The Photo Detective

It’s been a couple of years since I’ve checked in with Daniel Horowitz, of My Heritage.com.  We talked about instant discoveries, what happens when information is uploaded in a different language, and how you can use watermarks on your images.  Daniel shares a big announcement about family photographs. The new tool developed out of a company-wide hackathon to develop new features.   For a demonstr...

Working on the MasterClass on Digital Photo Organizing with MemoryWeb has taught me a few things. It’s reinforced my love for using a digital photo organizer because it makes it so easy to find the exact image I’m looking for when it’s needed. But it also helped me see my research deficits. In the process of “cataloging” all my images I found some long lost images. The steps in the process made me...

Our family photos reveal our ancestor's fashion choices and those clues can help date a picture. The collars, cuffs, hats, and shoes worn by our grandmothers teach us about the period in which they lived, but those details also tell us a bit of the story of their lives. Historical costume is on display in movies and television, but you can also find costumed historians at historic living hist...

Way back when colorizing photographs was a controversial topic. Should they or shouldn’t they be colorized?  Now there is wide public support for the process. It’s done digitally, not like our ancestors adding color with artist materials.  You can find whole collections of images of historical events looking like they were taken yesterday in eye-popping full color. The techniques and tints used to...

What are your plans for 2020? I have a few. From reviewing my podcast episodes from last year to expanding educational offerings, this year is going to be full of chances to chat with me at conferences and connect through Masterclasses. In this episode, I review the most popular podcast episodes of 2019. Photo scanning, finding photos, women patriots, and family reunion planning top the list. The...

In the old days, we’d print our photos and hopefully write identifying information on the back. Some folks would add them to albums.  Then print photos became old-fashioned and digital images became popular. We took thousands of new photos and scanned the old. Our hard drives and cell phones are full of photos with no data. Finding what we want is often like a horror movie. Convenient to carry all...

Have you ever wished you had time to write your family history?  My guest today has a way of encouraging you to tell your family story in manageable bites.  It’s her popular 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks program. She supplies the prompts and you write, blog, scrapbook, or Instagram something about an ancestor each week. There’s no pressure to participate every week. I guarantee at the end of the year y...

On stormy winter afternoons, my Mom would drag out the boxes of family photos and would reminisce about fifty years of family history. My sister and I would pick photos out of the box and ask her to tell us about the people in them. One thing would lead to another. It wasn’t about the pictures. They were the inspiration for her stories.  Since then, I’ve developed a signature approach to identifyi...

I love a good movie. Maybe you do too.  Could there be any better film than one that profiles a person or moment in your family history?  There is more than one way to start a holiday discussion after the main course. Why not show a short family history related film.  Animoto makes it easy. Upload your images. Pick a template. Start editing. Add a soundtrack and you’re done. Share it with family o...

I’m fascinated by re-discovered history be it photographs, places, or films.  Motion Picture history is a lot more varied than many of us realize. In the early years of the movie industry, production studios were all over the country. Unfortunately, most of that history is now lost. The Library of Congress and museums and archives all over the world are trying to piece together that past.  Today’s...

Caring for your photos and heirlooms just got easier.  It used to be difficult to find the right supplies. The materials safe to use with your pictures. Well, guess what?  Gaylord, the company that might just be the oldest archival supplier, launched a line of products for genealogists. Did I mention they have knowledgeable staff to help you buy the correct boxes, tissue, and card stock to preserv...

At this time of year, I’m busy making lists of ingredients for Thanksgiving but I’m also starting to think about the holiday season. I have a few gift suggestions for the family historians on your list. Some fit in a Christmas stocking, others are online. You might want to drop a few hints to the gift-givers you know.    At the end of the podcast, I have an offer for those of you that have been pu...

November  is National Novel Writing Month aka NaNoWriMo Have you ever thought about writing your family history? Well...now might be the time to start.    My guest is an author who weaves fiction and non-fiction together into historical fiction. Real people live in her pages with a fictionalized context. Her stories are compelling reading. At our first meeting at the Museum of the American Revolut...

