How to Date a Photograph- Part II

The last post covered how one dates a photograph by the method and type of the photograph. We've got a starting point, since photos started in 1839, the photo certainly can't be older than that! Our next step is to use the image itself to date a photo. I've got a few examples we'll go through together. Now, it should be noted I'm no expert and that we all get better the more we look at photographs. These are just some examples with a load of guesswork involved to show what a layman can find out.

 First photo we'll try is this one of a young woman. Now, there are no names or dates on the photo itself, so I'm doing a bit of research and guessing. This photo is a 4" x 6" in an oval mount. That size was popular 1860's to 1920's The card stock is light. The back is a grey color. Popular 1890's. The studio "The Lloyd Studio, Troy, N.Y." is stamped at the bottom.

First thing, let's google that studio! Lloyd Studio, Ltd. has been around since 1880... okay, that's narrowing our search a bit isn't it? Card colours were different front and back during 1880-1890... still good. 1880's were light card stocks.... still within that decade, good, good.

Now the girl! Head and shoulders only, popular in 1889. Her clothes don't tell us much, but the sleeves seem loose. Hair is pulled up and to the sides.... and that seems to be popular late 1880's to early 1890's. Well, I think it's pretty obvious we've got a late 1880's photo on our hands!

Another 4" x 6". This handsome gentleman is on a heavier stock. Still no name or date. Worse yet, no photographer! Well there is in the corner, but it's faded and I can't seem to use the embossed lettering to make a rubbing with a piece of paper and a pencil (little detective tip, that). Too faded to make an accurate guess at least. Different color backing still, so that helps narrow it down. That became popular 1890's. Embossing still puts it as 1890's and on......

 Okay, now on to our fella. Let's start with coat. Buttons, lapel and pin striping all hold clues for us.... Now, men's fashions don't change as radically as women's, but when taken as a whole you can get a good guess going. Okay, so suits as we know them started sometime in the 1870's. Stripes were also fashionable on and off since the start. However, the rounded lapel looks like it fits more with 1910's. The necktie would've been popular late 1900's to 1910's. The short hair with a side part became popular right before WWI for the most part.... but his waistcoat isn't high enough for the 1920's. So we're back to 1910's or so. I'd feel comfortable with a decade of 1900-1910 and if I knew more about this one, I might be able to pin him down a bit more.

 Now this next one is a cabinet card on heavy stock. I only took the one copy of this one, but the card stock is light front and back. The bottom is ornate with "J. Penna, Brazil, Ind." A Google search didn't bring up a quick answer, but a newspaper article from 1935 mentioned J. Penna moving his photo studio. Now, obviously this photo wasn't made in 1935, but he was in business for a while it would seem. Still a 4" x 6" photo. Full body photo's were popular in the 1860's, but I think we're back in that 1880-1890 time period. Why? The hairstyle is severe and pulled back; the dresses have pleats; the sleeves are tight. That would seem to put itself late 1880's, early 1890's. All in all, I'd place this late 1880's. Now, it could be off by a few years depending on if these ladies were at the height of fashion, or lagging a bit behind.

  

Now this last one is from my own personal stock. This is the family Brown (my maternal Grandmother's line). After talking to Grandma, I know she is the baby being held on the right. That makes this photo early 1930's. Of course, if I knew it was Grandma, but didn't know her birth, I could still use the mode of dress (of which there are a plethora of examples) to date this photo and narrow her birth date down! Short hair on women came into vogue in the 1920's. And a quick google search of images of dresses and men's ties can give me a healthy example of different styles popular from 1920-1940 to narrow it down more. A quick search of children's fashion can also give me some clues.

And that's it! Just like that, we've checked out four photographs and got a pretty good idea when they were taken. With more information on the subjects, we can narrow these dates down even more. And it really only takes one person in a group shot to make it easier to date the rest. Knowing Grandma's birthday and which one she is in this photo lets me pick out her mother (holding her), her father (behind), her half-brother from her father's first marriage (behind right), her half siblings from her mother's first marriage (boy and girl in front, right), brother (in the middle of half-siblings, front). Her Uncles, front left with two of her cousins. Her paternal grandmother, middle. Possible aunt behind grandmother. Just look how fast the picture gets identified!

