Photo-dating study hints
Back to basics: timeline
Judging the time frame and subject/s’ identity in unfamiliar, unlabelled family photos can be hard, but there are always clues. Considering these basic points can set us firmly on track.
• Commercial photographic studios first opened to the general public in 1841, so unless descended from a famous photographic pioneer, nobody owns photos pre-dating the 1840s.
• Early studio portraits of the 1840s/1850s were oneoff plate-based images, typically cased or framed. Occasionally they bear studio details which can be researched for operational dates.
• Portrait photography reached many more people from 1860 onward, with mass-produced card-mounted prints. Firstly small cartes de visite (cdvs), later larger cabinet cards were usual: often they display studio details or other printed information that can assist dating.
• Few Victorian or Edwardian ancestors owned camera apparatus, so most surviving 19th/early-20th century photographs are formal portraits posed in local photographic studios, following standard conventions. Exceptions include beach, park or street scenes by openair operators.
• For decades only the wealthy took photographs at home: elite country house or suburban villa scenes.
• Following technical advances in the late-1800s, more turnof-century scenes were set outdoors, the work of visiting local photographers or a new wave of middle-class hobbyists.
• During WW1 professional studio portraits predominated, typically presented in the popular postcard format. Between the wars more households gained cameras and began taking casual outdoor snapshots.