Short answer: Turn the print over. Kodak colour paper said A Kodak Paper from November 1961 to 1972 and This Paper Manufactured by Kodak from May 1972 to about 1989; later papers name their product. Then check the surface (silk texture roughly 1968 to 1976), the border, any printed date and the colour cast.
Last updated: 2 November 2026. Every year on this page was checked against the museums, archives and photo-history sources listed at the bottom.
Colour prints from the 1940s to the 1990s fill most family boxes, and they are easier to date than they look. Kodak, the largest maker, changed the text on the back of its paper, the surface and the dyes in known years, and labs often stamped or printed a date. Other brands such as Agfa and Fuji have their own markings, which you can date by comparing them with prints from the same box whose year you know.
The back of the print
| Marking on the back (Kodak colour paper) | Period |
|---|---|
| Photofinishing stamp with the date of processing | From 1942, less common after the 1960s |
| A faint circular EKC seal | From October 1958 |
| A Kodak Paper | From November 1961 to 1972 |
| This Paper Manufactured by Kodak | From May 1972 to about 1989 |
| A product name, different per paper line | From 1989 |
| One line of lab text (order or frame number) | From the late 1970s; two lines from the late 1980s |
| APS film code, and sometimes the date and time | From 1996 |
Surface, paper and border
- Surface. Kodak colour prints were glossy only from 1942 to 1968. Matte and a finely textured silk surface came in 1968; silk was the main photofinishing surface in the early 1970s, until lustre replaced it in 1976.
- Paper base. Until 1968 colour prints were on fibre (paper) base; then a plastic, resin-coated base took over. Resin-coated prints from 1968 to 1980 may show fine cracks in the surface.
- Format. Square prints point to 126 Instamatic film (1963) or instant film; small rectangular prints to 110 (1972) or disc (1982); wide and panoramic prints to APS (1996).
- Printed dates. A month and year on the border or the back is the date of processing. Orange digits in the picture come from the camera's clock: see The 1980s (1980 to 1989).
What the colour cast tells you
- Yellow whites and a brown image: typical of the first colour prints, from 1942 to about 1954, which had very poor dye stability.
- A magenta image colour: typical of Kodak prints from about 1954 to 1959.
- Red or orange cast: prints from before the 1980s kept in the dark, in which the cyan dye faded first.
- Cyan or green cast: prints that hung in the light, in which the magenta faded first.
- Colours still close to new: more likely a print from the 1980s or later, after more stable dyes came in.
Negatives
Negatives can date a print, and the other way round. Nitrate roll film was used from 1888 to 1951; it is flammable, so store it apart and ask an archive for advice. Acetate film marked SAFETY on the edge became the norm for amateur roll film from the late 1930s. Colour negatives for prints came with Kodacolor in 1942. Film makers printed their name and codes along the edge, and labs often kept a roll in one strip with its envelope: the envelope may carry the date and the shop.
Quick checklist
- Turn it over: A Kodak Paper, This Paper Manufactured by Kodak, a product name, or another brand?
- A stamped or printed processing date?
- Surface glossy, silk-textured or lustre?
- Which colour cast: brown and yellow, magenta, red, or cyan?
- Negatives: SAFETY on the edge? An envelope with a date?
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
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 1930s (1930 to 1939)
- 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
Sources
- Gawain Weaver and Zach Long, Chromogenic Characterization: A Study of Kodak Color Prints, 1942-2008, Topics in Photographic Preservation 13 (2009), American Institute for Conservation: resources.culturalheritage.org/pmgtopics/2009-volume-thirteen/13_13_Weaver.html
- 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
- Wikipedia, Advanced Photo System (1996; C, H and P prints; data printed on the back; film until 2011): en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Photo_System