How to date a photo from the 1930s: longer skirts, waved hair and the first colour slides

Short answer: A photo from 1930 to 1939 is usually a small black and white snapshot with a white border. Women's skirts have dropped to mid-calf, the waist is back in its natural place and hair is short but softly waved. Men wear fedoras and wide trousers. Colour is rare: Kodachrome slides only arrived in 1936.

Last updated: 2 November 2026. Every year on this page was checked against the museums, archives and photo-history sources listed at the bottom.

Photos from the 1930s look a lot like those from the 1920s at first sight: small, black and white, often in an album with black pages. The difference is in the people. The short, straight dress of the 1920s disappeared quickly, and the longer, fitted line of the 1930s is one of the most reliable clues in this guide.

Formats and prints

• Snapshots. Still mostly small contact prints with a white border, from box and folding cameras. Prints became a little more even in tone than in the 1920s.
• Deckle edges. Some prints have wavy, decoratively cut edges. A study of dated examples places their popularity in the middle of the twentieth century, so a deckle edge says "roughly 1930s to 1960s", not one decade.
• Negatives marked SAFETY. Nitrate roll film was used from 1888 to 1951. Acetate film, marked SAFETY along the edge, became the norm for amateur roll film from the late 1930s. A negative marked SAFETY is therefore unlikely to be much older than about 1937.
• The first colour. Kodachrome came out in 1935 as cine film and in 1936 for 35 mm slides. A colour slide in a family box is possible for the late 1930s, but rare. See Slides: Kodachrome and Ektachrome.

Clothes and hair

Hemlines fell back to mid-calf around 1930, and the waist returned to its natural place. Dresses followed the body more closely, evening gowns were long and slim, and towards the end of the decade shoulders became broader. Hair stayed fairly short but was set in soft waves and curls. Small hats worn at an angle replaced the deep cloche, although cloche hats can still be seen in the early 1930s.

Men wore fedoras, wide trousers and broad-shouldered jackets, often double-breasted; tie knots became smaller. Most men were clean-shaven or had a small moustache.

In the background

Cars became lower and more rounded, with enclosed bodies and, later in the decade, more streamlined shapes. Interiors with electric light and radios are common. In Europe, uniforms and flags in the late 1930s can point to mobilisation before the Second World War.

Quick checklist

• Skirts at mid-calf and a natural waist?
• Short hair set in soft waves?
• Fedora, wide trousers, broad shoulders for men?
• A deckle edge (mid-century) or a straight white border?
• A negative marked SAFETY (late 1930s or later)?

Try the free photo date tool

Not sure yet? The free photo date tool asks what you can see (the material, the colour, the edge, the back, a printed year) and turns your answers into a period, with the source behind each year. It needs no account and uploads nothing. For digital photos and scans, read when was this photo taken.

Once you know the year

Write the year in soft pencil on the back, and put it at the start of the file name when you scan it. Then hang it with its date in your palace: in The Memory Palace each photo gets its year, the people in it and the story that goes with it, in a room the family can walk through together. You can start your palace for free.

Date a photo from another decade

Previous decade: The 1920s (1920 to 1929). Next decade: The 1940s (1940 to 1949).

Start from the overview: when was this photo taken, or the seven general clues in how to tell when an old photo was taken. All guides on old photos:

• The 1900s (1900 to 1909)
• The 1910s (1910 to 1919)
• The 1920s (1920 to 1929)
• The 1940s (1940 to 1949)
• The 1950s (1950 to 1959)
• The 1960s (1960 to 1969)
• The 1970s (1970 to 1979)
• The 1980s (1980 to 1989)
• The 1990s (1990 to 1999)
• Cabinet cards and cartes de visite
• Polaroid and instant photos
• Slides: Kodachrome and Ektachrome
• Colour prints and negatives

Sources

• National Library of Australia, Finding and dating photographs (formats, clothing and grooming by decade): library.gov.au/learn/adults/lifelong-learning/finding-and-dating-photographs
• University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections (Nicolette Bromberg), Dating photographs by format and technology: content.lib.washington.edu/imls/kcsnapshots/documents/DatingPhotos.pdf
• Kodak, Photography history (roll film 1889, Brownie 1900, Kodachrome 1935 and for 35 mm slides 1936, Kodacolor 1942, Carousel projector 1961, DC40 digital camera 1995): kodak.com/en/company/page/photography-history
• Anna Krentz, Snapshots with an edge: a study of the deckle edge in the North American snapshot, Toronto Metropolitan University (thesis): torontomu.scholaris.ca/items/3a528710-34b6-492b-afd9-61a940ec69dd