Old Family Photos: How to Date and Identify Them

A box of unlabeled photos is a puzzle you can solve. How to date a photo from its type, the photographer's studio, clothing and hairstyles, and how to work out who's in it.

3 min read

Nearly every family has a box of old photographs with no names on the back. The people in them were important enough to photograph, and someone kept them for generations. With some detective work, you can usually date a photograph within a decade or so, and often figure out who is in it.

Step 1: Identify the type of photograph

Photographic processes came and went, so the type of photo is the first clue to its date. Approximate periods of popularity in America:

• Daguerreotype (1839 to about 1860): a mirror-like image on silvered copper, usually in a hinged case. Tilt it and the image flips between positive and negative.
• Ambrotype (mid-1850s to mid-1860s): an image on glass, backed with dark material, usually cased.
• Tintype (mid-1850s to the early 1900s): an image on a thin sheet of iron; a magnet will stick to it. Cheap and popular, especially during the Civil War.
• Carte de visite (about 1860 to 1890s): a small paper photo, about 2.5 by 4 inches, mounted on card. Hugely popular in the 1860s.
• Cabinet card (about 1866 to 1920s): a larger mounted photo, about 4.25 by 6.5 inches. The color, thickness and edges of the card mount changed over time and can help narrow the date.
• Real photo postcard (about 1900s to 1930s): a photograph printed on postcard stock. The stamp box on the back often carries the paper maker's logo, which can be dated.
• Snapshots (from about 1890s on): after Kodak introduced easy cameras, families took their own pictures. Print sizes, borders and paper changed by decade.

Step 2: Read the back and the mount

• The photographer's imprint: name and address. Look up when that photographer worked at that address in city directories. That can narrow a date to a few years.
• Handwriting: any name, date or note, even a partial one. Note who wrote it, if you can tell.
• Revenue stamps: photographs sold in 1864–1866 required a federal tax stamp on the back.
• Processing dates: many 20th-century snapshots have a date printed on the border or back.

Step 3: Look at clothing, hair and setting

Fashion changed quickly, especially for women. Sleeve shapes, collars, skirt widths and hairstyles can often place a photo within five or ten years. Men's collars, ties and lapels help too. Compare with dated fashion references, books on dating photographs by clothing, or online galleries of dated photos. Keep in mind that older people often wore older styles.

Also look at the setting: studio props, painted backdrops, cars, buildings, signs and furniture can all be dated.

Step 4: Work out who's in it

1. Start with the date range you've established, and estimate each person's age.
2. List the family members who would have been about those ages at that time, using your tree.
3. Consider where the photo came from: whose box was it in? Which side of the family?
4. Compare faces with identified photos. Look at ears, noses, hairlines and eye shapes, which change little with age.
5. Look for occasions: a wedding portrait, a baby's portrait, a military uniform, a graduation.

Step 5: Ask for help

Show photos to older relatives; they may recognize people or places instantly. Distant cousins, found through DNA matches or online trees, may have copies of the same photo with a name on the back. Online communities, including genealogy and old-photo forums, are often remarkably good at dating clothing. When you post, include the type of photo, the photographer's imprint and any family context. See How to Ask for Genealogy Help Online.

Be careful with "identified" photos online

Photos posted to online trees are often mislabeled, and some are outright impossible: a "photograph" of a man who died before photography existed, or a portrait of someone famous attached to the wrong person. Check that the photo type and clothing fit the person's lifetime before you accept a label.

Once you identify a photo

Write what you know, with a soft pencil, lightly on the back of the photo's mount (never with a pen), or on a label or acid-free sleeve. Scan it, and record the identification and how you made it in your tree. See Preserving and Scanning Family Papers and Photos.