The Photo Detective

This week on the podcast, Maureen is joined by Elisabeth Smolarz, who created the Encyclopedia of Things. They discuss the items that define our lives and why we keep them.  Related Episodes: Episode 187: Building a Story with the Ancestry.com App Episode 180: Photos, Memories, and English Genealogy with Emma Jolly   Links: Elisabeth Smolarz Sign up for my newsletter. Watch my YouTube Channel. Lik...

This week Maureen Taylor, The Photo Detective TM, is joined by Greg French. Greg is an antique photograph enthusiast who buys and sells his images, as well as lending images to projects such as the 1991 book “American and the Daguerreotype, as well as placing a rare stereoview of Abraham Lincoln’s second inauguration in the Library of Congress.   Greg and Maureen talk about photo collecting, photo...

This week Maureen Taylor, The Photo Detective, is joined by Dr. Kimberly Chrisman-Campbell, an award-winning fashion historian and curator from Los Angeles, as well as the author of multiple books on fashion history. The two discuss skirts and how one piece of clothing can help us learn about history and how the skirt showed changes in ideals toward women and fashion, as well as how we present our...

In this week’s bonus episode, Maureen Taylor, The Photo Detective, is joined by author Amanda Quay Blount. Amanda has recently been taking the literary scene in Rhode Island (and beyond) by storm, as she recently published Meet Me at the Biltmore , a historical look at The Biltmore Hotel in Providence, Rhode Island, which has been around for over 100 years, and seen many famous visitors, including...

This week Maureen Taylor, The Photo Detective, is joined by Heather Radke, whose first book Butts: A Backstory, has taken the world by storm. Don’t let the title fool you – this book takes a deep look into women’s history and fashion.   From bustles to Broadway to Coco Chanel, the two dive into the meaning of fashion and how it has shaped not only our history, but also our media, our photos, and s...

This week on the podcast, Maureen Taylor, The Photo Detective, is joined by Amelia Soth. Amelia is a Wisconsin-based writer who has been writing the column “Cabinet of Curiosities” for JSTOR, which focuses on historical oddities. Maureen and Amelia discuss her process in writing and finding these stories and how the nuanced parts of history can often lead to great discoveries. Related Episodes: Ep...

This week Maureen Taylor, The Photo Detective, is joined by fashion historian Darnell-Jamal Lisby, who is currently the Assistant Curator of Fashion at the Cleveland Museum of Art, and the first to take this role. They discuss the latest exhibition, “Egyptomania: Fashion’s Conflicted Obsession,” and how the fascination with this time period has led to fashion influence throughout the centuries, as...

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 .  Support the show

This week on the podcast Maureen Taylor, The Photo Detective, is joined by Colin Mustful, author, publisher, and founder of History Through Fiction. He and Maureen discuss the differences between historical fiction, and what Colin calls “History Through Fiction,” where individuals write high-quality fiction that is rooted in historical research – or, as they call it on the podcast – history with f...

This week Maureen Taylor, The Photo Detective, is joined by Dr. Kate Strasdin, author and honorary deputy curator at the Totnes Fashion and Textile Museum.  In this episode, Kate examines her upcoming book - inspired by The Dress Diary of Anne Sykes. This is a brilliant look into one of the rarer artifacts Kate has uncovered - a dress diary featuring fabric swatches from the 1800s. These types of...

This week on the podcast, Maureen Taylor, The Photo Detective is joined by Francois Brunelle. Francois is a professional photographer and author, who resides in Montreal. Francois and Maureen discuss his fascinating project “I’m Not a Lookalike” where Francois photographs individuals who look similar – and then compares them. These individuals are not related and typically have never met. The idea...

This week on the podcast Maureen is doing a solo episode! This episode is an intimate look at Maureen’s life and behind-the-scenes of how she became The Photo Detective.  Additionally, Maureen details her journey over the past year as she’s updated her book Family Photo Detective , from getting the publishing rights to going through to update all links and book sources, to how the republishing of...

This week Maureen Taylor, The Photo Detective, is joined by Will Hansen,  the Director of Reader Services and Curator of Americana at the Newberry Library in Chicago.  Will and Maureen discuss several collections at Newberry Library, including their 1.6 million books, 600,000 different maps, and one collection with 44 glass lantern slides that document the great migration of African Americans from...

