared dramatically. Between 1893 and 1896, women favored feather boas, large fans and parasols. At the end of the decade, they accessorized with small earrings, watches pinned to their bosoms, and small decorative combs worn high on the back of the head, but visible from the front. Short bangs, worn with a small topknot, remained popular during the first part of the decade, but went out of style by 1896. Then, women parted and flattened their hair into waves along the temples. Although older women still sported bonnets, most young women had switched to hats, especially small hats with vertical trim. By the end of the decade, wide-brimmed hats also were popular.

By the late 1870s, the full hoop skut had gone out of .style, and the bustle disappeared. Skirts now fell straight from hip to f loo~ Front buttons adorned tight-fitting bodices, which came down over the hips. Necklines were high with low-standing collars, and sleeves remained narrow. Women continued to part their hair in the center, and wore short, frizzed bangs.

By the mid-188Os, women had entered the work force as sec- retaries, telephone operators and department-store clerks, and demanded less-restrictive clothing. Draped overskirts, often apronlike in shape, appeared. The bustle returned in 1883 and reached its maximum size in 1886, before deflating the next year. Tight bodices extended below the waist, and had high necklines with low-standing collars. Tight, threequarter-length sleeves with trim at the wrist also were popular. Look for lace parasols, muffs and novelty jewelry. Hair remained frizzed around the face with a bun in back. Women chose hats in a variety of styles, the most popular being high-crowned hats with wide brims and elaborate trim.

- CLOTHES make the man Men's clothing is harder to date because style var- ied little in the 19th century. Their dress clothes comprised a coat, sh~rt, trousers, necktie and pos-

'w - sibly a vest. Work attire consisted of a collarless shirt, no tie, pants, suspenders and sometimes a vest. The best clothing clues are hats, vests and shirts, as these garments changed the most over time. You'll have to look closely for subtle clues.

The demand for less-restrictive clothing increased as women During this decade, men wore coats with extra-long, narrow began to exercise outdoors. As a result, corsets loosened, and sleeves; tailored white shirts with narrow sleeves and small shirtwaists came into vogue. Necklines had high collars worn turned-up collars; and dark-colored neckties in horizontal

Clothing clues: leg-o-mutton sleeves; high, st$

I""

bowknots. Smocklike work shirts came in a variety of colors and patterns. Men kept their hair at ear length and parted high on one side. Most were clean-shaven, but some sported fringe beards that framed their jaws. Hat styles included wool stock- ing caps, black felt bowlers and shiny silk top hats.

Narrow sleeves remained stylish into the first part of the 1850s. Around 1854, generously cut suit coats (worn with vests) and wide-legged pants came into vogue. Shirt collars turned over Zinch-wide neckties, worn in wide half-bows. Men wore dress shirts in a variety of colors and patterns. They also bought fancy starched shirtfronts to dress up their attire. Most men were clean-shaven until the end of the decade, when full beards appeared. They wore their oiled hair long on top and combed into a wave at the center of the forehead. Later in the decade, their hair grew long enough to cover the ears. Young men wore cloth caps, which resembled railroad caps. Tall black hats with flat brims also gained popularity.

The popular sack coat got shorter and narrower during this decade, and buttoned only at the top in order to display the vest and watch chain worn underneath. White, striped and plaid shirts were made without collars-our ancestors bought those separately. They wore wide black or striped neckties in loose knots with overlapping ends. Fur hats and coats also gained popularity at this time.

In the 1880s, men's coats got even shorter and narrower, and they closed high at the throat, nearly con&g the necktie. Our ancestors wore these coats with narrow, creaseless pants and wide shirts. Neckties varied in width. Throughout the decade, young men sported a wide variety of hats, from straw sailor hats to black homburgs (felt hats featuring dented crowns and shal- low, rolled brims), which businessmen favored.

Men's suit coats came in a range of new shapes in the 1860s- Narrow was the key characteristic of 1890s men's fashion: nar- the most popular being the long, oversized sack coat, worn row coats worn buttoned to the top, narrow black or patterned with wide-legged pants that were longer at the heel and held bow ties and narrow trousers. White shirts had small, stiff, up by suspenders. A white, striped or plaid shirt and narrow pointed collars at the beghmg of the decade and high, stiff col- necktie completed the look. Men parted their ear-length hair lars at the end of the decade. Men wore their hair short and on the side and grew whiskers, rather than full beards. After grew large mustaches. Bowlers and derby-style hats' popular- the Civil War, they continued to wear military caps to work. ity exploded during this decade.

' W E B S I T E S ,* ,., r Accessible Archives K www.accessible.com >: Subscribe to this archive of 18th- and 19th-century publications to view the full texts of Codey's Lady's Book from i 830 to i 880.

Bissonnette on Costume <dept.kent.edu/museum/ costume>: This visual fashion dictionary from Kent State University Museum covers 1700 through today.

The Costumer's Manifbsto cwww.costumes.org>: Follow the links to histories of corsets and underwear, ethnic dress, military uniforms, religious dress and more.

m International Costumers' Guild <www.costume.org>: Created to "bring hobbyist and professional costumers from around the world together," this organization offers three fashion-focused mailing lists and links to costume-related resources.

Saundra Ros Altman's: Past Patterns <www.pastpatterns.com>: Re-create your 19th- and early 20th-century ancestors' outfits with these patterns.

m 20th Century Fashion by John Peacock (Thames and Hudson, $34.95)

B 20th Centuryjewelry: The Complete Sourcebook by John Peacock (Thames and Hudson, $34.95)

m The Child in Fashion 1750-1920 by Kristina Harris (Schiffer, $29.95)

Dressedfor the Photographer: Ordinary Americans and Fashion 1840-7900 by Joan Severa (Kent State University Press, $60)

B An Illustrated History of Hairstyles 1830- 1930 by Marian I. Doyle (Schiffer, $39.95)

m Men's Fashion: The Complete Sourcebook by John Peacock (Thames and Hudson, $29.95)

B U.S. Army Headgear 1812-1872 by John P. Langellier and C. Paul Loane (Schiffer, $69.95)

Victorian Costume for Ladies 1860-7900 by Linda Setnik (Schiffer, $29.95)

= Vintage Hats and Bonnets 1770- 1970 by Susan Langley (Collector Books, $24.95)

B Women's Shoes in America, 1795-1930 by Nancy E. Rexford (Kent State University Press, $60)

K I D - F R I E N D L Y ~ ~ J ~ ~ O ~ In the 19th and early 20th centuries, babies of both sexes wore long dresses; current adult fashion trends dictated the gowns' lengths and details. Toddlers sported shorter dresses to accom- modate movement. The best way to tell girls and boys apart is to look at their hairstyles. Girls usually wore their hair parted in the middle, and boys' hair was parted on the side.

Parents dressed their older sons in short pants and their daughters in dresses. Children's fashion generally followed the same trends as adults'. As children grew older, their clothing styles changed-which enables you to estimate a child's age based on his or her clothing. For instance, the length of a girl's s k i gradually got longer as she approached adult- hood. Boys wore short pants until approximately age 12, then donned long pants.

Frances Hodgson Burnett started a fashion trend for boys when her book Little Lord Fauntleroy was published in 1886. Until the early 20th century, mothers dressed their sons in outfits that mimicked those in the book's drawings by Reginald Birch. A typical outfit consisted of a white shirt with a full Vandyke collar (a large linen or lace collar with a scal- loped edge), a satin sash, a plumed hat and long, curled hair.

ALL IN fbe details Not only can clothing help you date an image, but it also can clue you in to your ancestors' experiences. Keep an eye out for these telling details:

rn Traditional ethnic dress: Upon arriving in America, immi- grants often abandoned their full ethnic dress so they could better assimilate. But occasionally, accessories such as caps, head scarves and mantillas will identify their ethnicity. Robert Harrold's Folk Costumes of the World (Sterling Publishing Co., $29.95) offers an overview of clothing styles around the globe.

r Fraternalorder regalia: You might find photographic evi- dence of an ancestor's membership in a fraternal order, such as the Freemasons, Modern Woodmen of America or Elks. Medals, buttons, ribbons, badges, sashes and jewelry (includ- ing watches, fobs, pins and rings) could contain symbols and slogans of one of these organizations. For tips on researching fraternal orders, see the June 2004 Family Tree Magazine.

Military un'ihrms: Studying headgeq buttons, shlrts, pants, weapons and decoration can date a photograph and provide evidence of military service. For instance, during the Civil Wal; many Union volunteers wore belt buckles with their states' abbreviations; Confederate soldiers wore buckles with the

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letters CSA, whch stood for Confederate States of America. If you're trying to trace Civil War ancestors, those belt buckles

It's easy to misidenufy both the person and the time period '

if yau look onIy at costume clues. Wedding pictures, for instance, can offer conflicting evidence if the bride wears an heirloom gown. So be sure to look for other hints, such as props, before drawing a conclusion.

Once you've used costume clues to estimate a picture's time frame, consult magazines and store catalogs from that period, or flip through books with historical photos to confirm your analysis. If you're still having trouble placing the photograph

could give you enough clues to locate military records. Occupational clothing: Look for hats, aprons or props sug-

gesting your ancestor's employment. Consult Dressed fov the Job by Christobel Williams-Mitchell (Blandford Books, out of print) for pictures of people on the job.

Religious attire: Photos of altar boys, priests, nuns and other people in religious garb can be difficult to date because the clothing styles don't change. But these portraits can pro- vide clues about your ancestors' religious affiliation. Look for Bibles, candles, flowers and other religious symbols.

COLLECTIVE evidence As you add up all the costume clues in your photographs, remember: Looks can be deceiving. Just because your ances- tor's outfit seems to date to the 1880s, that doesn't mean it actually does. For example, in some tourist spots, you can have your picture taken in period clothing. One of my friends has a tintype of himself in a Civil War uniform. Not only did the photographer copy the 19th-century photographic process, but the clothing looks authentic. To an unsuspecting descendant, this photo might appear older than it actually is.

within a fashion context, youmight w&t to consuit a costume professional. Some historical societies and museums have staff who specialize in costume history.

Over the years, I've developed a fascination with historical fashion. The clothing provides glimpses into our ancestors' everyday lives and insights into their personalities. The next time you pose for a picture, think about what you're wearing- and what those clothes will say to your descendants. * Contributing editor MAUREEN A. TAYLOR is the author of Preserving Your Family Photographs (Betterway Books. $19.99) and Identl@ing Your Fam- ily Photographs (Family Tree Books), due out next fall. She helps solve read- ers' picture puzzles in Family free Magazine's Photo Detective column and the biweekly Identifying Family Photographs column at <www. farnilytreernagazinexornlphotoslcurrent.htrn>.

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Ancestral Wear-aboutsYour kin’s ethnic dress can tell you where they came from. Here’s how to read the clues. | By Maureen A. Taylor

If you have a family photograph of people in unfamiliar attire—such as the

outfits on these two women—you might wonder “What in the world?” Instead, ask “Where in the world?” That photo could show your immigrant ancestors dressed in clothing common in their homeland.

Fortunately, you needn’t make a trans-Atlantic voyage to figure out the origins of a foreign photograph. Finding your family’s homeland based on a picture is easier and cheaper than buying a travel package on Orbitz. The same clues that helped me sort out this photo mystery can lead to break-throughs in your own immigrant ancestry.

Fashion fictionFirst, let’s clear up a myth regarding immi-grant forebears: People from other coun-tries didn’t always wear ethnic-looking “folk” costumes like those on the women here. Your ancestors’ everyday clothing depended on their country of origin and whether they lived in a city or the coun-tryside. Urban dwellers often wore the same fashions popular throughout Europe and the United States. For instance, in the 1890s, the leg-o-mutton sleeve (a puffy shoulder tapered to a narrow forearm) showed up on Western-style dresses in Copenhagen, Paris, Rome and Ankara, Turkey. In rural areas, attire was usually a mix that depended on cultural identity, economic status and lifestyle. Women occasionally accented everyday clothes with ethnic headgear, such as the beaver hats shown here.

