When researching the lives of our ancestors in photographs it’s hard not to notice all of the changes happening through time. Some changes were big while others were small and may go unrecognized. Take for instance women's clothing during the 1800s.
1830s – It was the ending of the “romantic” era, and women were wearing the hourglass silhouette, which consisted of very full sleeves, very wide necklines, a v-shaped bodice, and wide ankle-length skirts.
1840s – The s
To correctly identify military uniforms in photographs, it is necessary to read reference books and related websites about the particular branch of the military in its specific country during the correct historical time period. There are absolutely no rules about how a military designed its uniforms over time, although there are a few observations that can be made about military uniforms in general.
A country did not always automatically give uniforms to its mil
Post-mortem photography, photographing the recently deceased, may seem like a rather macabre Victorian era practice. Post-mortem photographs were still being made, though less frequently, during the early years of the 20th century up through the present day.
Photography: Clues Pictures Hold, Editing, Digitizing and Various Projects
Recognizing post-mortem photographs is not always easy. In most cases, the deceased are photographed lying in bed or propped up on a
What were women wearing in the decades of the 1900s? That answer is important as we look at family photographs. Here’s a few trends seen in the 20th century.
Photography: Clues Pictures Hold, Editing, Digitizing and Various Projects
1900s – The styles of the late 1890s continued into this decade. The skirt developed a train, was full below the knee, and became more ornate with pleats and smocking at the hipline. Evening dresses revealed more body, somet
How do you learn more about a photograph? Here are some basic questions to help get started.
Photography: Clues Pictures Hold, Editing, Digitizing and Various Projects
WHO is in the photograph?
It would seem that this is a simple question to answer, but identifying people in photographs is not always that easy, especially if there are no other photographs of that person and no living person is around to make the identification. In that case, it may be necessary to rely on a name writ
What trends existed in men’s clothing during the 20th century? Knowing what clothing was popular in which decade can help you pinpoint when that family photograph was taken and who possibly is pictured. Some trends by the decade include:
Photography: Clues Pictures Hold, Editing, Digitizing and Various Projects
1900s – The frock coat from the previous decades was being pretty much replaced by the sack coat, especially when it came to daywear. A man might wear plaid tr
Obviously, knowing where a photograph came from is always helpful. Because of social media and genealogy websites, you may have access to family photographs posted by a family member or even a friend of the family. That person’s photograph collection may include more pictures of the same ancestor taken at different times or with other relatives.
Family albums are repositories of photographs of friends, neighbors, and relatives by marriage. It is possible that a
I was concerned about creating a Pinterest “bulletin board” for an ancestor, and then pinning a census image from Ancestry to that board. Although clicking on that image links back to Ancestry, and although I had cited the image source as Ancestry.com I wasn’t sure if I was violating some sort of term of agreement with Ancestry. I had seen bloggers post an image to a blog, but was this the same at Pinterest?
Then last month Pinterest introduced new code for websites and blogs that want to block
In this family photo, Moises was pasted in after his assasination
in 1937 during the Spanish Civil War
Sometimes modern history can be more interesting than something that happened in the 1600s. And events of the 20th century certainly have more impact on us than the doings of our Mayflower forebears. However, recent history can be painful, and even hard to write about.
My father-in-law was born in Spain, and grew up during the Spanish Civil War. Any civil war is a horrible experience. If you watch
