NERGC 2017 Day 2

Well what a wonderful day 2 here at NERGC. My first session was Maureen Taylor's talk about dating photos using fashion tips.

Wonderful 8:30 talk and lots of fun guessing "why" as well as "when" the fashions were from. Top tip: remember that older folks (ladies in particular) may be wearing clothes from a few years earlier, not the more daring fashions of contemporary time. Motivated me to look more closely at my "mystery" photos!

Next session I attended was Michael Strauss's fascinating session on 1930s-1940s records that aren't well known but are available (usually via NARA).

Top tip from that session was--check the finding aids and try to conceive of where/when your ancestor would have come in contact with one of the government programs of that time, whether unemployment or CCC or even as a business hiring unemployed folks vis NRA. Really intriguing session!

Lunch: Table topics were fascinating, and after deliberating, I sat at a DNA discussion table. We chatted about Gedmatch.com, DNA testing older relatives, considering more indepth testing, and everyone's pet peeve--people who test but post no trees and answer no emails about matching.

The afternoon began with Christine Crawford-Oppenheimer's "Grandma Married Whom?!" all about evaluating gen info on the Internet. She showed some great examples illustrating why it's important to question stuff posted online. You mean I'm not really descended from Charlemagne? Bummer.

I had just a few minutes to skip over to Warren Bittner's talk, "Writing to Engage," which was still going on, lucky me! He had some great suggestions for vivid and active writing. Our choice of words can really bring our ancestors alive, in a literary sense, for future generations.

Next was Pam Stone Eagleson's interesting presentation about resolving conflicting evidence. Rarely does every source agree on every point. So how do we decide which name is correct or which date is correct? Consider the quality of the evidence (original/derivative source, direct/indirect source, etc). Think about when the document was created and why. Excellent advice.

Finally, I enjoyed Juliana Szucs' talk about Ancestry's arrival records. Very practical, "how to" review of what records are available, how to search (wildcards and all), and the human dimension of immigration. Top tip: Search in the specific record collection and vary spellings and dates to find elusive immigrant ancestors.

Stay tuned for day 3. Can't believe the conference is nearing its end.

Friday's Faces from the Past: My Family Photo Detective Experience

Who is this little girl, holding a tambourine and standing next to an ornate piano? I posted her photo in my "mystery" gallery last year. Alas, no one in the family recognizes her.

Following the process described by Maureen A. Taylor in her excellent Family Photo Detective, I wanted to look for clues to identifying this mystery girl from the photo itself.

My conclusion (supported by the steps I followed below) is that for a mystery photo such as this little girl, the location of the photographer and the costume are two vital clues to when, where, and why the photo was taken.

Step by step, here's how I analyzed the photo:

Photographer's location in 1925 - most likely AFTER the photo was taken

1. Maureen recommends analyzing the type of photo print as a first step. This is not a daguerreotype, meaning it's newer. It's a photo (silver print?) glued to a matte board with the photographer's name and address, which seems to suggest the date is later than 1900. 
2. Second, Maureen looks at the paper and board. The card stock for the little girl seems to be thick, and the edges are beveled, suggesting it's relatively new (early 20th century, rather than late 19th century). By the way, Maureen gives a hint for identifying relatives among a collection of portrait photos: If the number on the back of one photo is, say, 105, then portraits numbered 104 or 106 may be siblings or parents or children of the person in 105.
3. The next step is to identify the photographer, which is easy in this case. "F. Krichefsky" is the name imprinted on the card stock, with a studio at 496 Claremont Parkway, Bronx, N.Y. Maureen suggests an online search for the photographer to find out more. No luck using Google, but I used Ancestry and immediately found the 1925 New York City directory listing for Mr. Krichefsky, photographer--at a different address, half a mile away from the address on my mystery photo. Then I used the mapping function to see where the studio was located (see map below). Off-hand, I don't know of ancestors who lived within walking distance--but I still don't know when the photo was taken.
   

   

   Photographer's studio location in 1915-17

4. Still researching the photographer, I searched for his name plus "Bronx 1910" and came up with an image he had produced that is dated 1905-10, in the collection of the Museum of Jewish History. This is helping me narrow down the period of the photo. Also I found "Faivel Krichevsky" in the 1912 NYC Business Directory, a photographer at 496 Wendover Ave. In the 1915-16-17 NYC directories, I finally found "Feibel Krichefsky" at the Claremont Parkway address! So most likely this is more in the approximate time-frame of my little girl's photograph.
   

   

   Spelling slowed me down but here's the photographer in the NYC directory, at the address on my photo!

5. Maureen suggests thinking about when in the person's life the image might have been taken--for a special event, as an example. This mystery girl looks too young for school but perhaps this was taken for a holiday or because the rest of the family was in the studio for a portrait? Music is clearly a major theme, but I don't know why. I have to return to my mystery photo archive box to see whether others were from this studio...perhaps there was a special event for the whole family, and they used that opportunity for individual portraits.
6. Next would be facial recognition, which I would tackle using Picasa, free from Google. I'm saving this for another time.
7. Maureen puts a lot of emphasis on "identifying costume" (chapter 9). Because of the big bow in the hair, and the shoes, the date is early in the 20th century. Her loose dress also seems to be from the pre-1920 era.

MY CONCLUSION: The photo is probably from 1905-1915. My next step: Look up the 1905/1915 NY Censuses and the 1910 US Census addresses for my ancestors in the Bronx and see whether any were within walking distance of this studio on Claremont Parkway. Also, I'll search my other mystery photos to find more, if any, from the Krichefsky studio.

Dating Old Photos and More

To learn more about photo dating and identification, I've read some of the books by Maureen Taylor and also seen her talks/webinars. She has lots of great ideas for looking at clothing clues and more.

Also I've seen talks by Sherlock Cohn (aka Ava Cohn), who has an eagle eye for dating photos and helping put them into family, military, and historical context.

Both have given me some hints to follow up as I caption old family photos from the past 100-125 years.

At top, a photo by Gustav Beldegreen, showing some of my FARKAS ancestors serving as officers of the Kossuth Ferencz Literary, Sick & Benevolent Society.

UPDATED 2022