Identifying old family photos

As I’ve gotten older, and, especially since my mother died, it’s occurred to me that I’m close to being the only one left who has knowledge of the family history, especially photos.

To make matters worse, my father is a history teacher, history buff, and, all-around family history studier. There’s no way I can even begin to absorb what he knows, though much of it is written down.

Somewhere. Eek.

I want to be the person with the extensive archive of family information and photographs, I really do. My maternal great-aunt made me a scrapbook of her side of the family long before scrapbooking was popular, and, I wish I had understood the significance of it then. I’d love to be able to do that for my kids someday.

However, my kids are funny about 3 meals a day and clean clothes, so it may be a while before I can get into this as well as our own photos.

If you do find yourself the keeper of old family photographs, sometimes they can be hard to identify, but, there are resources that can help you with clues to old photos.

For example, Geneaology.com gives us some ways to date old photographs, and, Maureen Taylor, The Photo Detective, can actually research your photographs. She has a book on the topic, Uncovering Your Ancestry Through Family Photographs, as well.