Outfit originsUnusual clothing requires a special cos-tume guide. Check libraries for Auguste Racinet’s The Complete Costume History, first published in 1888 (reprinted in 2003 by Taschen, $200). It covers the entire his-tory of costume, most of which predates photography, but the final chapter is a genealogical gem full of color plates illus-trating traditional fashions up to 1800.

A smaller book, Robert Harrold’s Folk Costumes of the World (Sterling, $29.95), describes the history of Welsh dress, which became a symbol of national iden-tity. Today, ladies might wear outfits like those shown here for occasions such as St. David’s Day, which honors the patron saint of Wales.

This 19th-century photo is sepia tone, but Harrold’s illustrations let you imag-ine the clothing in full color. A typical late-1800s or early-1900s Welsh costume consisted of a tall black beaver hat with a white frilled bonnet, a white blouse with red trim at the cuffs, a bright red underskirt, a checked apron and a shawl. These women aren’t wearing bonnets, white blouses or folded-back skirts, but one sports a checked apron and both have shawls and hats. According to the Welsh National Costume Web site <www. welsh-costume.co.uk>, women started wearing these hats—based on the men’s top hats popular from 1790 to 1820— during the 19th century. The longevity of this style of dress doesn’t do much to nar-row the photo’s date.

Informative imprintsIdeally, your picture will bear a photog-rapher’s imprint, which provides the stu-dio name and, often, its location. Then you can research the locale—in this case, Holyhead—using gazetteers. The 1884 Gazetteer of the World (Lippincott, out of print) tells me Holyhead was an island off the coast of Wales (it’s now called Holy Island), home to a town of the same name. I also found out the closest port is Dublin, which was under British rule during the 19th century. This last bit of information would come in handy when searching for a point of emigration.

Pay attention to the style of the pho-tographer’s imprint—whether it’s printed, script or part of a decorative logo. This 2½x4-inch gilt-edged beveled card has the photographer’s name in script, common in the mid-1880s. To learn more about nar-rowing a photo’s time frame by research-ing photographers’ imprints, see my online Identifying Family Photographs column at < www.familytreemagazine.com / photos /apr13-06.htm >.

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Foreign Affairs Head case. Women often mixed traditional accessories with contemporary clothing.

By the book. Costume encyclopedias supply clues these women’s outfits are Welsh.

Sense of place. A gazetteer puts this town on an island off the coast of Wales.

Back up. The elaborate painted backdrop dates to the mid-1880s.

Got a picture puzzle? Post your photo questions on the FamilyTreeMagazine.com Photo Detective Forum at < www.familytreemagazine.com / forum >.

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If your photo lacks a photographer’s name and you’re not sure where the sub-jects came from, try browsing costume books for clothing similar to what’s in your picture. You also can compare your photos to the images of immigrants in native dress in Augustus F. Sherman: Ellis Island Portraits 1905-1920 (Aper-ture, $40). For descriptions of props and backdrops, such as the painted one in this photo, see Linda Setnik’s Victorian Costume for Ladies 1860-1900 (Schiffer, $29.95). The next time you see a foreign image, instead of wondering “What in the world?” you can say “Aha!” And if you can make that trans-Atlantic voyage after all, plan a trip to your ancestral homeland and check out a few genealogical docu-ments while you’re there. Don’t forget to take a copy of the picture in case you meet some long-lost relatives. 3

Contributing editor and photo historian Maureen A. Taylor is the author of Uncovering Your Ances-try Through Family Photographs, 2nd edition (Family Tree Books, $24.99).

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Your Aunts in PantsFashion clues may not apply if women wore the britches in your family photos—but you still can identify gender-bending images. | By Maureen A. Taylor

Face it: The hoop skirts, bustles and cor-sets our female ancestors wore most of

the time weren’t exactly comfortable, espe-cially for active pursuits. In Women in Pants: Manly Maidens, Cowgirls, and Other Ren-egades (Abrams, $35), Catherine Smith and Cynthia Greig explain why genteel ladies of the past—such as the pair pictured here—sometimes donned men’s clothes. From the early feminists of the 1850s to Calam-ity Jane in the 1890s, photos prove women wore bloomers, knickerbockers, breeches, pantaloons, pants and trousers.

Pants were outside the norm for 1800s and early 1900s ladies, though, so a fash-ion encyclopedia might not help you inter-pret a portrait of Great-aunt Nell sporting the latest in trouser wear. Instead, learn about your female relative by using other photo details and focusing on the interests and activities her legged outfit reveals.

Pretty politicalClothing reflected our ancestors’ economic status, personality and, for women’s rights advocates such as Amelia Bloomer, their politics. In 1851, Bloomer began publish-ing articles in her biweekly newsletter, The Lily, advocating less-confining clothing for women. In place of their heavy dresses and restrictive undergarments, Bloomer wrote, ladies should wear shorter skirts over ankle-length pants (a garment eventu-ally named for its proponent). A few brave early feminists, including Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, embraced bloomers, but the style faded around the end of the decade. Several different types of photographs existed during the 1850s, so look for a photographer’s name (called an imprint) on the back of a paper print,

or embossed in the brass mat of a cased picture. Then look up the business in city directories and consult your research to see who lived in the area at that time.

Secret serviceMary Livermore, who headed the Mid-west area of the US Sanitary Commission during the Civil War, estimated more than 400 women disguised themselves as men to enlist. Perhaps the female soldiers agreed with Medal of Honor recipient Mary Walker, one of three women surgeons known to have served the Union, who declared, “Patriotism has no sex.” Such convictions weren’t confined to the Civil War: Until women were officially allowed to join the armed services, they infiltrated the ranks in all wartime conflicts. Some managed to remain undetected; others were sent home once injured and discov-ered. These soldiers carefully concealed their identities, and many are indistinguish-able from men in photographs. Maybe you have Civil War photos but no male relatives the right age, or the soldier pictured bears a strong resemblance to a female ancestor’s portrait. If you suspect your soldier is really a woman, pay attention to family folklore, look for military records (see the October 2005 Family Tree Magazine for research advice) and read Richard Hall’s Patriots in Disguise: Women Warriors of the Civil War (Paragon House, out of print).

good sportsIn the late 19th century, special bifurcated costumes, practical for recreational activities, offered women acceptable alternatives to wearing their husbands’ altered clothing. All sorts of legged costumes became fashionable

for horseback riding, gymnastics, swimming, bicycling and tennis. Compare clothing in your photos with the examples in Smith and Greig’s book and in American Dress Pattern Catalogs, 1873-1909 edited by Nancy Villa Bryk (Dover Publications, $14.95).

Business casualWomen engaged in farming, ranching, painting and carpentry found pants com-fortable for doing “men’s work.” In Eng-land, women who worked in mines donned men’s attire for safety and ease of move-ment. Unlike men, however, women often complemented their pantaloons with simple accessories, bodices reminiscent of dresses and, as the two ladies in the photo above demonstrate, hats to shade their faces from the sun. Honing in on those details gives you more clothing evidence to work with. The exact occupation of these women is unclear, but their bucket, large-brimmed hats and flat shoes suggest an outdoor endeavor.

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Sometimes, dressing in men’s clothing was scandalous but reasonable. When Katherine Hepburn and Marlene Dietrich wore pants in the 1930s, they were taking cues from theater mavens such as Sarah Bernhardt, who often played male roles.

Although 19th- and early 20th-century social conventions suggested women belonged in skirts, strong-willed, indepen-dent ladies often felt otherwise. Rather than trying to “wear the pants in the family,” the majority of women photographed in trousers wore the unconventional costume to ease their work or recreational activities. Date these pictures using enclosures, pho-tographer’s imprints, genealogical informa-tion and clothing clues, but don’t overlook the larger story they tell about your family’s founding mothers. 3

Contributing editor Maureen A. Taylor helps solve your picture puzzles in her online column. Learn how to submit photos for free analysis at < www. familytreemagazine.com /photos / photohelp.htm>.

Getting a Leg Up Clothes call. These feminine fitted bodices with minimal trim date from the 1880s.

Professional advice. Some props, such as the one-handled bucket in this photograph, are occupational clues.

Fancy footwork. Compare shoes to the descriptions in Nancy E. Rexford’s Women’s Shoes in America, 1795-1930 (Kent State University Press, $60).

Background information. During the 1880s, photographers often decorated their sets with props such as wooden fences, rocks and hay.

Twenty questions. Asking family members about unusual photographs may be the best way to get the scoop.

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Costume CluesDon’t be scared! there’s nothing tricky about gleaning genealogical treats from halloween photos. | By Maureen A. taylor

Donning a Halloween costume, ringing doorbells and getting a pillowcase full

of candy is one of the great joys of child-hood. The curious group portrait here—one of a set Sandy Forest owns—shows “big kids” enjoy celebrating in masquer-ade, too. With a few photo-research tricks, Forest can treat herself to the story behind this intriguing image.

Revealing identitiesThe woman in buccaneer attire is Forest’s aunt Connie, who was born in 1908 and lived in the town of Maspeth on Long Island, NY. Forest doesn’t recognize any-one else in the photo, but a comparison of facial features suggests the clown on the left has a similar nose, mouth and face shape to Connie’s. Perhaps she’s a relative. Such comparisons are subjective, of course, so don’t take physical resemblances as evi-dence of relationships—instead, use them to form hypotheses for further research.

This group also could be high school friends. To investigate further, Forest should find out when her aunt graduated and browse school yearbooks for familiar faces. The local public library, historical society or school district office might have year-books, or Forest can peruse digitized annu-als on sites such as Dead Fred < deadfred. com > and DistantCousin.com < www. distantcousin.com >.

Mastering disguisesObviously, you can’t rely on the shape of a sleeve or trim on a bodice to date the clothing here. Instead, examine the sub-ject of impersonation. In the 20th century, cartoon character and politician costumes joined the standard witch, goblin and pirate Halloween fare. For example, dur-ing the Depression, going as a hobo was a popular choice.

Connie poses here in a buccaneer outfit complete with a hat and knife. Two come-dic harlequins standing in the back sport pom-poms and ruffled collars; the woman between them is wearing a flapper-style dress and headpiece. Seated on the left is a lady dressed as a Spanish princess (holding a fan); a fashionable 18th-century woman perches next to her. These costume choices were common during the 1920s.

Commercially produced costumes weren’t available until the 1930s. But an illustration in Dressed for Thrills by Phyl-lis Galembo (Harry N. Abrams, $24.95) shows a 1925 Pictorial Pattern Co. sewing

pattern for Connie’s outfit, from her hat to her swashbuckler boot tops. She modified the pattern’s skirt hem.

Collecting yourselfIn addition to studying the details of each photo, look at all your family photos as a group. Connie’s costume and the identical background make it obvious the images shown here are part of a set. But Forest also has wedding and first communion photo-graphs of family members standing in front of the same painted scene. Though the pho-tographer’s imprint doesn’t appear here, the backdrop is evidence her family frequented the same photographer. She can use city directories to find studios in the neighbor-hood and, based on years of operation, esti-mate date ranges for the photos.

Check the backs of all your photos, too. The single portrait of Connie is a photo postcard, printed on sturdy cardstock with designated spaces on the back for a mes-sage and stamp. The stamp box design can indicate when a photo postcard was

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printed. I compared the stamp box on the back of Connie’s portrait with the examples in Real Photo Postcard Guide: The Peo-ple’s Photography by Robert Bogdan and Todd Weseloh (Syracuse University Press, $39.95). It was used around 1910, then reintroduced in 1926.