This week on the Photo Detective Podcast, Maureen Taylor, The Photo Detective, is joined by Daniel Patt, a software engineer and descendant of  three holocaust survivors.  It’s this familial relation that inspired Daniel, in his spare time, to create an artificial intelligence platform called “From Numbers to Names” that aids those descended from individuals who faced the Holocaust to discover con...

This week on The Photo Detective podcast, Maureen Taylor, the Photo Detective, is joined by Trevor Mattea. Trevor shares how finding a photo in his home’s attic helped inspire him to find who that photo belonged to – meaning the descendants of the people in the photo.  This episode examines the intimate journey that can come from these so-called “orphan photos” and what a reunion looks like. Trevo...

This week Maureen Taylor, The Photo Detective, is joined by Sabine Ocker, a photo collector and photo historian with over 500 snapshot albums in her collection.  The two dive into cyanotypes as a popular format with young women attending one of the 7-sister colleges, as well as their shared love of the cyanotype process, and Sabine’s collection of women’s cyanotype snapshot albums.  Related Episod...

This week Maureen Taylor, The Photo Detective, is joined by Carol Cox, the founder and CEO of Speaking Your Brand, a coaching and training company. Carol and Maureen tackle one of the biggest topics out there right now: writing with artificial intelligence. Specifically, the two discuss the new ChatGPT AI-- what it does and how it can be used. Their conversation might spark some ideas on how you c...

This week Maureen Taylor, The Photo Detective, is joined by Rosie Grant, a part-time digital librarian at the American Jewish University, who recently went viral for her work with finding recipes on gravestones.  The two discuss Rosie’s TikTok account ghostlyarchive and how these recipes imprinted on gravestones help continue to tell the story of someone who has long passed, as well as keep their...

This week Maureen Taylor, The Photo Detective, is joined by Leonard Marcus, a leading writer about children’s books and the people who create them. The two discuss Leonard’s book Mr. Lincoln Sits for his Portrait and how Abraham Lincoln not only had a huge influence on the world of portraits – but how he may be responsible for some of the most famous photos today – all for believing in the technol...

This week Maureen Taylor, The Photo Detective, is joined by Certified Professional Organizer and owner of HeartWork Organizing, Darla DeMorrow. The two discuss how to organize a photo collection, and what it means to do so. They look at the work of a professional organizer, and how digital and tangible photos can be approached in organizing – as well as what Darla does professionally within the wo...

This week Maureen Taylor, The Photo Detective, is joined by Jeff Looman, a software developer who is the Vice President of Engineering at FileShadow, Inc. FileShadow is a software platform that categorizes your files based on metadata and content. It’s a secure vault for all of your files. The two discuss how saving our images and documents, collaboration with family and friends, and preserving ou...

This week Maureen Taylor, The Photo Detective, is joined by Kenyatta D. Berry, author of The Family History Toolkit , and host of PBS’ Genealogy Roadshow . The two discuss professional genealogy, and how stories that have been forgotten in history are often the ones that can teach us the most. They also delve into what it means to have your family history, and why you should share it.  Related Epi...

This week Maureen Taylor, The Photo Detective, is joined by John Wood Sweet, a professor of history at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, and author. The two discuss his book The Sewing Girls Tale: A Story of Crime and Consequences in Revolutionary America and how narrative nonfiction helps us, the reader, get a glimpse into the past in ways we may have never thought were possible. Rela...

This week Maureen Taylor, The Photo Detective, is joined by Dr. Nathaniel Taylor, the Editor and Publisher of The American Genealogist . As a former medieval and modern history professor, Dr. Taylor’s genealogical research spans from medieval Spain all the way to colonial New England and Virginia. Through this, Dr. Taylor has become an expert in heraldry. The two discuss what heraldry means, how t...

This week Maureen Taylor, The Photo Detective, is joined by Bill Becker, who is the curator of  The American Museum of Photography, as well as an award-winning author, and Emmy-award winner for his writing and production work.  The two discuss the importance of imagery, storytelling, and preservation through images. Related Episodes: Episode 173: Cabinet Cards of Broadway and Silver Screen Stars E...