Family Chronicle ’s special publication Dating Old Photographs 1840-1929 has proved to be very popular. Many of us have photographs that are undated but in past articles we have shown that it is often possible to establish the date by carefully comparing with other pictures of known date. Thanks to the goodwill of Family Chronicle ’s readers we were able to collect over 650 photographs of known date for this book.
We thought it might be interesting to show in detail how a photograph can be dated with a considerable degree of precision. The photo we chose (shown in the center) is of the Walter John Harwood family and was kindly supplied by Phyllis Libby Glynn. We do actually know when this was taken: about 1890.
Even though we know the date, you may wish to work your way through the pointers which confirm this date. No photogaphs can be described as “typical” and our example is no exception. The father provides few clues but the mother and children have several distinctive pointers.
We have not described every thing that may be used as a pointer. For example, the background is clearly a painted canvas indicating a studio shot. Although painted backdrops were common for decades, the drapes and woodwork of the stairs may contain clues. The dress worn by the young lady standing in the middle and the outfits of the younger children could also be compared. No single clue is likely to provide a date but considering all the evidence we can see that this photogaph had to be taken in 1890 — plus or minus a couple of years.
Common Myths
A common myth is that fashions in rural areas lagged those in the cities by some years. Anyone who has looked at the advertisments in 19th-century newspapers will have noticed the number of merchants claiming they have “the latest fashions from New York and London”.
Having your photograph taken was an event and involved much more than the command “Smile!” Women, especially, would not be caught dead being photographed in an out-of-date outfit. Men too would dress up a bit but there are plenty of examples where we can see they could not be bothered.
There is also the myth about long exposure times. It is true that the very first photographs — in the late 1830s in Europe and 1840 in North America — did require several minutes of exposure. However, this problem was overcome in the early months of 1840. Exposure times were far slower than those of today but they were measured in seconds, not minutes. Anyone needing proof of this can see that children, far too young to understand the necessity to keep still, were common subjects even in the 1850s.
Even though most photographs can be dated by comparing these to known examples, some can be very difficult, even impossible. Head-and-shoulders pictures of men sometimes contain no clues. Photographs showing the subjects wearing traditional costumes are very difficult to date and brides and bridesmaids often wear dresses that bear little relationship to current fashions.
6. A large list of photographs and photographers each with an estimated date
7. A large 1000 plus list of photographers and photographs a few have estimated dates.
8.Frequently Asked Questions (I have a photo like yours. )
9. Just what sort of photograph is it? - here is some useful basic information on sizes, types and descriptions and when used, that may help as a first step if you are not sure.
Types of Family Photographs
10. The negative number book from Hills & Saunders, Harrow Branch, is now online, if you have a numbered photo from this studio then you may find out who the person was or look through the A - Z to spot names.
Hills & Saunders, Harrow.
11. A page with a keyword indexed search boxe for this site, making it easy to find a photographer or place or date. Also links to my other sites.
Multiple Keyword Search Boxes
12. Family history and collecting old photographs are two very popular pastimes these days and old photographs can pose many questions such as ‘Who is it?’ or ‘When was it taken?’. Photographers of Great Britain and Ireland
13. Because photographers were listed in local Trade Directories, a great amount of work has gone into listing them, by year, to see when the company was in business. This can help to limit the date that the photograph was produced to the years they were operating or sometimes at a particular address.
Here are a few lists to work through:
Search by Photographer's Name and County by Rosemary & Stan Rodliffe
City of Bristol, UK. Photographers (by R. F.Vaughan)
City of London, UK. Photographers (by Michael Pritchard) (477KB - whole book!)
The earliest known photograph taken in North America was taken in October or November 1839.
There are probably few family historians who do not possess a number of unidentified and undated photographs. For most of us, pictures taken within the last 30 years are not hard to date. We will probably know the subject but, even if we don’t, there will be plenty of clues: hair length on young men, hem length on young women, general hair styles and so on.
It is a common mistake to assume that trends in fashion are something fairly new. This is only because we are far less familiar with fashions of previous periods; at a quick glance they all seem much the same. Anyone who has spent time examining old newspapers can’t have failed to notice the advertisements promoting the “latest fashions.” Just as hairstyles for both men and women now change every few years, so they did in our great-grandparents’ time.
An additional clue which helps us date old photographs are the poses and props. While professional portraits are still taken at schools, department stores or even “photomats”, most photographs today are casual types.
Until the early decades of this century, casual photos were not common. The visit to your photographer was an event for which you made an appointment and dressed in your best.
We do not deal with the technical processes here: the daguerrotypes, the ambrotypes etc. This is an interesting subject but there are several excellent books covering this aspect of dating.
We have ignored this here since many early pictures will be second generation prints, that is, photos of photos. For this reason, judgments made on the process alone can be misleading. For example the daguerrotype process could only be reproduced by photographing the original, it was quite unlike later systems which used a negative.
The photographs included come from a number of sources. We asked readers to send copies or upload images over the Internet. Almost all those from 1860s and onwards have been submitted by Family Chronicle readers. Photos prior to 1860 are very rare and only a few were submitted. Nearly all the photos from the 1840s and the 1850s are from the Library of Congress collection and are credited as (LoC).