Clowning aroundPrivate parties to celebrate Halloween were all the rage in the Victorian period; later, cities and towns began holding festivities. It’s likely this group marched in a parade, then had their portrait taken. Connie’s boldly patterned costume makes her stand out in the group photo, and her front-and-center position suggests she organized the Kodak moment. Forest could sweeten this family history treat by checking the area’s historical newspapers for coverage of Hal-loween celebrations. 3

Contributing editor Maureen A. Taylor blogs about mystery photos at < www.familytreemagazine. com / photodetectiveblog >.

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Costume check. Date halloween photos based on when the costumes were in vogue.

Unmasked. try to identify mystery friends using high school yearbooks.

Familiar faces. Use a magnifier to examine subjects’ faces. treat similarities as clues, not evidence.

Cool and collected. study your other photos for those taken on the same occasion or in the same studio.

Faced with a frightening photo mystery? post your picture on our photo Detective Forum at < www.familytreemagazine. com / forum >.

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68 family tree magazine December 2006

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Oh, Boy … or Girl?That’s right—once upon a time, little boys wore long hair and skirts. Use our photo pro’s secrets to practice some genealogical gender discrimination. | By Maureen A. Taylor

During the 1960s, older folks used to say it was hard to tell the boys from

the girls because of the unisex fashion trends and long hairstyles. But the same can be said for your youthful ancestors in family photos from the late 1800s and early 1900s: Both boys and girls wore curly locks and skirts, like the tyke shown at right, so it’s not hard to make a gender- bending mistake. If you can’t tell whether you’ve got a picture of Aunt Ethel or Uncle Bert, use these head-to-toe tips for distin-guishing the males from the females.

Hair it isMany a genealogist looks at a photo, sees a skirt and long hair on the subject, and immediately—often incorrectly—concludes it’s another picture of Great-grandma Mabel. But looks can be deceiving, so rely on this identification tip that’s so simple it’s hard to believe: Check out where the child’s hair is parted. Mothers parted their daugh-ters’ hair in the center and their sons’ hair on the side. (For the record, the child shown on this page is a boy.) When boys reached school age, they usually started sporting shorter haircuts.

Wear apparentA quick glance at a fashion tome such as The Child in Fashion 1750-1920 by Kris-tina Harris (Schiffer Publishing, $29.95) shows you can’t rely on short hair and pants to pinpoint boys. Throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, babies of both sexes wore long dresses until they learned to walk. Thereafter, moms dressed

those restless toddlers in skirts that were short enough to let them motor around. Diaper changing and toilet training were easier in these outfits, too. School-age chil-dren are simpler to identify in photos— that’s when boys and girls began wearing distinctive attire.

Junior’s clothing usually mimicked designs for women’s dresses. That means you can date kids’ outfits by comparing them to significant ladies’ fashions from the same period, such as the bolero jack-ets of the 1860s and the pointed bodices of the 1840s. Also use the following child-hood fashion trends, which Joan Severa describes in Dressed for the Photogra-pher: Ordinary Americans and Fashion, 1840-1900 (Kent State University Press, $60): During the 1840s, young boys and girls “both wore dresses, either the frock type or ones with set-in belts and full skirts, although little boys sometimes wore full-length dark ‘trowsers’ under the frock.” From the 1850s through the 1880s, boys’ dresses came in tartan plaids or featured military trim, which differen-tiated their clothing from their sisters’.

Outfit for a princeIn this 1890s photo, the boy poses in a skirt, short jacket, ruffled shirt and large bow similar to the velvet suits first seen during the 1860s. This is a feminine look by modern standards, but it became wildly popular for boys when author Frances Hodgson Burnett published her children’s novel Little Lord Fauntleroy in 1886. The velvet knickerbocker suit with

a lace Van Dyke collar and broad sash turned into a persistent fashion trend that forever after was associated with Burnett’s main character.

Eventually, the Little Lord Fauntleroy look encompassed all velvet suits (includ-ing those with pants) and any suit with a lace collar. You can learn more about this fashion fad at < www.sallyqueenassociates. com / fauntleroy.htm >.

Aging wellIn addition to noting gender-related fash-ion details, try to estimate the child’s age by examining his clothing. Here’s your basic rule: Boys wore long white dresses until about age 3, and short skirts until they turned 5. School-age boys dressed in knee-length pants until around age 12, when they donned long trousers like their fathers’. The boy shown above is prob-ably 3 to 5 years old—the photographer who took his portrait captured his pride at wearing “grown-up” attire.

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Prop yourself upIf you still have any doubts about the sex of the child in your picture, look at the props. Photographers kept toys on hand to occupy fidgety tots, and the selections were pretty stereotypical—it’s a safe bet a wagon means the subject is a boy, and a doll indicates a girl.

Now you know it’s a snap to tell boys from girls in vintage photos. After you decide who’s who, date fashion trends and compute the child’s age, rely on other fac-tors, such as the type of image (daguerreo-type, tintype, photo postcard) and your genealogical data, to verify the time frame. No more mixing up family photos of Bert and Ethel: With this discriminating advice, you’ll make the right ID. 3

Contributing editor Maureen A. Taylor ana-lyzes readers’ old photographs in her free, biweekly online column, Identifying Family Photographs. See < www.familytreemagazine.com / photos /  photohelp.htm > for instructions on submitting your photo.

Boys Will Be Boys Parting ways. Boys’ hairstyles were parted on the side, as shown here; girls wore their hair parted in the middle.

Trend watch. Compare outfits to fashion reference books and adult clothing. This boy’s Little Lord Fauntleroy look dates to the 1890s.

Age-old advice. The length of this child’s skirt puts him between 3 and 5 years old.

See solutions to readers’ photo mysteries online at < www.familytreemagazine.com /  photos / current.htm >.

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ResearchSoftware data-entry, typing, transcriptions, proofreading, Scottish/Texas research. Carolyn McNicholl, P.O. Box 7894, Round Rock, TX 78683, (512) 388-1976, kcmcn@texas.net; Web: kcmcn.home.texas.net

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TranslationsExpert Italian & Latin Translation. Handwriting specialist. Juliet Viola Kniffen, M.A., 1908 Grant Street, Berkeley, CA 94703; e-mail scans to: julietviola@comcast.net;  www.julietviola.com.

Translator of old German Script. Free estimates. Gordon Hartig, P.O. Box 931, Westford, MA 01886. (978) 692-5781

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70 family tree magazine December 2005

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Hats Off to YouEarn a feather in your cap when you use costume details—such as hats—to solve photo mysteries. | By Maureen A. Taylor

Years ago, you could commit a major fashion faux pas by not wearing a hat,

or by wearing the wrong one. You don’t see hats as often today, but their past popular-ity makes them useful photo clues: If your ancestor posed in a trendy topper, you can learn when it was in style. Hats also can indicate whether your ancestor was a busi-nessman, farmer or—as may be the case for this young man—a streetcar conductor.

Ellen Copper’s father-in-law stumbled upon this picture in his mother’s collection of treasured possessions. Since then, the family’s been trying to figure out who the person is, and when and where his portrait was taken. Before attempting a positive ID, though, it’s important to find as much background information about the fam-ily as possible. For instance, Ellen’s family knows the picture’s original owner, Ellen’s grandmother Laura (Netzle) Copper, was born in 1883 in McKeesport, Pa. They also believe Grandma Copper’s German parents probably immigrated to Pennsylvania in the late 1870s or early 1880s. Grandma’s brother Fritz was a streetcar conductor, but according to Fritz’s daughter, this isn’t him in the photograph.

Curious case Now that we know a little bit about the family, let’s start with the photograph’s worn wooden case for date clues. The design on the back is a variation on a common flower-filled urn style. Several similar cases appear in Adele Kenny’s Pho-tographic Cases: Victorian Design Sources, 1840-1870 (Schiffer, $59.95). These wooden cases became available in the early 1850s—the same decade as the ornate oval brass mat that frames the image.

Most cases like this one feature a strip of brass that holds the picture, glass and mat firmly in place—but this case lacks that strip, suggesting it originally held a different image. And with no strip to pro-tect the photo, dirt has built up on the glass and the picture. The tarnished brass mat indicates exposure to fluctuating tempera-ture and humidity. A gentle wipe with a dry cotton swab will remove the grime. (But never swab the surface of an image—that removes any loose pieces of the picture.)

Drop of a hatThe young man’s clothing corroborates the suspected date of the photo. He’s wearing a wide-lapel jacket with a double-breasted vest, wide silk tie and white shirt—all sug-gesting this picture dates to the 1850s or early 1860s. The young man’s distinctive headgear is either an occupational clue or a fashion accessory. In Dressed for the Photographer: Ordinary Americans & Fashion, 1840-1900 (Kent State University Press, $60), author Joan Severa says a new type of hat, “a pilot’s cap, which is very deep crowned and crisp and had a leather band and bill,” was a common boys’ acces-sory in the 1850s.

But is this man’s cap fashionable attire or work wear? In the mid-19th century, just like today, hats could identify the wearer’s occupation. Streetcar conductors, for example, wore hats similar to the one in this photo. Ellen can investigate that possibility by contacting the McKeesport Heritage Center (1832 Arboretum Drive, McKeesport, PA 15132) to ask when streetcars began running in Grandma Copper’s hometown. The center also might have images featuring conductors in its

collection—comparing such photos to this one will help determine whether this young man posed in his occupational uniform.

All ashore!So far, clues seem to date this photo to the 1850s. But as you’ll recall, the Netzle and Copper families weren’t in America in the 1850s, so this portrait may have been taken overseas. Verifying when fam-ily members immigrated to the United States will help Ellen make that determi-nation—one branch of the clan may have crossed the pond earlier than the rest. She’ll find resources for immigration and naturalization documents in Michael Tep-per’s American Passenger Arrival Records (Genealogical Publishing Co., $14.95), Ancestry.com’s < www.ancestry.com > US Immigration Collection (a $79.95-per-year subscription), and Cyndi’s List < www. cyndislist.com > pages on immigration, emi-gration and migration.

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Spitting imageThis young man appears to be in his early teens, so he probably was born during the 1840s. Ellen should compare his features to already-identified portraits of other male relatives with birth dates around the same time. Similarities in the shapes of subjects’ noses, eyes and mouth—features that don’t change much over time—are particularly telling. And don’t forget eye color: Even though this photograph is black and white, you can tell the young man has light eyes.

As you solve your own photo mysteries, remember to think big—keeping the larger family history picture in mind—and start small, with details such as photo cases, lapels, ties and hats. 3

Family Tree Magazine contributing editor Maureen A. Taylor helps solve readers’ picture puzzles in her biweekly online photo-identification column. Learn how to submit your photos for free analysis at < www. familytreemagazine.com /photos / photohelp.htm>.

Coming Out Ahead Case the joint. Research when the type and design of the photo case and mat were commonly in use.

missing pieces. The photo may not be original to the case if the metal “preserver strip” that secures the image is missing.

Jacket required. Use clues such as the lapel and tie widths, as well as the tie knot, to confirm a photo date.

Wear many hats. Search photo archives for men sporting caps similar to the one in the photo.

Gaze into his eyes. Compare the subject’s features with identified family photos.

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62 Family Tree Magazine November 2008

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photo d e t e c t i v e

Playing PoliticsA tiny detail in your photo may reveal a relative’s political views. | By Maureen A. Taylor

In a 1776 letter, Abigail Adams admon-ished her husband, John, to “remember

the ladies” as the Continental Congress struggled to establish a government. Even though women weren’t allowed to vote on a national level until 1920, many, like Abi-gail, took an interest in political affairs.

Frances Althea Cuppernell, shown here on the right, didn’t leave writings express-ing her views. But as you’ll see, details in this portrait reveal hidden aspects of her political leanings. Her great-great-grandsonOrville S. Paller sent this image to me because he’s been unable to crack the iden-tity of the two ladies posing with Cup-pernell. Paller wondered if his ancestor’s unique bar pin could hold the answer to this pictorial brick wall. Let’s stack up the facts and fi nd out.