Again, I'm no expert. And there are people who will, for a fee, find out when the photo was taken. But just look what we were able to accomplish on our own! That should give you at least some hope that you can do a lot of the leg work on your own. At the bottom here I've put the sources I've used to date these (and other) photos in my collections. Practice makes perfect so I always try to narrow dates on new photos as I come across them. One last note: Try to use as many sources for your references as possible. I'm a big fan of wikipedia; not for accuracy, but for the sources of their articles. ALWAYS check the source of your source if it's a blog or online community. Don't want someone blowing smoke up your kilt!

-Ana

Sources:
Hairstyles
Fashion History
Costume Gallery
Dating a Photo

How to Date a Photograph- Part I

How was your holidays? Mine was full of travel and family, sadly tearing me away from my precious blogging..... but bringing me more stories and interesting facts to add to my family history. So now I'll just dive back into this whole thing:

One thing I see on a lot of message boards is, "How old is the photo I have?" We all have those photos that don't have a name or date on them and God knows who the people are. So what to do? Well, there are actually two places to start, the Image and the Photograph itself. There are some who propose dating a photo from one way or another, each having it's pros and cons. I think that using both methods can be beneficial in estimating dates. We're going to start with the more technical approach as best used by an amateur. An expert can go into greater detail of each process, but as one is usually just trying to get a "guestimate", we'll not go so far into it. As you progress in your finds, you'll become used to how certain eras of photography look and it'll be easier to accurately guess the date of your photos. Now this will only cover the more popular types of photographs that you're more likely to run across. As with any technology, there are castaways; attempts to make something new that doesn't catch on (8 track players, Beta max, and Vanilla Ice come to mind). We won't cover those here, but you may be the lucky duck that finds one, so note that this is just a sketch of photography. Also, things pick up at different times in different countries; so take into account where the photo is possibly from to help narrow down the era.

Daguerreotype (1839-1860)

• 2 1/2" x 3 1/4"
• Image is made on a silvered copper plate- very easy to scratch off the image!
• Because of the fragile medium, these are usually cased in glass
• Americas- usually framed in wood with a leather or paper covering
• Distinguishing feature: depending on the angle of the light, the picture can appear as a negative.

Ambrotype (1851-1860)

• Like Daguerreotypes, they are usually mounted on glass. However, they appear as a positive image no matter the angle of the light.
• Using a dark background or dark piece of glass creates the positive image
• Usually mounted in a metal frame

Tintype (1854-1950)

• Sized ranged 3/4" x 1" to 11" x 14"
• Bon-Ton style sized 2 3/8" x 3 1/2" to 4" x 5 3/4" and was popular from 1865-1910
• Not actually tin, but a thin sheet of iron!
• Because of the speed of exposure, these were often taken at fairs and carnivals
• Not as delicate as Daguerreotypes or Ambrotypes, Tintypes didn't need to be mounted in a case
• Tintypes lost popularity with the introduction of amateur cameras by Kodak and were a curiosity piece after the end of the 19th century even though a few people still made them in the '50s

Card Mounted Photographs
These various sized card mounted photographs are what I've found just about everywhere when antiquing. The size, card thickness, card color, and photographer's logo can all be helpful in dating these photos. The following list is from Wikipedia's article on Cabinet cards and is very helpful.
Card Stock

• 1866-1880 Square, lightweight mount
• 1880-1890 Square, heavy weight card stock
• 1890s Scalloped edges

Card Colors

• 1866-1880 Thin, light weight card stock in white, off white or light cream. White and light colors were used in later years, but generally on heavier card stock.
• 1880-1890 Different colors for face and back of mounts
• 1882-1888 Matte-finish front, with a creamy-yellow, glossy back.