We would like to thank those readers who helped compile this supplement. We were not able to use all the photos submitted but we are grateful for all submissions. Many of you told us that you had masses of photos but no dates. Writing the date on the photographs was not common and people often derived the date from an event (e. g. wedding) or because a young child, whose age could be accurately guessed, was in the photo. Several of the pictures were taken in other countries but the similarities are more striking than the differences.
The ladies in this photograph demonstrate fashions from 1810 to 1870. E. Whitman. (Nora Hockin)
As far as we have been able to ascertain, this type of collection has never been published before. We claim no originality for the subject as there are a number of books on dating photographs but all those which we have seen cover the technical side or are mainly descriptive with few examples.
We hope that by comparing your unknown photographs with those reproduced here, you can find a close enough match to help you at least find the decade. Even if you have no photographs of your ancestors from the early periods, this collection should help you visualize how your ancestors might have dressed and carried themselves.
Put A Date On That Old Photograph
A date will sometimes help fit a photo into a family tree
Constructed by Roger Vaughan
First Step: What sort of photograph do you have? Start Here
Second Step: Find your carte-de-visite photographer A-Z Go Here
Victorian & Edwardian Photographs12 Victorian Photographs
Victorian & Edwardian PhotographsPhotos from Around the World
Victorian & Edwardian PhotographsMaddy Family Album
Victorian & Edwardian PhotographsCook Family Album
Victorian & Edwardian PhotographsA North Wales Family Album
Victorian & Edwardian PhotographsA London Family Album
Victorian & Edwardian PhotographsUseful Gallery of 600 People
My thanks to Dave for sharing this page - Please visit his site
I hope this helps you. So many times we look at an old photograph, and have no idea of the treasure before our eye's. Maybe knowing some of the history behind an old photograph will cause you to take a second look, then find out about the people in the picture.
I can't tell you the number of times customers have come to me with wooden crates of glass negatives to sell to me because they think they are valuable, but they don't want them themselves.
No, they are not valuable to me, but to the family of the person who took them. WOW!
W hen I owned a photo lab, one customer came to me with several hundred 4X5 glass negatives. He asked me to print several examples, just so he could see what he had purchased at an estate sale for a total of $10.00. The family (estate) was selling all of grandpa's "junk", since he had passed away. They were negatives of actors, actresses, and film sets from the silent and not so silent film era of Hollywood, shot on location all over the world. What a gold mine!
H opefully, I have convinced many people to keep their family treasures, and after they have them printed, identify the individuals in the photographs. Just don't wait too long.
B y determining the type of photographic technique used to make your old family photos, it's possible to date, with reasonable accuracy, the date the original was created.
F ollowing are the most common photographic processes. With this information, see if you can narrow down the age of the photograph.
from:
PHOTOGRAPHY AS A TOOL IN GENEALOGY
text by Ron and Maureen Willis, Willis Photo Lab 2510 Old Middlefield Rd. Mountain View, CA 94043 / (415) 969-3555
You can jump to the image type that you have from the links below.
If you're not sure what kind of image you have,
simply read on until you find a description that fits.
Dating Old Photographs
Dating old photographs
Unfortunately many old family photographs are not annotated with the sitter’s name.
Because of this, these are the questions we get asked again and again. How can I date old photographs? How old is my photograph? Will dating my old photograph help me to decide who the subject is?
Yes, an accurate date does help to pinpoint who the subject/s of the photograph might be.
Knowing when a photograph was taken, where it was taken – together with the details of the image itself – often make it possible to decide who the sitter really is. Often it can confirm it is who you think it is. Sometimes it can even confirm that it is NOT who you think it is!
Dating an old photograph is like a detective game. There can be so many clues which, when all taken together, can give you a very accurate result.
Depending on the type of photograph, the sorts of clues that may be available include:
photographer’s name
photographer’s address/s
hairstyles
clothes and fashion accessories
studio props
card mount – shape and size
card design – including graphic artwork, typography, font size and colour
card manufacturer and printer
photographic process
patrons
medals awarded
etc. etc. etc.
To date your old family photograph (1840 – 1940)
Try the following approach:
Get an approximate idea by looking at the different types of photograph produced and when they were available
If your photograph has a photographer’s name on it, you can see what information is available from our historical trade directories (addresses/dates etc.) which will help if the photographer advertised regularly, was in the studio for a relatively short time and had only one studio in the town. To get this information instantly on-line – please click here . This costs only ?1.20p per photographer/address
A more accurate way – if your photograph is a carte de visite or a cabinet card (i. e. 1860 – 1910 only) – is to use our DIY dating wizard – it is UNIQUE and FUN and is available ONLY on this website. The Wizard will date your photograph to within a 9 year time span or less, if not, we will custom date your photograph personally at no additional cost. Simple. The Wizard costs only ?3.00 per photograph
If you don’t want to use the DIY Wizard – a personalised custom service is available to date your photographs using a wide range of data sources and techniques. Please click on custom dating.
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