Pinpointing a dateEven before we consider the pin, the women’s outfi ts provide a time frame. All wear dresses with high necklines and but-tons down the bodice. The one in front has a wide lace collar; her hair is up on the crown of her head. Frances and the woman in back both wear center-parted hair with soft waves. These dress styles and hairdos were popular in the mid-1880s.

Cuppernell’s pin in the shape of the word Blaine, though, more-specifically dates the image and gives us a glimpse into this woman’s life. Paller realized the jew-elry is a clue, but wasn’t able to identify its signifi cance—Blaine isn’t the name of any branch of his or an in-law’s family.

Research into US history reveals the accessory doesn’t relate to the family, but to

Cuppernell’s political leanings. Even when they couldn’t vote, women still supported or opposed political causes.

In this case, the pin shows Cuppernell’s backing for little-known presidential candi-date James G. Blaine. The Republican tried to earn his party’s nomination in 1876 and 1880, fi nally achieving his goal in 1884. Democrat Grover Cleveland challenged him in a tense campaign: Cleveland admit-ted he’d fathered a child illegitimately; Blaine was accused of being anti-Catholic and accepting bribes.

According to Jordan M. Wright’s Cam-paigning for President: Memorabilia From the Nation’s Finest Private Collection (Smithsonian, $35), US political memora-bilia originated around 1796, when John Adams became president. He’d used paper lanterns to promote his candidacy. Franklin Pierce, elected president in 1852, fi rst used photos on a variety of campaign propa-ganda, some of it—including aprons, hair-pins and jewelry—designed for women. (See examples of campaign propaganda in the New York Times article at <www.nytimes.com/2008/06/28/arts/design/28muse.html>.) Blaine’s campaign made pocketbooks for his female supporters.

The combination of clothing and Cup-pernell’s bar pin date this image to the few months in 1884 between Blaine’s accep-tance of his party’s nod and his election loss to Cleveland.

Political leaningsPaller was surprised to learn this photo could establish Cuppernell as a Republi-can. At the time, the Republican party—to

which Abraham Lincoln had belonged—was considered the more liberal faction. It’s unknown what infl uence (if any) Cup-pernell’s political values may have had on her husband’s vote, whether she supported women’s suffrage, or why she backed Blaine. But by setting this photo into the context of her life, you get a sense of her as a person.

Born Feb. 8, 1845, in Illinois, Frances Althea (aka Allie) married William Henry Vredenburgh at age 17. Three years later, May 26, 1865, their divorce was fi nalized. At the time, divorce was granted only in extreme circumstances. Illinois statutes in 1856 defi ne those as bigamy, adultery, desertion for at least two years, cruelty, drunkenness or felony conviction, says Ray Collins, reference librarian at the Illi-nois State Library.

Cuppernell’s husband had deserted her. In August 1865, she remarried to Albert Marion Swarthout, who remained her spouse until her death in 1891. Paller’s genealogical research and the visual

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evidence in the photograph suggest she was a woman of strong convictions. Why else wear a piece of political propaganda in an era when a woman’s place was at home caring for her family?

Perhaps her choice to wear political jew-elry also refl ects her position on women’s issues. In the 1880s, the American Wom-en’s Suffrage Association and the National Women’s Suffrage Association advocated for a constitutional amendment guarantee-ing women the right to vote. Interestingly, members of the NWSA also supported easier divorce laws for women—a stance Cuppernell might’ve appreciated—and an end to sex discrimination in employment.

So are the other two women pictured Cuppernell’s relatives, or friends with a similar political stance? The Blaine pin hasn’t yet led to their identities, but it has yielded insights about its wearer. 3

Contributing editor Maureen A. Taylor tackles more cases online in the Photo Detective blog <www.familytreemagazine.com/photodetectiveblog>.

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Campaign Strategies1

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History matters. Studying history can help you add context to old photos.

Pinned down. Look carefully at jewelry: It might be more than mere ornamentation.

Costume check. Clothing and hairstyles can help establish a time frame for an image.

Record review. Your genealogy research may add insight to clothing and accessory choices.

forum Post photos of your ancestors’ jewelry and other

accessories in our Photo Detective Forum <www.familytreemagazine.com/forum>.

Looking to trace your roots?

Subscribe at www.familytreemagazine.com today!

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Magazine overflowing with the practical know-how you

need to discover, preserve and celebrate your past!

Check out what you’ll get with Family Tree Magazine:

• Exclusive tips for tracing ancestors locally and globally

• Time-saving tricks to get family facts fast

• Ideas for organizing and displaying photos and keepsakes

• Software secrets and info on the newest research tools

• And more!

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Group DynamicsNames are just part of the story in a group shot. Learn photo clues that can reveal the occasion for the get-together.| By Maureen A. Taylor

Even though this photo is a question mark in Linda Hess’s family today,

someone once knew who’s pictured and why they’re there. Perhaps that’s the person who circled two of the women. It wasn’t hard to come up with pretty solid IDs for those ladies, but who is everyone else, and why are they there? Let’s look at clues Hess can use to get the full story.

Doing the waveHess remembers her aunt telling her that this image is somehow connected to fam-ily from Missouri, and one of the women was supposed to be the mother of a rela-tive named Grace Mink. The name serves as a starting place, but a general date would help Hess narrow her search. That’s the easy part of this photographic brick wall: Three women in the picture have perma-nent waves, with hair styled in what was called the “wavy shingle” during the early 1920s. The no-waist dresses confi rm this.

Playing family detectiveNow Hess has to fi gure out who’s depicted here by researching leads in oral traditions about Mink. Her family disputes Mink’s marriage to a man named William Curtis Nunnally, and their daughters’ deaths at a young age. Nunnally’s sister, Hess’ great-grandmother, always said her brother died an unmarried man, yet Hess’ aunt

found proof of the marriage at St. Simon’s Church in Washington, Daviess County, Ind., Sept. 17, 1901. Federal census records fi ll in missing bits. In 1910, William (listed as Doug), Grace, their daughter Irene, and Grace’s mother, Honora (Nora, nee Smith), lived in Madison County, Ill. After Wil-liam’s death in 1914, the 1920 census fi nds Grace Nunnally living with her mother and daughter in Missouri. She’s 36; Irene is 14. The household includes Grace’s mother, her brother Marion, his wife, their three chil-dren, and two lodgers. Irene—if that is in fact her circled in the front row—is a young teen, confi rming the date of about 1920.

Making matchesThe circled heads were someone’s attempt to point out a relationship. Hess and a dis-tant relative believe Nora is the woman seated on the far right and Grace is stand-ing behind the seated Irene. I tend to agree. Grace and Nora have same-shaped faces, mouths and noses; Irene probably favors her father. Their apparent ages here are right, too. But who are the rest of the young men and women in the picture? In 1920, Nora’s son would’ve been too old

and her grandsons too young to be the men in this photo.

The key to solving their identities prob-ably lies with extended family members’ photos. Several of the girls here resemble the Mink women, but let’s consider other possibilities. The others in this photo could be Nora’s own Smith kin; relatives of her husband, Andrew Mink; or family mem-bers of William Nunnally.

Shared facial traits may indicate a family group. For instance, the man standing sec-ond from the right resembles Irene—both have long faces. He could be her uncle or an older cousin. The younger man standing on the far left also looks like them, with strong eyebrows and facial features.

Meeting upI’m not sure this picture was taken in a home. The high ceilings, pictures hanging high on the molding and strong overhead light are characteristic of institutional, rather than homey, decor. Even the fur-niture appears uncomfortable—wooden straight-back chairs and a bench on the right for Nora. Notice the pillow behind her head to make her comfortable.

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Since the dresses’ predominant color is dark, two possibilities are likely: Grace and Nora are chaperoning an evening gathering of young people, or this is a family attend-ing a wake. More research on collateral lines might turn up supporting evidence, such as an obituary or death announce-ment naming survivors. But the absence of older men and women other than Grace and Nora is unusual at a wake.

If this picture was taken in Missouri, fi nding Grace’s address in city directories or other documents could help identify the setting. With a street name, Hess could con-tact the local historical society to inquire about pictures of the neighborhood—home styles could indicate whether these folks posed in a house or business.

Since this is a 20th-century photo, many of these young people would’ve lived into the late 1900s. That makes it likely some-one in Hess’ extended family will recognize them and name the occasion. It’s a matter of networking with distant cousins to fi g-ure out who’s who. 3

Maureen A. Taylor is a Family Tree Magazine contributing editor.

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The Whole Story1

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Homing in. Use markings, family tales and research to pinpoint relatives.

Cut ’n curl. Look to hair as well as clothing for a photo date.

Look-alikes. Facial similarities suggest relationships.

Inside information. Study the background and compare it to other photos for location clues.

Common traits. Characteristics everyone shares, such as age, sex and attire, could indicate an occasion.

blog Want more photo solutions? See the Photo Detective blog <www.

familytreemagazine.com/photodetectiveblog>.

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The Center offers access to a wide range of rare items, records, newspapers, photographs, and

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Did your ancestors really come from Russia when they were German?Where did your ancestors originate? Many are just like you and do not know where grandpa and grandma lived before coming to the USA or Canada. The AMERICAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY of GERMANS from RUSSIA (AHSGR) can help you explore your ancestry.

AHSGR is an international organization dedicated to the discovery, collection, preservation and dissemination of information related to the history, cultural heritage and genealogy of Germanic Settlers in the Russian Empire and their descendants regardless of where they resided or reside.

Some of the benefi ts of AHSGR membership are:1. Services of staff researchers and translators;2. AHSGR publications that include four issues of The Journal, The Newsletter and a triennial issue of Clues, a genealogy helper;3. One of the largest libraries devoted soley to German Russian history;4. Discounts on books and maps from our On-Line book store.5. Our SOAR database (Save Our Ancestral Records) contains informa- tion on thousands of German Russian Families with names, dates of birth, death and marriage; Personal Narratives, Historical Articles, Photographs & Folklore; History of German from Russia (G/R) Settle- ments, Cemetery Records, Ships’ Passenger Lists; Surname Charts, AHSGR’S translation of Karl Stumpp’s Emigration from Germany to Russia in the Years 1763-1862 (Listing colonies, colonists and dates of emigration from First Settlers Lists); Bohlender Book; Bessarabian Birth, Death & Marriage Records. The entire data base is keyworded, searchable by ALL surnames. The database currently has 156,652 images with almost 6 Million associated keywords to facilitate your search. The database can be found at www.ahsgrsoar.org.

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64 Family Tree Magazine October 2006

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Class ConsciousPop quiz: Two dozen bright-eyed students stare at you from an old school portrait. Which one is your relative? We’ve got the answers. | By Maureen A. Taylor

If you’ve had kids, you know the drill: Every fall or spring, your child would

come home with an order form for school portraits. You’d pin some money inside your little one’s backpack and several weeks later, he’d trot home clutching the photos. School photos go back to the early days of photography when, in 1840, Yale class of 1810 alumni posed for the camera.

Some school images are easily con-fused with photographs from events such as weddings. For instance, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, young women dressed in white for graduations. A rolled-up diploma indicates a photo of an ivory-gowned woman isn’t a bridal portrait.

If your photo collection has a class pic-ture like this one, an ancestor is probably standing among those cute kids. But which one is he (or she)? Here’s how to earn an A+ in school-photo research.

Cheat sheetTo make an ancestral ID, you’ll need to learn when and where the picture was taken. You may be able to take the easy way out: Turn over your picture to see if it’s labeled with the school name, a date and names of anyone in the picture. Some of our ances-tors made marks above their own heads on

class portraits. In the case of this picture, someone identified several students for a town scrapbook; a relative might have put names on your photo.

style schoolNo luck? Assign your photo a date by figur-ing out when the clothing styles were popu-lar. Here, the girls’ dresses have high collars and fitted sleeves, and several in front sport frocks with trim. Compare these key aspects of their outfits to the fashion plates in JoAnne Olian’s Children’s Fashions 1860-1912 (Dover Publications, $14.95) and Kristina Harris’ The Child in Fash-ion: 1750-1920 (Schiffer Publishing Co., $29.95). The dresses and suits shown here date from around 1901 and would’ve cost their parents from $2 to $4 each, accord-ing to Children’s Fashions 1900-1950 as Pictured in Sears Catalogs edited by Olian (Dover Publications, $14.95).

