Who's That Person in the Picture?

Almost every family is bound to have a collection of pictures that nobody knows who the picture is of. I myself dealt with this very challenge when I inherited a collection of old photographs from my grandmother this past summer. I never had a chance to share my passion for genealogy with my grandmother, and consequently I never got the chance to sit down with her and learn about who the people in the pictures were. My mother did get the chance to see these pictures before but she remembers absolutely nothing from the conversation! When events like this happen, it is easy to loose hope that we will ever be able to identify the people in the pictures. Thankfully, the internet has made it a little bit easier to solve these mysteries.

What type of picture is it?

What I mean by this question is what material was the photograph printed on/how was it developed. Photography methods have rapidly evolved since the 1840's and so has the methods used to develop and print photographs. By identifying the photo type we are able to further narrow down the time frame that it was taken - and consequently who the subject was. 

For example, a daguerreotype was one of the first types of photographs and was used between approximately 1839 and 1860. The image was printed on a copper plate and often times appears tarnished. Later photograph types followed including: salt prints/ Talbot's process, stereograph cards, ambrotypes, tin types, and carte de viste, etc. All of these were developed prior to reaching the classic vintage photograph we all have seen - cabinet cards. Cabinet cards reached their height between 1866 and 1914. The colour and design of the cabinet card varied by year, but all shared the same characteristic of having the picture mounted on a heavy piece of cardstock. 

How old is the person?

Having identified the type of photograph is great, but it still leaves a rather wide range of time for when it was taken. To further narrow down when the photo was taken we need to consider the approximate age of the subject. Keep in mind that this is an approximate and therefore the range should be fairly wide. I generally use +/- 1 year for babies, +/- 2 years for children, and +/- 5 years for adults.  

What are they wearing?

Now that you have identified the approximate age of the subject(s), its time to look at their fashion. This includes their clothing, hair style, facial hair for men, and jewelry/accessories (ie. hats, fans, gloves, etc.). I like to use this website to reference fashion because it is divided by gender, and decade. For each decade, the site offers several different images for the style of the day, making it easier to tell what decade your photograph belongs to. 

Examining the fashion does not have to be limited to the person, rather you can look at things that are in the background as well. For example, cars serve as fabulous references!

Are there any markings?

Sometimes if we are lucky, something was written on the back of the photograph or there is a photographers stamp somewhere on the frame or back of the print. In both these cases we are able to use the indirect marking to help us identify the date and location where the picture was taken. For example, my great grandmother often wrote on the back everything except who was in the picture. She would write the exact date, what day of the week it was, the time of day, and where they were, but never once identified somebody by name. At first this was incredibly frustrating, but then I realized that this was actually really useful information that I could use to date the picture and potentially use to identify who was in it. 

In the other case where there is a photographers marking, this too can be useful (albeit a little more challenging). Keep in mind that just because the carte de viste is not in the frame or on the backing does not mean there wasn't one. By definition a carte de viste had a piece of cardboard or cardstock attached and often times the image was simply taken out to be in a different frame. If you need to match the picture to the frame, look at the glue mark on the back. The picture was originally glued in and therefore when it was removed from the frame, a mark would be created. By simply matching the two marks, the picture can be placed back in the original frame. Now that the two are together, scan the front and back of the frame for markings. Once you have identified the name of the photographer, address, city, etc. its time to search the internet. I often search city directories to find the photographer. Depending on how much information you have, you may be able to narrow the date to 1 or 2 years. 

Have you seen the face before?

One of the first things that I did when I inherited the shoe box of old photographs was group them by person. So what is the benefit to this approach?

1. There are less people I needed to put names to
2. I was able to see the same person at different angles, ages, and wearing different styles
3. By looking at the other people they were with I was able to further narrow down the time period

Often times this method was the one that allowed me to put a name to the face. The way that I like to think about it is, more photographs = more evidence, and more evidence = a greater chance of identifying the person.