{"id":4954,"date":"2013-10-14T16:04:54","date_gmt":"2013-10-14T16:04:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.genealogybank.com\/?p=4954"},"modified":"2024-05-03T10:56:48","modified_gmt":"2024-05-03T14:56:48","slug":"how-to-date-old-ancestor-photographs-with-early-photo-types","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/how-to-date-old-ancestor-photographs-with-early-photo-types.html","title":{"rendered":"How to Date Old Ancestor Photographs with Early Photo Types"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction<\/em><\/strong>: In this article, Mary Harrell-Sesniak shows how you can date old, undated family photos by first figuring out what type of photograph they are, and uses old newspapers and other sources to illustrate different types of photos. Mary is a genealogist, author and editor with a strong technology background.
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Do you have a box of old, undated family photos somewhere up in the attic\u2014or maybe buried in the back of some closet? Have you wondered how you were ever going to figure out who these family members might be, since the old photographs lack inscriptions or dates?<\/p>\n

Genealogy is a lot like detective work, gathering clues to make the pieces of your family puzzle fit together. Old, undated family photographs are pieces of evidence, clues that\u2014if you examine closely enough\u2014might yield some answers.<\/p>\n

By knowing a little of the history of photography, you might be able to solve the mystery of those old photos by first recognizing what type of photograph they are\u2014which in turn will help you narrow down the date range for when the photo was created. This blog article will help you do that.<\/p>\n

The First Affordable Camera<\/strong><\/p>\n

We\u2019ll start with a brief primer on the history of photography. Many think that the photography revolution began with George Eastman and Frank Brownell (of Kodak) in February of 1900, when they introduced the \u201cBrownie,\u201d the first affordable camera. (See http:\/\/www.brownie-camera.com\/<\/a> for everything you ever wanted to know about this early camera for the mass market.)<\/p>\n

Here is an advertisement for the Brownie camera from a 1921 Washington, D.C., newspaper.<\/p>\n

\"What<\/a>
Evening Star (Washington, D.C.), 14 August 1921, page 67<\/figcaption><\/figure>Heliography<\/strong><\/p>\n

However, in my opinion, the true photography revolution started at least 50 years prior, with the French inventor Joseph Nic\u00e9phore Ni\u00e9pce (1765-1833). His 1826 heliograph \u201cView from the Window at Le Gras\u201d became the first permanent photograph. (See http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Nic\u00e9phore_Ni\u00e9pce<\/a>.) It was created with a camera obscura, a device used by artists to project images on a wall or screen. Ni\u00e9pce captured his view by projecting onto a pewter plate coated with a type of asphalt called bitumen of Judea. After a long eight-hour exposure time, the image became affixed.<\/p>\n

\"First<\/a>
Mobile Register (Mobile, Alabama), 24 September 1983, page 31<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It\u2019s doubtful that you\u2019ll find a heliograph in your personal ancestor photo collection, but with any luck, you\u2019ll find a variety of other types of photos. Perhaps your family pictures are identified\u2014but in all likelihood many are not, so narrowing time periods for the creation of each photo is important in trying to date them.<\/p>\n

Some of my earlier GenealogyBank Blog<\/a> posts provided other tips for dating undated photographs, including one showing how historical newspapers<\/a> can assist greatly with photo dating by comparing the clothing of people in your undated photos to clothing styles shown in old newspaper advertisements<\/a>. (See a list with links to these photography-related blog posts at the end of this article.)<\/p>\n

You can also use historical newspapers to learn how to recognize photographic types, and also to research photography studios, as shown by the newspaper articles used in this blog post.<\/p>\n

Photographic Timelines<\/strong><\/p>\n

To start, familiarize yourself with photographic timelines, such as the timelines available in the list of websites below. Although there are numerous types of photographic processes, most of your old photos are probably ambrotypes, daguerreotypes, tintypes, cabinet cards or carte de visites (CDVs), along with some lesser-known types such as cyanotypes.<\/p>\n