Age gapCombine the fashion facts with what you know about child development to guess the ages of children in a picture. Skirt and

pants length can help: To allow for more active play, little boys wore short pants and girls wore calf-length skirts. Boys and girls started wearing longer pants or skirts about age 12. Based on their outfits and their appearances—ranging from baby faces to the more mature look of adolescence—they’re probably 10 to 12 years old.

Geography lessonsNow that you’ve estimated a date for the picture, do some local history research into schools near your ancestors’ home-towns at the time. If you don’t know where they lived, try using census records. Though it’s more of a long shot, the school building may give you location clues, too: Schoolhouses reflected whatever architec-tural design was in vogue when and where they were constructed—a one-room adobe schoolhouse is a hint the picture wasn’t taken in New England. You can compare your photo to historical images of schools around the country in the Library of Con-gress’ American Memory online collection <memory.loc.gov>; just type school into the search box. See the August 2006 Family

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Tales out of School Dressed for success. High collars

and fitted sleeves like these were

stylish around 1901.

life stages. younger children wore

shorter skirts or pants.

Closed captioning. Look for names

and dates on the back of the picture.

look-alikes. Compare the students

to photos of your relatives.

structurally sound. The school

building can give date and place clues.

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Tree Magazine Photo Detective column for resources on deciphering architectural details in your pictures.

Multiple choiceFetch your family group sheets for ances-tors who lived near the school, and use the process of elimination: Obviously, if you’re looking for a female ancestor, you can remove boys from consideration. Then find children about the age your relative was at the time of the photo. Finally, compare them to known pictures of your relative. Enlarge the photos and study the eyes, ears and noses—features that change less over time.

Add to the story of your ancestor’s youth by seeking school records, such as class rosters, report cards and yearbooks (which may have additional photos); see the October 2005 Family Tree Magazine for a primer on finding these records. Now go to the head of the class. 3

Submit your photograph to contributing editor Maureen A. Taylor for expert analysis in her biweekly online Identifying Family Photographs col-umn. See < www.familytreemagazine.com / photos /  photohelp.htm > for instructions.

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72 family tree magazine June 2006

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photo d e t e c t i v e

Wedding FavorsSort out the bevies of bridesmaids and gaggles of guests in your old group wedding portraits. | By Maureen A. Taylor

You’ve searched fruitlessly for proof your ancestors actually married, and

you’re starting to think they were living in sin. In the absence of written documen-tation, though, you can look for another convincing piece of evidence: a wedding picture. Large group portraits such as this one weren’t common until the 1900s—but they give you extra reason to rejoice: If you can figure out the names of the happy couple in the center, the rest of the identifi-cations will fall blissfully into place. You’ll be party to wedding photo success when you marry your genealogical research with this advice.

all dressed upStart by dating your wedding pictures based on clothing clues. Since a bride would sometimes wear her mother’s or grandmother’s gown, however, don’t draw any conclusions until you’ve looked at everyone’s attire. Women’s clothing varied more than men’s over time, so it’s usually easier to date. Compare key details such as the shapes of sleeves and bodices to out-fits shown in costume encyclopedias; my favorite is Joan Severa’s Dressed for the Photographer (Kent State University Press, $65). You also can study wedding pictures from 1900 to 1920 at Victoriana.com < www.victoriana.com  / bridal / bridal6.htm >. The dresses women are wearing in this photo date to around 1900.

Although multiple attendants were less common for our ancestors than for modern brides and grooms, you can look for match-ing dresses and suits to pick out the mem-bers of the wedding party. This couple had flower girls with identical white dresses, hats and bouquets. Two bridesmaids are easy to spot, too: They’re attired in match-ing gowns and standing one behind the other over the groom’s shoulder.

strategic positioningWhat you can learn about an image doesn’t stop with a date. In group wedding por-traits, photographers usually posed wed-ding parties in a traditional arrangement: The groom sat to the bride’s right with their respective parents beside them, and siblings close by. Generally, the closer someone is to the couple, the closer the relationship, making it easy to figure out who’s in the immediate family. We see a slight varia-tion in this picture—a woman, probably the groom’s sister, occupies the spot next

to him, followed by his parents. Beside the bride are her parents and a woman who, based on her age, is probably an aunt.

about faceYou can sometimes tell who’s related to whom by examining each person’s facial features and looking for matches. (It helps to scan the image at a high resolution and zoom in on the details.) This groom’s nar-row jaw, large ears and distinctive nose appear elsewhere in the picture: The woman to his right has his nose, and the fellow behind him shares all three features. It’s more difficult to pick out the bride’s side of the family, but you can tell the ring bearer, sitting front and center, shares her nose, eyes and face shape. Some people here don’t resemble anyone, so it’s likely in-laws and friends are present. Of course, you won’t be able to make many hard-and-fast conclusions using this method, but you can hazard some guesses to confirm in genealogical records.

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Love notesNot all identification clues are in the image. Based on the way this unidentified image is signed, “With love and best wishes from Maud and Arthur,” it must’ve been a gift from the bride and groom. If you have a photo with a similar message, network with cousins to turn up duplicates, one of which may have names on the back or an owner who knows something about it. You might even come across a guest book or gift regis-ter listing people who attended the wedding and may have posed for the portrait.

With these clues in hand, examine your family group sheets and pedigree charts for couples married around the estimated photo date, with siblings and parents of the right ages. Your genealogy research will be one step closer to happily ever after. 3

Contributing editor Maureen A. Taylor helps solve readers’ picture puzzles in her biweekly online photo-identification column. Learn how to submit your mystery images for free analysis at < www.familytreemagazine.com / photos / photohelp.htm >.

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Club Wed Get cozy. People standing or seated nearest the couple probably are close relatives.

Costume party. Identical outfits give away the members of the wedding party.

Clothing in. The women’s sleeves and bodices date this photo to the early 1900s.

Face the truth. Similar features can suggest who’s related.

Present and past. The message written on the back indicates this photo was a gift—other family members may have copies.

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62 Family Tree Magazine March 2009

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photo d e t e c t i v e

In Plain SightLook past obvious clues to uncover the real stories behind family photos. | By Maureen A. Taylor

Sometimes your photo ID work is cut out for you even when it seems the

answers are right there. Judy Bennett knows where this portrait of the Tift-Mitchell clan, whose ancestors helped found Albany, Ga., was taken: at a family home on Albany’s Society Street. And it’s a bit hard to tell here, but the names of those pictured are written on the image. An open-and-shut case, right? Not quite. Several aspects of this photo raise ques-tions. Exactly when was it taken, and why did these particular family members pose together? It’s an example of how every picture has a story.

Writing on the wallThe names are faintly written below the brick-edged garden. A photographer’s loupe or magnifying glass can be a huge help when reading faded ink. You also can scan an image, open the digital file in a photo-editing program, and adjust the contrast and brightening controls to enhance the writing. Of the 19 people in this picture, Bennett was able to decipher 10 names. By comparing faces to other family pictures and matching key physical features—ears, eyes, nose, mouth and face shape—she added two more names. The children are still unidentifi ed.

An easy timeDeveloping a time frame for this picture wasn’t diffi cult. The women’s front-pouched blouses, narrow waists, straight skirts and Gibson Girl hair date the image to between 1900 and 1910, a range confi rmed by the men’s high, stiff collars, neckties and short hair. Even the season is apparent: If you look closely, you can see a blooming narcis-sus or daffodil in the garden and a budding tree in the right foreground. In Georgia, these spring fl owers bloom in February.

Birth dates of those in an image can help narrow the time period. For instance, the baby on the far left, if identifi ed, would date the image to within a year. I’d guess the oldest girl (sitting on the steps) is in her early teens, perhaps 13 to 15. The caption identifies her as Maria Isabel Mitchell; genealogical research reveals she was born in 1889. Based on her estimated age, this photo would’ve been taken between 1902 and 1904. Walter Mann, the white-haired man on the right standing next to the col-umn, was 62 years old in the 1910 US cen-sus (he died in 1915). Nelson Tift, on the far right, was 60 in 1910. Both men were

in their 50s between 1902 and 1904—about right for their appearance here. The young men clasping shoulders on the right were both born in 1880, making them 22 to 24 years of age, also likely.

Children, please!Genealogy can help ID the children, too. Bennett should research the identified adults to learn their children’s names and birth dates, then compare the data to the estimated ages of children in this image. This will take time and patience.

The posture of three children sitting on the steps is interesting. They’re wearing dresses and hair bows, but mothers likely would’ve admonished girls to sit with their knees together. Perhaps the three kids dis-playing their drawers escaped their moms’ notice—or maybe these are boys. Dur-ing the early part of the 20th century, it wasn’t uncommon for boys to wear their hair in long curls tied up in bows, as I’ve noted on Family Tree Magazine’s Photo Detective blog <blog.familytreemagazine.com/photodetectiveblog/Family+Portraits+Boy+Or+Girl.aspx>.

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Missing in actionAs important as who’s in this picture is who’s missing. Both husbands and wives are present without their spouses, and interest-ingly, some here are in-laws. For example, Clara Jane Tift Woolfolk is absent from the photo, but her husband is on the far left. Such details could help determine the occa-sion for the photo. Bennett initially thought it was a funeral, but the lack of dark cloth-ing suggests otherwise. It could be a simple family gathering or the baby’s christening.

Bennett should re-examine her research for clues to relatives’ whereabouts around the time the portrait was taken. She may be able to identify the gathering or even fi nd out one of the written labels is wrong.

Only by adding up all the bits of infor-mation will it be possible to put a name with every face and officially date the image. I’ll write more about this image and update you on any new discoveries on the Photo Detective blog. 3

Contributing editor Maureen A. Taylor is a professional genealogist and photo historian. Learn more about her work at <photodetective.com>.

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Fading away. Use a magnifying glass or photo-editing software to decipher pale writing.

Latest styles. Dresses, hairstyles and accessories will help date the image.

Ageism. Reconcile census data with subjects’ estimated ages to make IDs and narrow a date.

Posture pointers. A curious pose may be a clue to the person’s identity.

Glaring omission. Note relatives whose absence from the image doesn’t make sense.

forum Get help uncovering photo clues in the Photo Detective Forum

<forum.familytreemagazine.com/forum>.

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Phone: 903-457-2992 Web: www.greenville.lib.tx.us

Located in historic Greenville, Texas

encouraging the exploration and appreciation of the rich historical legacy of Northeast Texas.

The Center offers access to a wide range of rare items, records, newspapers, photographs, and

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Family History TranslationsTranslator of Old German Script Free estimates. Gordon Hartig, P.O. Box 931,Westford, MA 01886. (978) 692-5781; gordon_hartig@alumni.iu.edu

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70 Family Tree Magazine March 2008

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Misled by LabelingYou can’t always believe what you read on family photos, but details in the image may reveal the truth. | By Maureen A. Taylor

This photo is full of fascinating details about life on the frontier. A young

woman in a dirty dress poses holding her child. It’s been a hard laundry day, judging by the cloths hanging from the fence rail in the foreground and the line next to the house. The washtub hangs on the lean-to and a coat is slung over the tree on the left.

Refuse litters the yard near pockets of snow. The home’s vertical plank walls look like weak protection from winter winds. But even though the family appears poor, their house has glass windows.

Joyce Ring owns this pioneer photo-graph, but doesn’t know the woman’s name. She sees a resemblance to her grandmother Helen “Nellie” Clarissa Burns Delimont, who was born in 1887 and lived her whole life around Almena, Kan. A cousin’s copy of this picture has the caption, “Grandma Nellie Delimont had an uncle killed in a mining accident—picture probably taken in Washington state.” But another copy is labeled, “Alice Gray and Louis Delimont taken in Washington state.”

