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NOTICE: A greatly expanded and PROFUSELY ILLUSTRATED version of this material is being prepared as an ebook - watch this space for availability announcements.
Identifying and Dating Historic Photographs
We provide a great deal of information of value in learning to identify and date
old photographs, and have even more information and resources available for subscribers.
This part of the site is continuously developing, as we complete new research and
find new information. Be sure to check back periodically for the latest updates.
This ongoing study is the first large-scale investigation into dating old photographs
since William C Darrah's groundbreaking research into CDVs, published in 1981. By my
calculations, Darrah seems to have had about 3,024 dated CDVs to work with (less than 5%
of the 62,608 cards in his collection). Currently, I have approximately 3,500 dated
images -- but they span the first 111 years of photography, 1839 to 1949. But our
ClassyArts.com collection continues to grow.
These pages include a lot of specific guidelines -- particular characteristics are
observed between specific years in our collection. Remember that those are GUIDELINES
not rules. There will always be exceptions. We do have ONE RULE for you: when trying to
date a photograph, NEVER rely on a single characteristic. You should find two or
three or more characteristics that all support the particular date or date-range you
assign to an image - preferably at least one from the image itself and one from the case,
card mount, or mat if it is mounted. If you find evidence that suggests conflicting dates,
be sure the time-span you choose has the stronger supporting evidence. Remember that the
image may be older or newer than the case, if it has been transferred, and may be older
than the card mount or mat it is found on, if it is a copy.
We also devote a lot of attention to identifying images, not just assigning a date,
though that is often an important part of identification. The house I grew up in was built
about 1840, and still had junk in the attic from earlier owners, including a large
gilt-framed charcoal portrait of a man and woman. These portraits, I eventually learned,
were made from photographs -- very faint enlarged images were printed on a large sheet of
cardboard, then 'painted over' or actually, in the case of charcoal or colored chalks
(called crayons) -- sketched over, by an artist. I have never seen the original photograph,
but I did find in an old local-history book a copy of the photograph that the man's image
was drawn from -- the pose and position, every detail matched exactly. So with no more than
an approximate location, it is possible to identify some of these old photographs --
and often we have much more than just the location, once we closely examine the image and
the card, case or mat where it is mounted.
So never give up hope -- and please, never deface old photographs or allow them to be
damaged by neglect. One day I hope a massive collection of identified images may be used in
combination with face-recognition software to help us identify many of these old anonymous
images. Until that idyllic day, we must work very hard to add information -- clues about
dates, identities and locations. Hopefully, someone will appreciate the effort in future
ages when they will be able to see what those ancestors actually looked like, and
view those locations as they appeared in years past.
Perhaps I should add a section on preservation of old images -- but it is pretty basic
and obvious: avoid heat, light and humidity in your storage location as much as possible.
Never display original images on your walls or shelves, but use high quality modern copies.
Create, and periodically renew (as technology changes), a high-resolution digital copy of
each image, and share those widely.
Identifying the Object
Identifying the Subject
Identifying the Photographer
Clues to Dating Historic Photographs
- Cased Image Clues: Cases, Mats, Preservers
- Card Mounted Images: the cards, the imprints
- Cardboard Matted Images: the mat, the imprints
- Unmounted Prints: the snapshots, the copies, the RPPCs
- Image Characteristics: artifacts, clothing, grooming and adornment, props, poses and backgrounds
Resources for Dating Historic Photographs
NOTICE: A greatly expanded and PROFUSELY ILLUSTRATED version of this material is being prepared as an ebook - watch this space for availability announcements.
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