How old are your oldest family photos?

[mrca]

These are the classic reasons we should print. I started shooting digital in the early 2000's on a camera that used a floppy disc. I have no idea where they are and if I ever find them, I don't have a floppy disk player. That is how much technology has changed in 15 years. In 50 or 60 years from now, after we croak and our kids are dividing up stuff, what do you think is going to happen to those photos on dvd's or hard drives? If they can't read them, they will probably be thrown out. If the truly precious ones are printed with archival inks and paper that are now rated for up to 200 years, I'll bet they will be fighting over those pictures, not your couch.

 

[smoke665]

@mrca that depends, I have several boxes of prints that I don't have a clue on. Parents, Grandparents, were bad about not putting notations on the back. So as they all passed on so did the knowledge of who the people were.

 

[espresso2x]

There are a few that I haven't scanned yet from my mom, but here are a couple I've had for awhile. The first one is from a photo I had to restore digitally and print out to hand color for her with photo oils. The second is an actual silver gelatin print (I had a 4x5 copy negative), also hand colored with photo oils.

Here's one, circa 1910. The little girl is my grandmother. They lived on a farm in rural Missouri, and getting dressed up for the photo was an event. You can see how happy they were to do it.

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This one is also my grandmother when she started dating my grandfather, when she was 16 (she claimed). Not certain of the year.


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Great pictures Terri !

 

[espresso2x]

I agree, the knowledge is as important.

@mrca that depends, I have several boxes of prints that I don't have a clue on. Parents, Grandparents, were bad about not putting notations on the back. So as they all passed on so did the knowledge of who the people were.

 

[dennybeall]

@mrca that depends, I have several boxes of prints that I don't have a clue on. Parents, Grandparents, were bad about not putting notations on the back. So as they all passed on so did the knowledge of who the people were.

Have you looked on the backs of the photos? I have a box of old photos like that and there were enough notes on the back that most of the people were id'd somewhere.

 

[smoke665]

Have you looked on the backs of the photos? I have a box of old photos like that and there were enough notes on the back that most of the people were id'd somewhere.

Yes

 

[petrochemist]

I'm not sure of the exact age but I have Daguerreotypes of a great great great grandfather & his wife who I believe died in 1858 & 1863 respectively. The photos were clearly taken towards the end of their lives, presumably in the 1850's Neither is in particularly good condition.

Another GGG GF lived long enough for a much better preserved (tintype?) probably in the 1870s:

I have other branches of the tree that have old photos still to investigate, but I doubt they will go back as far. I don't think I even know the names of any on my fathers side going back this far.

There are also a selection of miniature family portraits from further back (pre 1800 I think) but unfortunately I've no record of who each one is. I don't suppose my photos of these would count!

 

[espresso2x]

That's super ! Some of the earliest, commercial portraits perhaps? Were these made in GB or where?

I'm not sure of the exact age but I have Daguerreotypes of a great great great grandfather & his wife who I believe died in 1858 & 1863 respectively.

 

[Jeff15]

My dad, taken in 1938

 

[petrochemist]

That's super ! Some of the earliest, commercial portraits perhaps? Were these made in GB or where?

Highly probably all made in England
I don't have much information on John & Minerva, both were born around London & presumably lived in the same area, I know Minerva died in Kensington & John was buried in Highgate so I'd expect the photos would have been taken in London as well. Unlike many later photos there's no indication of the Photographer on the ornate cases.
William (in the last picture) was a member of the Royal College of Surgeons, and came from Wisbech in Cambridgeshire. He's one of the more significant members in my Family tree, having had 15 children from 3 wives, and providing links to a number of renowned persons...

 

[Jeff15]

This photograph would have been taken in Singapore just before the outbreak of WWII. Believe it or not my dad was there training Japanese officers in small arms (bare in mind Japan had been an ally of ours for the previous 300 years). After the fall of Singapore, my dad spent just over 4 years in a POW camp.

 

[espresso2x]

This photograph would have been taken in Singapore just before the outbreak of WWII. Believe it or not my dad was there training Japanese officers in small arms (bare in mind Japan had been an ally of ours for the previous 300 years). After the fall of Singapore, my dad spent just over 4 years in a POW camp.

That's very heavy Jeff. I feel empathy for you.

 

[Jeff15]

I actually owe my life to the Atom bomb