Louis Delimont was Nellie’s son, and Gray, born in 1886, was her cousin. Which caption is right? We’ll use the rich detail in this photo to help tease out the truth.

Tree timeYou never know when a photo caption may be inaccurate, so fi rst up was research-ing the stated location. Behind the house, a modest hill hints this isn’t Nellie Delimont’s hometown in Kansas or the surrounding

area. Research in my library’s topographi-cal maps and at Google Images <images.google.com> (searching on almena kan-sas topographical map) confi rms Almena doesn’t have any hills of this size.

The trees in this rural scene offer more clues. Pines dominate in the background, and the front yard features the white bark of aspen or birch. Sparse leaves suggest it’s late fall or early spring. Using Google Images again, I searched for aspen forest and birch forest to fi nd photos of trees and maps of their growing areas. Consistent with the captions, Wildlife Habitats <www.nwhi.org/index/habdescriptions> says aspens grow in Oregon and Washington. But we can add the Upper Midwest to pos-sible locations: According to a Forest Ser-vice map <www.ncrs.fs.fed.us/fmg/nfmg/img/presettlement.jpg> forests of mixed aspen, birch and pine occur in northern areas such as Minnesota, Michigan and Wisconsin—worth noting because one of Ring’s ancestors wrote about living in the “deep forest country of Wisconsin.”

Clothing quandaryLouis Delimont, the baby named in a cousin’s caption, was born in 1924, but the somewhat confusing clothing clues here don’t support a date that late. This woman’s dress has a ruffl ed, yoked bod-ice and full sleeves. At fi rst glance, these details indicate a date around 1900, but the skirt length and collar shape suggest a later era. In the pre-WWI period, women

wore long skirts, and some blouses in the Sears catalog featured trimmed bodices. In 1900, women’s outfi ts had high collars, but this blouse has a turned-down collar similar to those from the early 1910s. A homemade and later updated dress could account for the style discrepancies. But it’s unlikely a woman would be wearing this dress as late as 1924.

Double takesRing owns several other photos she knows show Nellie Delimont as a girl and young woman. The woman here, who appears to be in her late teens or early 20s, has a similar-shaped face, lips and nose to known pic-tures of Delimont, suggesting she’s the one depicted. Add her birth date and age in this photo to the clothing clues, and we can date this photo to around 1910. The

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Back to nature. Identify and research the habitats of trees and plants in the image.

Dress dilemmas. Confl icting fashion elements may indicate the wearer updated an older outfi t.

Facing facts. Use genealogy data to identify candidates for an unknown subject, then compare her facial features to identifi ed pictures.

Women’s work. In a casual shot such as this one, items around your subject reveal her daily activities.

forum Got a mystery photo? Post it on our Photo Detective

Forum at < www.familytreemagazine.com / forum >.

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mysteries keep accumulating: If Delimont is the woman in this picture, why is she outside Kansas, and who’s the baby?

We can’t remove Alice Gray from con-sideration, though, since cousins often look alike and one of the captioned pho-tos names her. To positively identify the woman and baby in this picture, Ring should learn more about Gray and track down pictures of her for comparison to this one. Gray lived with her parents in Oregon, and her father died in a mining accident there in 1891. This woman could be Gray in Oregon (not Washington) with her own child, rather than Nellie’s son.

Candid camera Another obvious question about this inti-mate family scene is the identity of the photographer. A woman wouldn’t have

posed for a formal picture in a dirty apron surrounded by drying laundry. Traveling photographers moved throughout the country taking photos of families they met along the way; one may have snapped this casual picture. It’s chilly enough outside for a coat, but Mom went without one and perhaps tidied her hair for the shot.

Ring’s photo mystery could be a case of well-intentioned relatives providing hit-or-miss information in their handwrit-ten notations—underscoring the need for research to support what captions say. With a little more work, this woman’s identity is a solvable problem. 3

Contributing editor Maureen A. Taylor solves more photo mysteries on the Photo Detective blog <www.familytreemagazine.com/photodetective>.

www.familytreemagazine.com 71

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68 Family tree magazine August 2006

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This Old HouseBuild your family story with photos of ancestral abodes. | By Maureen A. Taylor

It’s a slice of Americana in almost every family photo album: A picture of the

old folks standing in front of their home. Such portraits—whether they display pride in achieving the American dream or betray the photographic need for outdoor lighting—were all the rage, particularly in the late 19th century.

But nostalgic feelings aside, what can you learn from a photograph that reduces your great-aunt to the size of an ant? Plenty: Dwell on the right clues, and a homestead portrait forms a sturdy foundation for your family research.

No place like itLook for hints to the home’s location in signs, nearby buildings and weather condi-tions. The deep snow and the ice dams on the roof suggest—but don’t guarantee—this house is in the northern United States. If this were your photo, you’d study your genealogical records for relatives who lived in locales with snowy winters.

Clothing probably won’t help date buildings in a photo, but it does give a time frame for the image. Use a photographer’s loupe or scan the photo at a high resolu-tion and zoom in on the subjects’ outfits. Here, the woman on the left sports a long coat, scarf and feathered hat; the other woman poses in a shawl-collared fur coat and puffy toque hat. From 1900 to about 1905, women wore winter hats trimmed with large feathers and even fake birds, just like these ladies.

Exterior designEven a novice house historian can decipher a dwelling’s architectural style—and thus, the time period—based on key features such as the roof, windows, doors, porches and trim. Compare them to illustrations in A Field Guide to American Houses by Vir-ginia and Lee McAlester (Knopf, $24.95) or Identifying American Architecture: A Pictorial Guide to Styles and Terms, 1600-1945 by John J.G. Blumenson (W.W. Nor-ton & Co., $15.95). For example, the trim along this roof edge is characteristic of Gothic Revival design, popular from 1840 to 1880 (with most structures dating before 1870). Andrew Jackson Downing’s 1850 pattern book The Architecture of Country Houses (Dover Publications, $16.95) con-tributed to Gothic Revival’s popularity in rural areas.

Home roomsIn an interior shot, fireplace mantels, floors and built-in furniture reveal when a house was built. Compare them to drawings in The Elements of Style: An Encyclopedia

of Domestic Architectural Detail edited by Stephen Calloway (Firefly Books, $75), which shows hundreds of exterior and interior details—everything from kitchen stoves to bathroom fixtures—for American and English homes.

Home décor is like clothing: It can help you date a photo, but not necessar-ily a house. You’ll find photos of well-appointed rooms in The Tasteful Interlude: American Interiors Through the Camera’s Eye, 1860-1917, 2nd edition, by William Seale (AltaMira Press, $36.80). Notice an interesting piece of furniture tucked in the corner? Look for a similar one in Identify-ing American Furniture: A Pictorial Guide to Styles and Terms Colonial to Contem-porary by Milo M. Naeve (W.W. Norton & Co., $15.95).

sign of the timesA sign on this home’s porch railing names someone who probably worked or lived here. If you can spot a house number or street sign in your ancestral home photo, or you know who lived there, check local

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city directories for the address, residents’ occupations, and neighbors’ names. Some directories indicate whether residents own or rent (bds means boards); the for-mer should send you to the county clerk in search of a deed (see page 60) and property tax records. Learn more about researching houses in Discovering the History of Your House and Your Neigh-borhood by Betsy J. Green (Santa Monica Press, $14.95).

If you don’t own a picture of the fam-ily homestead, contact the local histori-cal society—its collections may include photos of the street where your ancestors lived. Track down the neighbors’ descen-dants, who may have images showing part of your grandparents’ residence. Then use photographic clues to take apart the house, and you’ll be on the way to constructing your family history. 3

Submit your photo to contributing editor Maureen A. Taylor for expert analysis in her biweekly online identifying Family Photographs column. See < www.familytreemagazine.com / photos / photohelp.htm > for instructions.

Home Work Roof positive. Lacework trim identifies this house as Gothic revival.

sign language. This placard could bear a resident’s name.

House of fashion. Clothing dates the photo, not the building.

snow day. Weather can indicate where a picture was taken.

Land, ho. Search land and tax records for more house details.

Good neighbor. Look for architectural clues on any next- door buildings, too.

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64 Family tree magazine July 2007

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photo d e t e c t i v e

Motor Trendsget more genealogical mileage from your old family photos with this lesson in automotive detailing. | by Maureen a. taylor

They say your choice of automobile reveals something about you: Jeep

owners are adventurous; a minivan shows you’re practical. But if you have an old fam-ily photo featuring a car, such as this shot of the Millar family of Minneapolis, you’ll extrapolate even more than personality traits. By studying the bumpers, headlamps and chassis, you can learn details such as when and where your ancestors purchased their car and their economic status. And yes, you’ll find out a little something about the man behind the wheel (or perhaps a pro-gressive woman; our mothers and grand-mothers rarely drove in the early 1900s).

Sentimental journeyHumans invented the first “car,” a steam-powered wheeled platform, in the late 18th century. Gasoline and electric autos didn’t appear until 100 years later; Karl Benz (who helped found the company that became Mercedes-Benz) patented a vehicle in 1886. It took awhile for these new contraptions to pick up speed—not many people could afford them and availability was limited. In 1900, fewer than 10,000 Americans trav-eled the roads in “horseless carriages.” But by 1920, 8 million people owned cars.

More than 240 US automakers existed in 1910, offering models largely unknown

today. (See a list of manufacturers at < en.wikipedia.org / wiki / List_of_automobile_manufacturers#US_automakers >.) Many went out of business or merged into the companies we know, but your ancestor’s car may have been produced close to home. Use city directories to learn the names of nearby auto manufacturers. For instance, accord-ing to business listings in a 1913 Minne-apolis city directory, the Millars could have chosen from more than 50 local automobile manufacturers and dealers.

If you don’t know when your photo was taken—and therefore, which year’s direc-tory to check—use clothing to establish a date. (It’s dicey to base dates on cars, since families kept them for years.) For help, see the August 2004 Family Tree Magazine and a book such as Dressed for the Photogra-pher by Joan L. Severa (Kent State Univer-sity Press, $60).

By designLet automotive design pave the way to a date range for your ancestors’ set of wheels, which will help you narrow the make and model. The first autos resembled fancy upholstered wagons (usually windshield-less) with a center tiller or a wheel, but by 1910, cars had longer bodies and back seats. Occupants wore long coats, hats and

goggles to protect themselves from dust and bugs. By the 1930s, the boxy shape was replaced by sleek lines such as those on the 1933 Duesenberg (see one at < www.hubcapcafe.com / ocs / pages01 / dues3301.htm >). Vehicles of the 1950s are distinc-tive, with long bodies and fins.

Examine key features of the car in your picture: fenders, steering wheel or tiller, wheels, windshield and headlights. Com-pare them to cars in guides such as The Complete Encyclopedia of Motorcars edited by G.N. Georgano (E.P. Dutton & Co., out of print) or The Ultimate Auto Album by Tad Burness (Krause Publications, $16.95). Look up later-model autos in Burness’ American Car Spotter’s Bible, 1940-1980 (Krause Publications, $29.99). Also visit the Museum of Automobile History Web site < www.themuseumofautomobilehistory.com > and run a Google < google.com > search on a make.

The Millars’ car, with a square seating area, removable windshield and lantern-like headlamps, dates from about 1913. It shares many features of 1912 Chalmers and Lion touring cars, including the size and shape of the wheels, seats and wind-shield, and the placement of the steering wheel on the car’s right. The fold-down top could be used in inclement weather.

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www.familytreemagazine.com 65

Looking Under the Hood Style notes. clothing helps date the photo, but not necessarily the car.

Your deal. auto-related business listings in city directories help you guess a make and model.

Lights on. compare the car’s features with automotive reference books to pinpoint a model and manufacture date.

