As a family historian, you know that locating information on your female ancestors is challenging. The legal requirement and social tradition of taking the husband’s surname after marriage makes it difficult to track down material on the women in the family tree. Yet stashed in old family albums and dusty boxes are images often overlooked. The amount of information available in a family photograph can be easily missed if you don’t know what to look for and how to interpret the clues. And while you might not discover your female ancestor’s date of birth or her maiden name, you’ll be surprised at what a single photograph can teach you.

To really learn from a photograph, you need a pair of observant eyes and a magnifying glass. Make a list of every detail you see in the image. Are there props in the background? What accessories is she wearing? What does her dress look like? Can you identify occupational or economic clues? Following up on all of these details requires research and study. Photo reference tools consist of oral history, fashion encyclopedias, city directories, and photography history, as well as the sources used for genealogical research.

Evaluating a photograph usually begins with placing it in a time period. This involves sharing the image with other family members, identifying the photographic method, finding out when the photographer was in business, if possible, interpreting any caption information, and learning more about clothing styles.

The first step in any photo investigation is to ask questions. Your research will determine the veracity of the answers. Since you’ll be showing your photo to relatives and taking it with you to libraries, you should make either a photocopy of both sides of the photograph (if the back has been written on) or a copy print so that you aren’t carrying an irreplaceable original. Make multiple copies so you can send them to relatives who may have similar photographs in their collections.

Track down any relative who might be able to supply additional material or stories related to the photos. Record his or her recollections by transcribing the stories or by using a tape or video recorder. Make sure you keep the full contact information for anyone you interview. You’ll want to show your relative the photograph several times during the process in case some new information jogs their memory. Here are some sample questions you can ask:

What do you know about the photograph?
What are the stories associated with it?
Do you know why or when it was taken?
Who are the people in the photograph?

Daguerreotype (1839-1860s): Metal photograph with a reflective surface, sometimes found in a case. They must be held at an angle to be seen.

Ambrotype (invented 1854): Negative image on glass that appears as a positive due to being backed with a dark material. Usually placed on glass because is was so fragile.

Ferreotype or tintype (invented 1856): These dark metal images are on thin sheets of iron. Photographers sold them in cases, paper mats, or alone.

Paper print (1859 to the present): Images on paper were available in a variety of sizes. The coloring of the print was primarily the result of the different papers and processes used in emulsion-making and developing. Candid images became widespread in the 1890s after George Eastman introduced the Kodak camera.

Creating a checklist of characteristics will help you narrow your choices to the type of photo, and thus to the approximate date it would have been taken. Is the image on metal? Does it look like a mirror? Is it a paper print or on glass? What is its exact size? By answering these questions you’re eliminating possibilities and coming closer to determining the date of the photo.

In the case of a candid picture, can you determine who was the family photographer? Kodak launched a marketing campaign to reach out to women, encouraging them to not only pose for photographs, but to take them as well. Occasionally, it is possible to locate a picture of a woman actually holding a camera.

Many women during Victorian times collected images of both family members and famous personalities in albums. If you have a photographic album of your female ancestor, it can tell you about her hobbies and activities as well as the important people in her life.

A series of baby portraits contain a notice of the child’s eventual college attendance and brief career as a teacher written on the back. You never know what information will be uncovered in the captions of a photograph.

Be careful when accepting caption information as the truth. You probably don’t know who wrote it or if it is even correct. The story of the female members of your family isn’t complete until you add all the things you’ve learned about her from the documents of her life as well.

Clues in Clothing and Props. Clothing often reveals a woman’s fashion sense, personality, economic status, ethnicity, and maybe even the reason for the photograph. Costume elements are also vital to narrowing down the date. In general, fashion changes are most notable in the accessories, such as hats and jewelry. Costume encyclopedias and fashion magazines can help you track when certain styles of dress were fashionable. Check your local public or academic library for these resources. Another helpful resource is Joan Severa’s Dressed for the Photographer: Ordinary Americans and Fashion, 1840-1900 (Kent State University Press, 1995).

Photographs can reveal a family’s economic status or occupation. Young women often visited photography studios with friends to create a memento of their day dressed in their best clothing. If a woman lacked the financial resources for the latest style shawl, photographers often lent her these items to guarantee a first-rate picture.

When you look at the image, be on the lookout for items, such as jewelry, that may have been passed from a mother to her child. You might actually own an heirloom that is visible in an ancestral portrait.

Perhaps the photographer used props such as handkerchiefs, books, or flowers. Since Victorians believed in the language of flowers, try to determine which flower is featured. Orange blossoms were a popular wedding decoration because they signified a woman’s value. The presence of a book symbolizes knowledge and education, which may be an indication that your female ancestor was furthering her education.

Clues in the Pose. You can also learn something about the relationship between the individuals in the photo from their pose and composure. Some women were comfortable enough to clown in front of the lens. Other women found sitting in a photo studio intimidating. Look carefully at their faces. Early photographic methods made it difficult to smile because of long exposure times. By the late nineteenth century, more women relaxed in front of the camera.

Early photographic methods required that people stand absolutely still; photographers used neck and body braces to keep them from moving. You might catch a glimpse of the stand for the brace in daguerreotypes and ambrotypes at the feet of the individual(s) in a full-length portrait.

While a photographer made suggestions about where various family members stood, there is a level of spontaneity in most pictures. A child gripping the legs of both parents or clinging to one parent illustrates its personality and place in the family. You may even be able to determine a couple’s relationship based on their body language in the photo. Couples tend to sit or stand closer together when they have a good relationship.

With the high rates of child mortality in the nineteenth and early twentieth century, it is easy to understand why women took their babies to the photographer’s studio. While many women chose to pose for portraits holding their squirming children, there were some that elected to just have a portrait of their child. In these photos, you may find the arm of the mother in the picture as she reaches out to steady her child, or she may have hidden under a blanket to ensure her baby’s safety. Incredibly disturbing photographs show grieving mothers (and sometimes fathers) holding a deceased infant or small child.

Try to gather at least one photograph for each woman on your family tree who lived after 1839 (the year photography was invented). You might uncover new collections of images of those mysterious women on the family tree by networking with relatives or on the Internet.

By the late nineteenth century, photographers generally sold multiple copies of photos to customers so they could be shared with family and friends. Perhaps you’ll discover your female ancestors in the photo collections of cousins and distant relatives.

After completing your photo research, compare what you know with your genealogical material. Pull all the details together and see what you’ve learned about your elusive female ancestors. You might find that they’re not so elusive after all.

Maureen A. Taylor is the author of several genealogical books, including Uncovering Your Ancestry Through Family Photographs (Betterway, 2000) and a guide to family history for kids, Through the Eyes of Your Ancestors (Houghton Mifflin, 1999).

Return to the Ancestry Magazine January/February 2003 table of contents.