When I get a chance to watch TV, I try to choose carefully because I'm admittedly squeamish. So when I flipped through and settled on a home improvement network, I was not prepared for the traumatic experience that awaited me. The show was about people who were trying to raise money to buy a hot tub for their yard.
They were going through their house looking for items to put up for sale by auction. As they went through the house and found some really ugly old hats and other items, I watched distractedly. Then the narrator spotted a collection of daguerreotypes. “No! Not your family photos!” I screamed at the television. As I sat there sobbing uncontrollably, the family ignored my cries and put those beautiful pictures up for auction.
Okay, maybe I wasn’t exactly sobbing, but it was disturbing. Were they images of family members? I actually don’t know for sure because I missed the beginning of the show. I couldn’t help but shudder at the thought of someone’s great-grandpa’s photograph being sold off to strangers for a hot tub. As family historians, we would probably be more likely to sell the hot tub for a photograph of great-grandpa.
Photographs and sketches really add interest to a family history, but not all of us are fortunate enough to have photos of all of our ancestors. That doesn’t mean our family histories have to be lacking in visual appeal though. We can incorporate historical and contemporary photographs and sketches of homes, neighborhoods, the countryside, schools, churches, cemeteries, events, furniture and other heirlooms, original documents, maps, and anything else that is representative of our ancestry.
These photographs can be used in published family histories, to share at family reunions, to decorate your home, or to decorate your family history binder cover. I get binders with those clear plastic covers so I can create custom covers for each one. It makes it easy to find the correct binder and they look nice. With this in mind, in today’s column I thought I’d take a look at some ways we might be able to locate photographs and other images that we can use to add interest to our family histories.
Where Can I Find Them?
Local Collections
Libraries, historical societies, museums, and local governments are good starting points in your search for historic photos. The San Francisco Public Library maintains a database of 30,000 photographs that can be viewed by subject (e.g., biography, buildings, businesses, churches, cemeteries, districts, orphanages, schools, and streets), as well as views listed by the decade from the 1850s through the 1990s. Local chambers of commerce or tourism bureaus may also include historic photos on their websites.
You may even find that these local venues offer historic photos for sale. The San Francisco Public Library site includes a price list for prints of photographs found in the online collection. The New York Municipal Archives has tax photos of every house and building in all five boroughs and copies can be ordered through their website as well.
American Memory
The Library of Congress’s American Memory project contains both photographs and images. While you may not find your ancestor among these images, you will find all kinds of interesting images. The collection includes:
These are just a small sampling of what you can find through the Library of Congress. Take a little time to do some browsing through the various collections. It’s well worth the trip!
Ancestry.com Photo Collections
Ancestry.com has several image collections available to members on its site. These include:
Orphan Sites
There are a growing number of “orphan” photograph and memorabilia websites now online. These sites rescue lost or abandoned photographs and other mementos from flea markets, garage sales, and online auctions, and post images or descriptions of the item on the site in the hopes of reuniting it with an associated family. These sites include Dead Fred: The Original Online Genealogy Photo Archive and Ancient Faces. Megan Smolenyak has written about these sites in her Ancestry Daily News column and in Ancestry Magazine.
Auction Sites
Online auctions such as eBay may reveal old photographs and postcards, which can be purchased, typically at reasonable prices.
Search Engines
Most search engines now include a tab that allows you to search images alone, and these can be a fun way to get a look at ancestral towns, even those located a world away. I have found both historical and contemporary images from ancestral towns in Poland, Ireland, and Hungary. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to visit them in person, but it’s nice to see what they look like.
Create Your Own
Do you have a collection of heirlooms from a particular family? Group them together and take your own photograph of them to include in your family history. Recording the history of these heirlooms will also help ensure their preservation as well as the stories that go with them.
If you or someone else in your family has artistic talents, a hand-drawn map of the old neighborhood, or a sketch of a family home or farm can add a really personal touch.
Copyright Considerations
When using these images, it is important to remember photographs and other materials found on the Internet are subject to copyright laws. Information on copyrights are available online from the U.S. Copyright Office. Although there is sometimes confusion when it comes to what constitutes "fair use," your best bet is, when in doubt, request permission; most of the time you’ll find that your request will be granted.
Websites with online collections will often even include this information somewhere on the site. The San Francisco collection mentioned above even has "Permission to Publish" request forms available on the site and charges $15 to use them.
In Closing
Photographs bring an added dimension to family history and can energize you and your family, inspiring interest to learn more. Share your photographic finds with family members; who knows what kind of memories it will stir up!
Juliana Smith is the editor of the Ancestry Daily News and author of The Ancestry Family Historian’s Address Book. She has written for Ancestry Magazine and Genealogical Computing. Juliana can be reached by e-mail at: ADNeditor@ancestry.com, but she regrets that she is unable to assist with personal research.
Copyright 2005, MyFamily.com.
The Family History Compass