License to drive. Look for a license plate, which can give a year, place and owner’s initials.

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Easy streetOnce you’ve guessed a make and model, read about the car’s price in one of the aforementioned references. In 1912, most cars cost between $2,000 to $3,000. Ford Model Ts went for about $850. They were sold without tires, fenders, tops, windshields and lights—all special-order accessories. By the 1920s, assembly line production had helped drive the price down around $300.

The Chalmers sold for $1,800, with the top and windshield adding $100. Accord-ing to the Inflation Calculator < www.westegg.com / inflation >, a $2,000 car in 1912 is the equivalent of $41,000 in 2006. A family had to be pretty comfortable to afford that ride.

By 1918, all states had adopted license and registration laws. If you can see a license plate in your photo, it might tell you a year, place and, early on, the own-er’s initials. State government Web pages, such as < www.mass.gov / rmv / history > (for Massachusetts), often have license plate histories and photos. 3

contributing editor Maureen A. Taylor solves readers’ photo mysteries in the online identifying fam-ily photographs column < www.familytreemagazine. com / photos / photohelp.htm >.

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Gena Graddy thinks these two portraitsdepict the same branch of her family.

The photographs came from her great-auntGrover Taylor, the young woman with thebraid in the front row of the top portrait.Unfortunately, Taylor didn’t caption her pic-tures, so it’s unclear if the subjects of theseimages match up. To find out, Graddy mustrely on photographic clues and genealogicaldetails. You can follow the same process tosolve your own group-portrait predicaments.

Of course, the best photo identificationscome from the people in your pictures—though you won’t always have access to them.Identifications passed down through oral tra-dition, but not recorded, tend to be fuzzy; peo-ple forget or mix up facts as they tell and retellthe details. In this case, Taylor told relativesthat both photos depict her siblings, but shedidn’t attach names to their faces.

When trying to identify children in pho-tographs, it helps to know your relatives’ lifedates, since you usually can estimate the sub-jects’ ages. For instance, the oldest girl in thetop photo appears to be in her early 20s,and the youngest looks about 10. Graddyknows that the eldest Taylor girl was Eliza-beth. The oldest sibling in the top picture is the woman in the front row next toGrover. This could be Elizabeth—but there’sa problem with that conclusion. Elizabethwas born in 1862, and her youngest siblingwas born in 1885. That 23-year age differ-ence doesn’t add up in this picture. If theyoungest girl (in the upper-left corner) is 10,then Elizabeth would have to be 33, whichdoesn’t seem likely. Perhaps the photogra-pher captured a mix of siblings and cousins,not just brothers and sisters. It’s also possi-ble that the oldest girl in this photo isanother sister.

To establish a time frame foran image, you must look fordetails such as a photographer’simprint and clothing clues. Neither of Graddy’s picturesgives the photographer’s name,so dating them depends on styleanalysis. According to Chil-dren’s Fashions 1860-1912:1,065 Costume Designs from“La Mode Illustrée” edited byJoAnne Olian (Dover Publica-tions, $14.95), ruffled yokes,such as those on the girls’ hand-made dresses in the top photo,first came into style in the early1890s. The large wide-brimmedhats in the bottom image sug-gest a date around 1905.

So who’s who? Looking forphysical similarities between thetwo groups helped Graddy findat least one match. The youngman on the far left in the top pic-ture has distinctive facial featuresthat help him stand out in the back row of thebottom photo (he’s second from the left).Although Graddy can’t name the man yet, atleast she’s identified him in both pictures.

Next, Graddy compared the faces in theseimages with those in identified photographs.This resulted in two possible identifications ineach picture. To confirm her suspicions,Graddy will contact relatives for additionalimages of these people.

With the photographs taken about 10years apart, it appears that the children inthe top picture are the adults in the bottomphoto. Graddy knows that several of theTaylor siblings died of tuberculosis startingin 1901, not long before the second photo

was taken. Genealogical data will providenames and life dates to help with the identi-fication process. As long as she repeats thematching game using other identified pho-tos, Graddy should be able to name the restof the individuals.

Solving a group-photo mystery takestime, but it’s worth the extra effort. Onceyou’ve identified all the subjects, you can usethe picture as a Rosetta stone to unpuzzleother pictures. 3

Contributing editor Maureen A. Taylor helpssolve readers’ picture puzzles in her biweekly photo-identification column at <www.familytreemagazine.com/photos/current.htm>.

78 Family Tree Magazine April 2005

A Group EffortTake time to identify family portraits, andyou’ll reap unlimited rewards. | By Maureen A. Taylor

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Do the subjects of these group photos match up? A thoroughinvestigation will reveal whether the children in the top picture arethe adults in the bottom image.

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George Pek already can name the womanin this paper print, which he bought 21

years ago. According to the caption, she’sJudith Simpson, aged 74 when she had herpicture taken in 1848. Although he’s identifiedthe subject, Pek wants to know what type ofphotograph he owns and where it was taken.

I love a good photo mystery, and this pic-ture was a real stumper. It offers a rare look atan early photographic method. I haven’t beenable to answer all of Pek’s (or my own) ques-tions about the portrait, but here’s a start.

Salt of the earthAround the time that Louis Daguerre devel-oped his images on metal in 1839, an Englishinventor, William Fox Talbot, found a way toproduce paper prints. His creations, which hecalled “photogenic drawings,” laid the foun-dation for modern photography.

Paper prints didn’t gain popularity in theUnited States until the 1850s, when card pho-tographs—essentially, images mounted onheavy cardstock or cardboard—debuted. Butthe English, French and Canadians purchased“salted” paper prints well before that time.These images were rare stateside.

Salted prints, which date from 1840 toabout 1860, consisted of a sheet of rag-basedpaper (think of fine writing paper), sodiumchloride (table salt) and silver nitrate. Thosemade from paper negatives were known ascalotypes. Historians refer to prints madefrom glass negatives simply as salted paperprints. To learn more about these photo-graphs, see James M. Reilly’s The Albumen& Salted Paper Book: The History and Prac-tice of Photographic Printing, 1840-1895(Light Impressions, out of print), which youcan read for free on the Web at <albumen.stanford.edu/library/monographs/reilly>.

Four years ago, Pek purchased an 1851indenture from Hamilton, Ontario, Canada,that had been printed by “Henry Rowsell,Printer, Bookseller, and Stationer” of Torontoand contained a watermark of three fleur-de-lis on top of a crown. To his surprise, thiswatermark matched the one on the photo-graph of Simpson.

I checked with the staff at Library andArchives Canada <www.collectionscanada.ca>, who told me that Rowsell worked from1834 to 1880. It’s probably just a coincidencethat both the indenture and the portrait bearthe same mark. The photographer must haveused the good-quality paper Rowsell sold.

This picture is likely a salted paper print,not a calotype, for two reasons. Calotypes arenot as sharp and detailed as this portrait. Anda photo archivist at Library and ArchivesCanada didn’t know of any Canadian calo-types dating from the 1840s.

What, this old thing?While sorting out the various clues in this pic-ture, I kept returning to Simpson’s clothing.Her appearance reminded me of characters inCharles Dickens novels, not the women Iusually see in early daguerreotypes. In the1840s, women typically wore dresses withtight sleeves and bodices, but this woman’sdress has full sleeves and looks more like1890s styles. The handwriting and dateseemed authentic, so dating her costume wasa dilemma.

Rather than focusing on the dress, Iattempted to date her day cap—the indoorbonnet she’s wearing. I referred to Susan Lan-gley’s Vintage Hats and Bonnets, 1770-1970(Collector Books, $24.95), but couldn’t findany 1840s styles that even remotely resem-bled Simpson’s day cap. When I turned to the

color 1830s fashion plates, however, I sawseveral dresses with full sleeves and droppedshoulders. Simpson must have been wearingher decade-old best dress.

Canadian connectionsI’ve spent so much time staring at this photo-graph I feel as if Simpson’s a member of myown family. If she truly was 74 in 1848, shewas born around 1774. I searched databasesat Ancestry.com <www.ancestry.com> andFamilySearch <www.familysearch.org> tolearn additional details about her life, butcouldn’t find any matches.

Pek did locate a land record mentioning aJudith Simpson who lived in Drummond,Quebec, Canada, in 1807, and he hopes she’sthe same person. Another researcher thoughtSimpson might have come from a Loyalistfamily in the United States, since many Loy-alists moved to Canada during and right afterthe Revolutionary War.

Judith Simpson likely sat for her portraitin Canada, since the paper’s Canadian. Butthe story of her life remains a mystery. 3

Let contributing editor Maureen A. Taylor helpyou solve your own old-picture puzzles—see <www.familytreemagazine.com/photos/photohelp.htm>.

78 Family Tree Magazine June 2005

The Paper TrailA rare photograph leads researchers backto the 1840s. | By Maureen A. Taylor

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What photographic method was used to createthis 1848 portrait of Judith Simpson? A study ofearly paper prints revealed the likely answer.

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Long before it was easy to share pictureswith just a few mouse clicks, my grand-

parents had their wedding portraits printedas photographic postcards. That was one ofthe options available to them—and to theparents of the little girl pictured here—dur-ing the first half of the 20th century. Suchpostcards weren’t unusual, either: Family TreeMagazine readers send me a fair number ofinquiries about their own photo postcards.

These images have identification clues thatyou won’t find in regular photos, such as“place stamp here” boxes. If someone actu-ally mailed your postcard, the date’s probablyprinted in the postmark or message. Maybethe sender even noted who’s in the picture—what could be easier? But your ancestor mayhave hung onto the postcard for awhile beforemailing it, or the writing might be illegible, soyou still need to do some digging.

The dating sceneThe first photographic postcards appearedaround 1900 and remained widely availablefor decades. Some photographers capitalizedon this popular new format by taking picturesof excitement-generating events and notablepeople, then selling them as stationery. Otherphoto studios offered their customers theoption to purchase family photographs inpostcard form.

Photographic postcards are actual photo-graphs produced with film or glass plate neg-atives and given a postcard-style back.Sometimes they’re called “real photo” post-cards—a phrase that, according to RosamondB. Vaule’s As We Were: American Photo-graphic Postcards, 1905-1930 (David R.Godine, $45), differentiated actual photo-graphic postcards from mechanically repro-duced cards. The book explores 25 years of

these images and includes a short list of post-card photographers working before 1930.Follow these steps to take advantage of thespecial clues your photo postcards hold:

■ Examine the front of the picture. Use amagnifying glass or photographer’s loupe tolook for little dots of color, which mechanicalprinters make. Those dots mean your post-card was mass-produced and isn’t an actualphotograph. You probably own an imagemade for resale, not a picture of a relative.

■ Read the costume clues. This lit-tle girl’s purse, hat and drop-waistdress date to the 1920s. For more onusing clothing to date photos, see theAugust 2004 Family Tree Magazine,or consult fashion references such asJohn Peacock’s 20th Century Fashion orMen’s Fashion (both from Thames andHudson, $34.95). For kids’ outfits, useChildren’s Fashions 1900-1950 as Pic-tured in Sears Catalogs edited by JoAnneOlian (Dover Publications, $14.95).

■ Study the back of the card. What does itlook like—is it divided by a line? Does it haveCorrespondence or Address printed above thesections, as this one does? Early photo post-cards have plain backs.

Pay particular attention to the box whereyou’d place a stamp. Different boxes werestandard at various times. Compare thedesign and wording of your postcard’s stampbox with those shown in the catalog atPlayle’s Online Auctions site <www.playle.com/realphoto>. When researching this card,I found that 12 slightly different boxes bear-ing the letters AZO were in use. The one thatmatched exactly appeared on cards madefrom 1910 to 1930.

■ Look for a photographer’s name. This post-card doesn’t have a studio’s name and address,

but if it did, I’duse city directories to research

when the studio was open. It’s also quite pos-sible that a relative took the images in yourcollection with a Kodak camera. When own-ers of cameras sent them back to the factoryfor developing and reloading, they could orderphoto postcards or regular prints.

