How to date an old photograph and find out who is in it

A woman with a high buttoned collar, a man with a moustache, a child on a chair who could not sit still. On the back, a name in elegant lettering: a photographer in Ghent. No date, no names. Who are these people? And when was this? With a little detective work, you can often get further than you think.

The short answer

Look first at the type of photo, because each type belongs to a period. Then look at the card and its corners, the photographer's stamp and the clothing. Together they usually narrow it down to a span of a few years. To find out who is in it, compare it with photos whose dates and names you do know, with memorial cards, and with the memories of those still living.

Step 1: what type of photo is it?

Type	How to recognise it	Period
Daguerreotype	Mirror-like silver image, usually in a small case behind glass; the image looks negative or positive depending on the angle	1839 to the 1860s
Ambrotype	Image on glass, with a dark backing, often also in a case	about 1854 to the 1880s
Tintype	Image on a thin iron plate: a magnet will stick to it	about 1853 to the 1930s
Carte de visite	Small photo card on board, often with the photographer's name on the back	from 1854, popular in the second half of the nineteenth century
Cabinet card	Larger photo card on thick board	mainly the late nineteenth century
Colour print	Colour print on paper; older prints turn pink or red	from 1942, common in the second half of the twentieth century
Polaroid	Instantly developed photo with a wide white border	from 1947, in colour from 1963

Step 2: the card and the corners

With photo cards, the mount tells you a lot. Square corners usually point to the 1860s, rounded corners to 1870 or later.

With colour photos, the colour often gives the age away. In older colour prints the cyan dye fades first: the photo turns pink or red, and the white border turns yellow. A date printed in the border is usually the date the film was processed, not the date the picture was taken.

Step 3: look up the photographer

A stamp or a printed name on the back is worth its weight in gold. A studio was only active for a certain number of years, and sometimes it moved, which makes the address even more precise. For Belgium, search the Directory of Belgian Photographers from FOMU (fomu.atomis.be): some 8,600 photographers who were active between 1839 and 1914, with their years and addresses. Try different spellings, because the search is sensitive to spaces and accents. For the Netherlands, search RKDartists from the RKD.

Step 4: the clothing, with caution

Fashion changes, and women's fashion helps more than men's: sleeves, collars and hairstyles followed each other fairly quickly. But be careful. In the countryside, fashion lagged behind the city, older people often kept wearing what they were used to for a long time, and people put on their Sunday best for the photographer. Use the clothing to confirm an estimate, not to make one.

Step 5: who is in it?

• Compare with photos whose names and dates you do know: the same ears, the same nose, the same house in the background.
• Memorial cards (bidprentjes) often carry a photo of the deceased from the 1930s onwards. Look in the missal or the drawer at home, and in the collections of Familiekunde Vlaanderen, the Flemish family history society.
• Ask anyone still living who might know. Bring the photo with you, and write the name down straight away.
• Reverse image search can turn up a lead, but it is not proof. Be careful, too, with services that recognise faces: photos of family are personal data.

As soon as you know a name, write it on the back, with a soft pencil, never with a ballpoint or a marker. Or keep it in the description of the scan.

Store them with care

Hold old photos by the edges. Keep them in acid-free sleeves, not in albums with sticky pages, and use no tape or glue. Store them somewhere cool, dry and dark: not in the attic, the cellar or the garage. Never clean the surface of a daguerreotype.

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