PART 3: UNLABELED-KNOWN photos

If you are following along this month's series of photo organization then hopefully you've been able to get your pile of photos down to something less overwhelming and more manageable.  Know that one size organization does not fit all.  My goal for this series is to help organize photos in a simple, genealogy based basic way that will not only help preserve and organize the photos but also jump start your own photo display and family storytelling.

Up until now we've organized identified photos and used genealogy tools to look at clues for better identification.  Now we get down to the tricky stuff.  In many cases there will be photos that will always be a mystery as to the who what when and where of it.  In some case we can still use basic genealogy sleuthing skills to discover a better idea of who the little girl with the teddy bear is.

Here we go! 

The first step in this part of the process is to go through the photos and find ones that you THINK you know or are SURE you know.  The one of your great grandfather holding a baby on the front porch where the baby is your uncle. Or you grandma's first communion photo.

 The photo does not tell you this but you can ask and answer 3 questions.

• Are you directly related to them?  Like your mom or siblings.
• Do you personally know them?  Like your uncle or grandparents.
• Do you have other photos from the same time period where the people are identified?

If the questions can not be positively answered then put them into a separate pile.  The last question is important but tricky.  The idea is to stay away from assumptions.  Just because a photo is identified as "Fanny Stowell 1895 6 mos." and shows a baby sitting in a fancy wicker or carved chair does not necessarily mean it's the same child in the chair 5 years later just because it's a girl about the same age that Fanny would have been.  The chair could have been give to a relative or the girl could have been a neighbor or friend and the chair was the fanciest one in town.  If it doesn't say, don't assume unless you can answer the 3 questions.  Instead the photos should be easier to identify with our 3 question rule, like your mom and dad's wedding picture or your mom as a baby with Aunt Sally who always wore big hats.  Once you've completed this task,  go back to step 1 from the first post and fill out your worksheet, labels and sleeves.  

 The next task is to use your sleuthing skills.  You might not be able to answer the three questions exactly on some photos.  Instead, you say "I think this is Aunt Rose." or "I think this looks like cousin Lavern."  If you can sort them into a surname category, then do that and put them into envelopes that you can take to show other relatives.  It's best to choose 10-20 photos, put them in sleeves for protection and bring a notebook.  You can use a basic label and give each photo a number and surname (if you know which family side it might belong to.) Like this:

You may also want to label the actual photo.  Be sure to use labels that are acid free and removable.  Your notebook should contain specific action items:

• Who
• What
• When 
• Where

In the picture above we can tell the male is wearing a sailor uniform of sorts.  The collection of photos was from a specific family member so I know the surname of family I can ask.  The time period can be identified to WWII so that narrows down the what and the when.  Now I just need to find someone in the family that can tell me the who and where.  The more information about the photo we have, the more accurate it will be.  The person giving the information should be able to answer the earlier 3 questions.  

This photo activity should keep you busy for awhile.  Just remember to break it down into manageable sections and only work on a few at a time, especially when visiting relatives.  

Look for a few other non photo related posts this week and like my Facebook page Emerald City Genealogy for interactive discussions on organization, Seattle history and more!