■ If someone mailed your card, research therecipient’s name and address. For instance,based on the message and date (partially tornoff) on this postcard, I can tell it was mailedin Maynard, Mass., during the 1920s. Theaddress—written in Italian—mentions thefamily name. A quick look at Maynard citydirectories from the era would reveal residentswho have that surname.

■ Examine the stamp and postmark. Philat-elic (stamp-collecting) directories, availableonline and in libraries, can help you determinewhen a stamp was issued. You’ll find more

70 Family Tree Magazine October 2005

Alpha Mail Don’t overlook—or misread—the unique clues inyour old photo postcards. | By Maureen A. Taylor

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information and resources at the NationalPostal Museum <www.postalmuseum.si.edu> and AJ’s Encyclopedia of Stamps andPhilatelic Links <ajward.tripod.com/stamps/links.htm>. For links to Web sites aboutstamps from overseas, see PostalHistory.org<www.postalhistory.org> and click on Coun-try Resources.

Adding up the date evidence in this photopostcard was a snap: Based on the clothingand the date on the back, the image was pho-tographed in the 1920s. For another postcardanalysis, see my Identifying Family Pho-tographs column on the Family Tree Maga-zine Web site <www.familytreemagazine.com/photos/ july26-01.htm>.3

Family Tree Magazine contributing editor MaureenA. Taylor helps solve readers’ picture puzzles in herbiweekly online photo-identification column. Learn howto submit your photos for free analysis at <www.familytreemagazine.com/photos/photohelp.htm>. www.familytreemagazine.com

EVERY RESOURCE YOU NEED TO ENJOYGENEALOGY IS NOW AT YOUR FINGERTIPS!

It’s in the Card1 Look for dots. Under a magnifyingglass, real photos look solid; repro-duced images show a dot pattern.

2 Compare dates. If clothing cluesdon’t match the postmark, someoneprobably kept the postcard awhilebefore mailing it.

3 Back up your evidence. The backsof all but the earliest postcards tellthe sender where to place theaddress, message and stamp.

4 Box it up. Research the design ofthe stamp box to narrow the dateyour card was made.

5 Read the message. You might find a date, name, address or other useful information.

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70 family tree magazine April 2006

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CluelessThink your mystery photo offers no leads? Take another look—we’ll help you extract its hidden hints. | By Maureen A. Taylor

Imagine trying to identify this photo-graph of a woman we’ll assume is Mom

“posed” under a picnic blanket for a can-did shot with the baby as the focus. For one, you can’t see anyone’s face but the infant’s—and don’t babies all look alike, anyway? There’s no telling whether the little one’s a boy or girl: His or her fuzzy little head means you can’t rely on the tried-and-true rule that girls wore center parts and boys combed their hair to the side. Costume clues are usually helpful, but only one sleeve and the soles of this woman’s shoes show. The man to her left is no help; he’s barely visible. And baby dresses don’t narrow dates much because the styles rarely changed and families handed down kids’ clothes. The only prop here—the magazine—is placed at an angle and is impossible to decipher.

You probably have a few images that similarly lack important clues from faces, clothing and props. Don’t throw up your hands—instead, use them to wring more information out of what’s there.

Even though it’s missing chunks of the story, this picture does contain evidence to help identify the subjects and establish a date range. A magnifying glass or photo-grapher’s loupe (available from photo- supply stores) will definitely come in handy as you study the following:

n Professional pointers: Professional photos are much more likely than candids to feature clue-rich details such as a photo-grapher’s imprint, props and outfits. You

can tell a friend or family member likely snapped this shot by the way the man and horse are cut out of the frame. Other clues to an amateur photo include an odd cam-era angle or slightly blurry image.

n Measurements: The picture’s dimen-sions, 21⁄4 inches square, may reveal the photographer. Only two cameras produced images this size during the early 20th cen-tury: the Kodak Brownie, introduced in 1900, and Ansco’s Buster Brown No. 1, first available in 1906. Kodak marketed its camera directly to children with illustrator Palmer Cox’s sprightly Brownie character. Kodak’s overwhelming success led Ansco to market a competitor using Buster Brown

and his dog Tige, comic strip characters who debuted in a 1902 New York Herald. Both models were popular for years, so they pro-vide a starting date but not an ending one. Of course, we can’t say for sure whether a child took this picture, but since the cameras were made for youngsters, it’s quite possible the shutterbug was an older sibling.

Use Scott’s Photographica Collection < www.vintagephoto.tv > to learn more about your photos based on their formats. Click Index/Search, then on each camera name to see when it was introduced and what sizes of images it produced.

n Parts of clothing: Look carefully and you may glimpse a slice of a shirt or dress,

photo d e t e c t i v e

Undercover Agent Half time. The cut-off horse and man hint at an amateur photographer.

Size matters. Snapshot size can reveal which camera took the shot.

Ace up your sleeve. This woman’s puffed, full sleeve suggests a 1900-to-1910 time frame.

Baby steps. Most infants can just hold up their heads at 3 months.

Who’s who. Study family charts for people who fit your subjects’ profiles.

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such as the woman’s right sleeve peeking from beneath the blanket’s edge. (Scan-ning and enlarging your photo can help you spot such minute details). Accord-ing to Joan Severa in Dressed for the Photographer: Ordinary Americans and Fashion, 1840-1900 (Kent State Univer-sity Press, $60), women’s dresses featur-ing full upper sleeves and long skirts were popular between 1900 and 1910—a time frame that agrees with the camera’s manu-facture date.

n Developmental milestones: This tiny infant can barely hold up its head unsup-ported, so he or she is probably around 3 months old. Developmental markers, such as sitting unassisted, holding a rattle, smil-ing and walking, can help you estimate babies’ ages. You’ll find lists of age-related feats in child-development and parenting books such as What to Expect the First Year, 2nd edition, by Heidi Murkoff, Sandee Hathaway and Arlene Eisnberg (Workman Publishing Co., $15.95).

To estimate the ages of older children, look at their ankles: A girl’s skirt became gradually longer as she approached adult-hood; boys wore short pants until they were teenagers.

n Genealogical data: I purchased this intriguing picture, but if these were my rel-atives, the next step would be to examine my research for babies born from 1900 to 1910 (plus a few years on each side to be safe)—possibly with older siblings. Once I had a short list of ancestral suspects, I’d show this picture to other family members and compare it to their albums for already-identified photos showing the same baby or setting.

You might feel clueless when you encounter a mystery photo that seems to lack any telling evidence, but there’s no need. Research the photo’s size and closely examine the image for small details—soon you’ll declare “case closed.” 3

Contributing editor Maureen A. Taylor helps solve readers’ picture puzzles in her biweekly online photo-identification column. Learn how to submit your mystery images for free analysis at < www.familytreemagazine.com / photos / photohelp.htm >.

Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana,Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Utah, & Wisconsin (with more states coming soon).Arphax Publishing is releasing these in book form, county-by-county, with 3 new books released each week, on average.

- Available in both Spiral-bound and Hardbound editions -

Think photo-editing tips and tricks wereborn of the computer age? Forget that

notion—the art of altering images is as oldas photography itself. Well-known Civil Warphotographer Mathew Brady took a groupportrait of Gen. William Tecumseh Shermanand his generals against a plain backdrop;later, he added one more general and a dif-ferent background. Another enterprisingphotographer stuck Abraham Lincoln’s headon the bodies of notable 19th-century per-sonalities such as John C. Calhoun, Alexan-der Hamilton and Martin Van Buren, andsold the reconstructed images as memorialpieces after Lincoln’s assassination. Don’thave a photograph of Aunt Edna? Perhapsdisgruntled relatives edited her out of thefamily portrait.

Dino A. Brugioni, a founder of the CIA’sNational Photographic Interpretation Centerand the author of Photo Fakery: The Historyand Techniques of Photographic Deceptionand Manipulation (Brassey’s, $29.95), hasidentified several types of photo trickery. Themost common involve adding or removing aperson or object from an image. A photo-grapher could subtract a person by cutting thenegative or painting over part of it with achemical, or simply by creatively cropping theprint. People also made cosmetic enhance-ments to their photos, such as hand-coloringthe image or using pens to improve a subject’sfacial features.

More-intrepid photographers blended dif-ferent images into photo montages. If illnessor distance prevented a relative from joininga group portrait, that person might pose sep-arately. A photographer would then combinethe two negatives. Another example: old-time

“spirit” photographs featuring a casket witha ghostly inset of the deceased. Those imagesdidn’t result from supernatural phenomena—a photographer simply superimposed an ear-lier portrait over the coffin.

You may not realize whether your familyphoto collection contains pictures altered byyour ancestors. Some cases are obvious; if themanipulator did a better job, though, you’llneed a sharp eye to spot the clues. Find the“fakes” among your photos by examiningeach one for the following details. See my pic-ture above for examples.

1. An out-of-place person or object. Lookcarefully at the woman in the back row ofthis unidentified group portrait. Notice any-thing different about her? She’s standing at adifferent angle from the rest of the group andlooking in another direction.

2. Odd positioning. Notice how the photo-grapher posed the men next to the womanwith a wide space between them, which wouldmake it easy to insert another photo. It sug-gests the family probably planned this alter-ation. Your album might feature examples ofa photograph both before and after changes.

3. Differences in proportion and color. Thiswoman also stands out because her head and

shoulders are larger than everyone else’s. Herface is gray; everyone else’s is light. Examineshadows in your photos: If the light casts ashadow on a different side of one subject’s face,she may have been added to a group shot.

4. Visible seams. Here’s the most obviousevidence of a photo manipulation. Old-timephoto-editing techniques didn’t allow forsmooth blending of multiple images. Lookaround the woman’s head and shoulders, andyou’ll see the rectangular outline where the twopictures meet. Also check your pictures forstrange shadows or different-colored back-ground areas—a telltale sign that someoneremoved a person or object.

5. Details that don’t add up. Fashion andfamily history clues can provide dates thathelp determine the truthfulness of a picture.Here, the puffed shoulders on the out-of-place woman’s dress were popular around1891. The other women’s outfits feature gen-erous sleeves on the entire upper arm, whichdate from the mid-1890s and give us a timeframe for the picture. Such disagreement offashion details is further testimony this imagewas altered. Once you have an idea of aphoto’s date, watch for individuals whoshouldn’t be in the picture, as well as those

74 Family Tree Magazine August 2005

Photo FakesDon’t let doctored-up family pictures throw your research off track. | By Maureen A. Taylor

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who should be but aren’t. For instance, ifclothing clues suggest a date long after some-one in the picture died, that person probablywas added later.

Since this example of family photo trick-ery is an unidentified photograph I bought ata photo show, I can’t name the subjects orformulate a reason behind the old-fashionedphoto editing. It’s possible the woman addedlater was a beloved daughter or daughter-in-law who died before the family sat for a for-mal portrait. If you find fakes among yourown pictures, genealogical information mayprovide an answer. Re-examine your myste-rious images—if you spot inconsistencies likethe ones in my photo, you might open thedoor to a great family story. 3

Contributing editor Maureen A. Taylor helpssolve readers’ picture puzzles in her biweekly photo-identification column at <www.familytreemagazine.com/photos/current.htm>.

Trace Evidence1 Someone doesn’t belong. Thiswoman is standing at a different angle and looking in another direction from everyone else.

2 Subjects are spaced oddly. Thewide distance between these men suggests a plan to insert an image into the finished print.

3 One person is a different size or color. Her relatively large head and dark face show this woman wasphotographed in another setting withdifferent lighting.

4 Seams are obvious. A line such as this one is a dead giveaway that two images were combined.

5 Costume clues yield inconsistentdates. This woman’s dress dates toabout 1891; the others’ outfits are from the mid 1890’s. She may have sat for her portrait earlier than the rest of the group.

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