Finding Family Photos

The Photo Detective

https://player.vimeo.com/video/261036540

A listener, Deborah Stock, asked me to talk about how to find family photos. There are photos everywhere from genealogical databases, to books. There is no quick way to search for photos online. It takes time and methodology.

Tips

Try making a list for each ancestor. Where they lived? Where they worked? Their activities. Then search for pictures based on their lives. Start big: Images.google.com For instance, search for historical images of the town they lived in.

Look for images of your ancestors in genealogy sites like FamilySearch, MyHeritage and Ancestry.com. You’ll have to search for them individually, or if you have an account on MyHeritage.com their photo discovery feature will find them for you. Did you watch my interview with Daniel Horowitz of MyHeritage? We took their discovery feature for a test drive.

You can also search older books for images. Archive.org partnered with Flicker.com to share images. Not only can you find images, you’ll be able to link to the exact page in the publication to see the picture in context. Who knows what you’ll find?

Photo Stories

Have you watched my video about a photo of my maternal grandmother and her siblings? As the Photo Detective I thought I’d already examined this image so what I found surprised me. I’m starting a new series called: Outside the Frame. Watch my newsletter and blog for new tales. You can sign up for my newsletter via Facebook or my website.

The Last Muster

RootsTech was exhausting as usual, BUT it’s also exhilarating. I met so many people, looked at a lot of photos. Caroline Miles stopped by my booth. She looked at The Last Muster books of images of people who lived during the Revolution but lived long enough to be photographed. Hmm…she wondered out loud if her great great great grandmother was in one of them. She was! The smile on her face said it all. It was the first time she’d seen a photo of Elizabeth Gillam.

I'm thrilled to be offering something new. Photo investigations. These collaborative one-on-one sessions. Look at your family photos then you and I meet to discuss your mystery images. And find out how each clue and hint might contribute to your family history. Find out more by going to maureentaylor.com and clicking on family photo investigations.

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