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Keith Hobbs
05-10-2004, 2:51 PM
I need some help with the dating of old photographs. Could anyone provide the address of a web site or the title a book that could help.

Keith

Procat
12-10-2004, 10:37 AM
I need some help with the dating of old photographs. Could anyone provide the address of a web site or the title a book that could help.

Keith

Hi Ken

There are a number of books and web sites that may assist.

I just did a google seach for the term dating old photographs and it came up with 400,000+ hits including web sites that appear to offer a lot of information.

Regards,

Nadine Harmon
13-10-2004, 2:21 PM
Keith,

I found directories very helpful. Some of my old photos have addresses on them. By looking at the directories for different years, I was able to tell which address the photographer used in which year.
Hope this helps.
Nadine

Keith Hobbs
14-10-2004, 3:12 PM
Procat and Nadine,

Thanks to you both, I will use your suggestions.

Keith

ziksby
15-10-2004, 12:40 PM
Hi Brett
I visited your website after browsing this forum. I have J W Price in my tree, but need to check my facts, as I have him married twice. I may be wrong; will let you know.

Brett
16-10-2004, 2:08 AM
Hi Roger,

My research is very much "provisional", so you could well be right! I'd appreciate any further information on JW Price that you can dig up.

Peggy
09-12-2004, 11:08 AM
I've visited many of those 400000 sites. <g> And some are great. But how do I know, for instance, that the dress worn in the photo was the style for that year? Might it not have been a couple of years behind the fashion? Nothing seems to match up exactly to examples I see. And I have a photo of a little girl that has me really confused. She is dressed as a mini-adult, and I can't make even a wild guess about her age. (It is important, as it could help to establish her date of emigration.)

If there is anyone who is good at this, and would be willing to have a look, I have the pix posted on the web, and can provide directions to them. Or, I can e-mail jpgs. (I'll never figure out how to put then in a forum message! - - - all I see when Rod does that is a link!)

Brett
14-12-2004, 12:43 AM
Hi Peggy,

If you post a link to the web page with your photo, I'd be happy to have a look at it. I should warn you in advance, however, that dating photographs of children is fraught with difficulties.:(

Regards and best wishes, Brett

Peggy
14-12-2004, 2:15 AM
Thank you very much, Brett!

The photos, from the studio of H. J. Whitlock, 11 New St., Birmingham, are numbers 9 & 10 (Julia Farrell & Sarah Simpson) in the first Gallery

I don't have the original photos, only copies. The girl in #9 was born 13 July 1861. Any guess about her age in the photo would be helpful. I haven't a clue.

Peggy

Peggy
21-12-2004, 7:49 AM
Thank you, Brett! Very helpful! My problem is that my best evidence indicates that the girl was sent to the US in the fall of 1869. So she couldn't have been more than age 8 and a month or two. If her photo was taken at the same time, the mother would have been close to age 38. I thought the photos might have been taken because of the coming separation, but what I was seeing on photo web pages suggested a slightly later date, and that had me worried. If 1869 is possible, that's good news.

Another question, if I may. They went and sat (or stood <g>) for the photos. I've read that there were often a dozen copies. Was more than one taken, and the customer selected the best? How long did it take to get your photos?

Gratefully,

Peggy

Brett
21-12-2004, 8:17 AM
Dear Peggy,

I can't really offer much with regard to the process that the subjects went throught to get the photos, I'm afraid. Not my forte, sorry.

Regards, Brett

SallyH
15-07-2005, 5:16 AM
My guess would be that the little girl looks about 8 or 10, but I wonder if the unrelieved dark colour of her dress might mean that she is wearing mourning clothes. Do you know if a close relative died around that time??

Good luck

Sally

Geoffers
15-07-2005, 9:11 AM
I don't have the original photos, only copies. The girl in #9 was born 13 July 1861. Any guess about her age in the photo would be helpful. I haven't a clue. Peggy
I've looked at a couple of photos of my wife's family which are dated and the photo of the child is very similar (hairstyle, pose, dress) to one dated 1867. The photo of the older woman looks more like the 1870's to me, but that is an inexpert estimate.

Geoffers

Peggy
15-07-2005, 10:49 AM
[I wonder if the unrelieved dark colour of her dress might mean that she is wearing mourning clothes. Do you know if a close relative died around that time??]

Hi Sally,

Wow! This is a wonderful system. More replies 6 months on!

That's an interesting question. I'm not sure if there had been any recent deaths in the family circle. I'm not even certain I've found all of her siblings.

If the photo was taken shortly before she left England, and if I finally have the facts straight, her father was dying. But he wouldn't die for another couple of months. (I've always thought that she looked awfully solemn in that photo. Guess she had good reason.)

Peggy

Peggy
15-07-2005, 11:08 AM
Hi Geoffers!

Is the picture you mention on the web anywhere? I'd love to see it. I couldn't find any similar photo when searching through the old photo sites.

She looks a little older than 6, doesn't she? Perhaps she was just out of style.

Btw, you were looking at Julia, probably about to sail off to America with the mysterious Snooks couple. [From my thread on USA.] The older woman was her mother Sarah, who died in Aston in 1904, survived by her 4th husband.
A daughter of husband #3 was down in his 1883 will to inherit "portraits" of him and Sarah. I wonder what became of those!

Best,

Peggy

Geoffers
15-07-2005, 3:33 PM
Is the picture you mention on the web anywhere? I'd love to see it. I couldn't find any similar photo when searching through the old photo sites.
Sorry, it's just one of a collection of (copies of) old photos that we have.


She looks a little older than 6, doesn't she? Perhaps she was just out of style.
The photo that I have is 1867 - but - styles may have remained similar for a couple more years. As to age, well children were just regarded as young adults and I think that being dressed up in this manner does tend to create a false impression of age. The problem is having very little in the photo from which to judge scale, apart from the skirting board.

Geoffers