Harry Caplan, Photographer and FIL of BIL of Great Uncle Max

While adding ancestor profiles to WikiTree during the recent Connect-A-Thon, I wrote a very brief, tiny bite-sized bio of Harry Caplan (1873-1936), who was the father-in-law of the brother-in-law of my great uncle Max Birk (1891-1953). Max was the younger brother of my paternal grandfather, Isaac Burk.

FIL of BIL is a distant ancestor connection, to be sure, and I doubt that my Max ever met Harry. Their paths wouldn't have crossed geographically nor, given that Max married into Harry's family in June 1936, would they have been likely to meet before Harry's death.

Photographer, own studio

Still, I was intrigued by Harry's occupation as listed in the US Census: Photographer, own gallery. I decided to look for Harry in the New York Public Library's Photographers Identities Catalog (PIC for short). You can access the catalog and search for photographers here.

Given that Harry's surname is spelled with a C, not a K, I had no trouble finding him in the PIC--and the details on the page confirmed what I already knew of him, as shown above. You can see the Harry Caplan page on PIC here. The "locations" section of his page shows his correct birth date and place, and the correct death date/place info.

Brooklyn studio, then Manhattan studios

I was interested to see that Harry originally had his studio in Brooklyn, within walking distance of his apartment. Next, he operated a studio at 104th Street near Madison Avenue, which was a busy and increasingly popular residential area at that time, given the expansion of the New York City subway and elevated train system. Easy access to subway lines meant workers could move uptown and only need to hop the train to commute to a downtown job in the heart of the city.

Then he moved just a few doors away and around the corner to Madison Avenue, perhaps for more foot traffic. Sadly, Harry died of a heart attack in 1936, only 62 years old. But I'm sure many families whose ancestors lived in New York City from 1903-1925 inherited photos he took of their kin.

Dating Family Photos and Investigating Photographers

Most of the old family photos I inherited had no dates but had some clues to help me determine when, not just who. Now MyHeritage had introduced its new PhotoDater feature, which provides an estimated date as a starting point if we need clues. IMHO, it's a very exciting feature that is well worth taking for a spin.

Dates plus/minus 5 years

The first photo I tried was of my Dad, Harold Burk (1909-1978), holding his elementary school diploma after graduating from PS 171 in East Harlem, NYC. (Today, that school is Patrick Henry Elementary School.) Since I have Dad's diploma, I know the exact date of graduation, even though there is no year noted on the photo itself. In less than a minute after I uploaded this photo, MyHeritage's PhotoDater suggested an estimated date of 1923. Right on the nose! 

Although I don't expect PhotoDater to pinpoint the exact year for every photo, this is a quick and easy way to estimate the dates of mystery photos, in particular. Be aware that the feature typically provides a date that is plus or minus 5 years. Also, the technology intended to date photos taken between 1860 and 1990.

Of course, nothing replaces the in-depth expertise and insights of professionals like Maureen Taylor, the Photo Detective and Sherlock Cohn, the Photo Genealogist. But estimating the date of a family history photo via PhotoDater can at least put me on track toward more complete identification. I highly recommend this new feature and suggest you give it a try! For more info, see the MyHeritage blog here.

Researching a photographer?

Since all four of my immigrant grandparents settled in New York City, I was pleased to discover the NYC Public Library's Photographers' Identities Catalog. This database isn't confined to the Big Apple, but it does have many of the photographers who snapped my ancestors' posed portraits.

Above, I filtered my catalog search by surname of the photographer, Beldegreen. Two are in the catalog--including the one I sought, Gustave Beldegreen. 

Below, when I clicked on Gustave Beldegreen in the results, I got this page, showing that some of his photos are in the collection of the Museum of Jewish Heritage (link also), sources of info (links), and birth/death dates, studio locations. I can compare the studio locations with the home addresses of my ancestors to narrow down the date/place if the photographer's full info is missing from an old photo. Try this with one of the photographers from an old family photo in your collection! Again, the link to the catalog is here.

ONE MORE LINK! Thanks to a kind geneadon on Mastodon, here's a link to Langdon's List of US photographers active in the 19th and 20th centuries. My guy Beldegreen is on the list, having been named in a city directory. Another resource new to me!