Dating Home Sources

Placing photographs in specific time periods and locales may help to identify the persons featured. Consult books such as Karen Frisch-Ripley, Unlocking the Secrets in Old Photographs (Salt Lake City: Ancestry, 1992). Photographic processes, discussed earlier, are critical to classifying a photograph within a decade or so of its origin. Once the general period of origin has been established, other indicators offer more precise dating. A book of photographic portraits edited by Alison Mager, Children of the Past (New York: Dover Publications, 1978) provides the opportunity to compare studio backdrops and props, such as period playthings and furniture, with those in an unidentified photo.

An examination of clothing styles over decades might also help to demystify a photograph in your possession. Joan Severa, Dressed for the Photographer: Ordinary Americans and Fashion, 1840-1900 (Ohio: Kent State University Press, 1995), shows Americans, rich and poor, black and white, rural and urban, and how they chose to dress for the photographer. Other clues to dating a photograph are the style of moustaches, sideburns, and beards on men and hairstyle for both genders; setting or environment (if a studio portrait, the objects used in the setting); even the pose can be revealing of the era in which the subject lived (figure 1-4). A photograph depicting one of the first African American-owned banks in Memphis, Tennessee, provides insights into a workplace of its period. Note the telephone at the teller's window and the electrical fixture hanging from the ceiling. These items are not only interesting; they may provide inclusive dates for the photograph (figure 1-5).

Postcards can be dated through their inscriptions, stamps, or postmarks. Those marked "Private Mailing Card" are likely to have been printed between 1898 and 1902 or, if printed in Europe, between 1899 and 1918. Cards on which correspondence was prohibited on the address side and overlaid onto the photograph or illustration predate 1907. Penny postcards were manufactured after 1898, when postal regulations established the penny postcard rate, while cards requiring two cents of postage date from 1873 to 1898.

The dating of antiques, such as furniture or other collectibles, is more complicated. Few family historians are experts in this art, and most will benefit from the professional help available from museums and historical societies. Take the object or a photograph of it to a curio shop or antique show where there are knowledgeable and reliable dealers. Seek more than one opinion, but be willing to pay for such consultations.

Once you have acquired some information about an object's origin or the date of its creation, prepare a written record of it. Create a "home sources album"-sometimes called an "heirloom book"-by taking photographs of each precious item and arranging them in an archival photo album. Leave space to record all that is known about the object, including professional opinions you have received regarding value, origin, and age. Instructions for preparing such an album will be found in "Leaving a Legacy: How to Preserve Your Research, Photos and Heirlooms" in Ancestry, the quarterly of the Palm Beach County (Florida) Genealogy Society, 28 (2) (April 1993). Here, too, is the perfect place to identify the person to whom the object is to go upon your demise.