Borders

• 1866-1880 Red or gold rules, single and double lines
• 1884-1885 Wide gold borders
• 1885-1892 Gold beveled edges
• 1889-1896 Rounded corner rule of single line
• 1890s on... Embossed borders and/or lettering

Lettering

• 1866-1879 Photographer name and address often printed small and neatly just below the image, and/or studio name printed small on back.
• 1880s on... Large, ornate text for photographer name and address, especially in cursive style. Studio name often takes up the entire back of the card.
• Late 1880s-90s Gold text on black card stock
• 1890s on... Embossed studio name or other embossed designs

Carte de Visite (1854-1900)

• 2 1/2" x 4" (the photo usually was 2" x 3 1/2" to keep a border around the photo)

Boudoir (1880s)

• 5 1/2" x 8 1/2"

Cabinet Card (1863-1920)

• 4 1/4" x 6 1/2"

Imperial Mount (1890s)

• 7" x 10"

Cigarette Card (1885- 1895, 1909-1917)

• 2 3/4" x 2 3/4"
• Used mainly like a trading card

Stereograph

• 3 1/2" x 7 or 5 x 7
• 3D image that required glasses to view

Dating the back of a card mounted photo can help as well! http://www.cartes.freeuk.com/time/time.htm is an excellent UK dissection of photo backs as well as other great tips (just remember that the Americas would probably be later dates for the same style as it "hopped the pond"). He has some great photos for examples, so I often check his site to figure out my photos.

Also note that some photos are actually photos of older photos. Sometimes, they would make a copy just by rephotographing a picture simply because it wasn't easy to make a copy (like a Daguerreotype which can be copied only by taking a photo of the photo). Heck, even I take pictures of pictures. I'm just too cheap to buy a scanner!

It can be a chore trying to find out how old a photo is, but it can be rewarding as well. Before Kodak came along and put a camera into the hands of every John Q. Public out there, it was an important thing to get one's photo taken. They usually dressed well and made a big deal out of the whole thing. As soon as we were able to make a picture, we were figuring out ways to get it into the hands of every family member and friend we had. We made business cards (the visiting or "calling" cards) out of it to trade with contacts. With the advent of amateur cameras, we were making wallet size and poster size and everything inbetween! This meant something to them, make it mean something to you and treasure it.

-Ana

What I Did With My Weekend

So how was your weekend? I just moved to a new area, so I was checking out the downtown. I ended up in a few antique stores trolling for goodies and look what I found:

 

Several Photos, some with names/dates

This part always makes me sad. To imagine someone just selling their history.... it happens all too much I think. So you don't know who someone is and no one is alive that remembers them? Why throw it out? Terrible.

Then there are the ones with names. I was talking to one shop owner who told me she bought the entire estate of a woman with no living relatives. She had photos, marriage certificate, playbills.... everything this woman had ever been. No living relatives? Are we sure? And even so, did that mean she deserved to be relegated to a second hand shop? To be purchased by a stranger for kicks?


Physician's daily record, postcards, photo of a man/his car



Then there are the postcards. I found packets of postcards that had some blank, some used. I don't collect them, so I'll be selling the blank ones, but I plan to transcribe the used ones on a page here soon. Some are in Swiss or German or something. Very interesting. And again sad; The store had so many from one family spanning years...... imagine all that you were being forgotten by your family (who are probably the ones selling this stuff). I forget the culture, but there is a belief that one dies three times. Once, when you literally die; then when your body is buried; and lastly, when no one speaks your name anymore. That is the most tragic thing I've ever heard.

Unknown men, tintype

And my favorite new find? A 1942 Physician's Daily Record. One year of a doctor's patients. I found an envelope with the name Dr. F. W. Cowgill, in Nevada, Iowa. It's a pretty good guess this is his book. I've set up a page to transcribe the entries. I'll list them by name to make them easier to search. Keep in mind that handwriting is hard even for an expert (which I am not) and I have no medical training. So there will be some parts marked illegible. Once I can get my scanner working (or pay for someone to scan a year's worth of pages), I'll post them. If you think someone may be a relative of yours, I'm willing to send you copies of the pages they are on, just let me know. It's a very interesting read. I've researched a little about Nevada and there was a Sanitarium that was the only hospital for a while. It burned down in '43, so I may have something you can't find elsewhere! As for the photos, I've put up a Flickr page with the individual pictures and any information that was on them. You can access it from the right sidebar. If you recognise someone, let me know. If you have your own unknowns, send me a copy and I'll add it to Flickr.

I've put up four posts that should get you started on your search, so I'll not be posting daily. I'll have a weekly post and anytime I feel like something needs to be said. The transcription of the record and postcards will take some time and I still have to devote my energies to my own lineage, so I'll be occupied for quite a while I think. Not that I mind at all! This is my favorite part, being knee deep in real world history. Not just some dry date with some facts, but a face with a breathing past.

-Ana