If you’ve ever seen a piece of jewelry with hair in it, you’ve probably wondered what’s that about?  While we associate hair jewelry with mourning, that’s not the whole story. My guest Sarah Nehama shared fascinating facts about mourning and memorial jewelry. A piece with her first name on it inspired her to start collecting these antiques. As a jewelry designerthese historical pieces influence th...

My mom gave me all the family photos. The earliest photo on my dad’s side dates to 1895. On her side, a cousin connected with me images from that time frame as well. All the pictures came from relatives. Now imagine a serendipitous family photo find. One that you didn’t expect. That’s what happened to me on an ordinary day no searching required.    Photo historian William Darrah in his book Cartes...

Vivid-pix Restore has a new tool for users. You can attach metatag to your images. If you haven’t tried Vivid-Pix Restore, you’re missing the Vivid-pix fix. Basically you select an image to add it to the program and in seconds you see nine versions of your image. Pick the fix that seems right to you and save it. Your original will stay as it is, but you’ll also have the restored version as well. T...

I have thousands of pictures on my desktop, my phone, and online. Finding exactly the right image to share with relatives was a nightmare. It could take days to scroll through all the pictures for just the right one. Then Christopher Desmond introduced me to MemoryWeb.  I remember thinking how can one product do so much AND be designed for genealogists.  MemoryWeb is one of my go- to tools. It’s a...

You’re going to love my guest, Don Perry of the very successful new show on PBS, Family Pictures USA. It’s about people, places, photographs and the stories that connect them. Family Pictures USA travels across America showing us the connection between family photographs and family stories. Links: Sign up for my newsletter. Watch my YouTube Channel. Like the Photo Detective Facebook Page so you ge...

As I watch the destruction caused by Hurricane Dorian, I’m worried about the next disaster.  My mind is thinking about When Hurricane Sandy hit the East Coast of the United States in 2012. It was not the powerhouse storm that Dorian is, but  the effects were felt all the way into New England. On the New Jersey shore near Union Beach, family photographs started washing up on the beach. One woman to...

In the early twentieth century child laborers worked in mills across America. Perhaps your ancestors did too. It’s possible. In 1900 more than 1.75 million children aged 10 to 15 were employed. A photo of your ancestor might exist. I'm a big fan of this week's guest, Joe Manning. He finds the photos and connects them with family.  In 1908, the National Child Labor Committee hired a photo...

In August, I dedicated all my podcast episodes to family reunion focused activities and guests. Since it’s Family Reunion season, that means we’re pretty likely to be posing for a group portrait. It’s part of most reunions...a visual gathering of everyone at the event. We have dozens of pictures of my husband’s family reunion attendees In Episode 51 , Edith Wagner of Reunions magazine shared a sto...

No gathering of my mother’s relatives is complete without hours of card playing. My mother taught us to play card games from an early age. That’s why as soon as I saw OurCards at a genealogy conference I was intrigued. Forget Bicycle cards. They are lovely but nothing compares to seeing your ancestral photos in a deck. Imagine your great grandmother as the Queen of Hearts. At the next gathering I’...

Our past is for sale. Our parent’s stuff and previous generations as well. You can find the most amazing things at flea markets. That’s what New Englander’s call these outdoor sales. I regularly visit two of these. In the summer months, the Providence Flea occupies a small space on the waterfront. If it’s there. I am too. It’s a mix of antique and collectible vendors as well as artist spaces. One...

Does your family get together for family reunions?  My husband’s family does. Every other year the clan gathers and a key part of the planning revolves around activities. We usually have a set schedule of what happens when.  It’s part tradition and part common sense planning.    My guest today is one organized woman. She’s the editor of Reunions Magazine/  While genealogists think in terms of fami...

Scanning photos can be tedious work especially when you're digitizing slides. Imagine that there was a service that could do it for you. I'm not advocating sending out your original 19th century photos for scanning but there no reason why you couldn't use a service for late 20th snapshots and for all those slides. That's where ScanMyPhotos.com comes in. My guest today is Mitch...