Windows On The Past - Identifying, Dating, & Preserving Photographs by Diane VanSkiver Gagel

Genealogists and family historians will want to make room in their library for this useful guide to dating and caring for family photographic collections.

"It is important to remember that in the 19th Century as well as in the 20th Century, photographers copied older formats into the newest format. For example, photographers in the 1860's often advertised that they could make tintypes or cabinet cards of old daguerreotypes or ambrotypes. So it is important to date not only the type of photograph but also the image itself.....

The best way to accurately date photographs involves four stages:

1. Identifying the photographic process
2. Dating the photographer's years of operation
3. Identifying and dating the fashions worn on the image
4. Dating any props found in the image

Only after coming up with these 3 or 4 dates, can we attempt to approximate a date for a photograph."

This book opens with the identification and care of non-paper photographs such as daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, and tintypes; and paper photographs such as carte de visits, cabinet cards, and other photographs including 20th Century photographs. Preserving photographs and negatives with information on print storage, negative storage, nitrate negatives, plus preservation through computer technology are also covered. A chapter devoted to dating photographs through costumes and props is organized by decade, from 1840-1900, for women, men, and children. This section is well illustrated with drawings and photographs of costumes common to the decade covered; illustrations and examples of different types of photographs are conspicuous throughout the text.