African American Photographs Archives - Maureen Taylor https://maureentaylor.com/category/african-american-photographs/ The Photo Detective Mon, 16 Feb 2026 20:33:19 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 https://maureentaylor.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/cropped-site-icon-32x32.png African American Photographs Archives - Maureen Taylor https://maureentaylor.com/category/african-american-photographs/ 32 32 99869351 Not Every Uniform is Civil War: How a Photographer’s Imprint Solved the Mystery https://maureentaylor.com/not-every-uniform-is-civil-war-how-a-photographers-imprint-solved-the-mystery/ Thu, 19 Feb 2026 20:31:42 +0000 https://maureentaylor.com/?p=84976 Look at this photograph quickly, and you might assume it dates to the Civil War. It doesn’t. Dating an image often relies on a combination of clues-the who, what, when, and where-but occasionally a single piece of evidence is enough to establish a reliable timeframe. This photograph of a man in uniform is one such […]

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]]> Look at this photograph quickly, and you might assume it dates to the Civil War. It doesn’t. Dating an image often relies on a combination of clues-the who, what, when, and where-but occasionally a single piece of evidence is enough to establish a reliable timeframe. This photograph of a man in uniform is one such case in which the photographer’s imprint provides the critical clue.

Alden Photograph Company, photographer. Unidentified African American soldier / Taken only at Alden, 503 Washington St., corner of West, Boston
. , None. [Between 1877 and 1880] Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2011661489/.

The reverse of the image lists the photographer’s name, address, and image type. It was the name “Alden” that immediately caught my attention-not because he was a relative, but because I was already familiar with his Providence, Rhode Island studio in the Arcade, one of the nation’s earliest indoor shopping centers.

“Alden’s Pocket Portraits, 6 in Cases 25 cents, finished at time of sitting. Taken only at Alden’s 503 Washington St., corner of West, Boston.”

Augustus Ephraim Alden (1837–1914), who advertised as A. E. Alden or simply Alden, began his photographic career in western Massachusetts, working in the Northampton and Chicopee areas. During the Civil War, he produced portraits of soldiers and later capitalized on the booming market for celebrity images, including photographs of Abraham Lincoln, Mary Lincoln, and members of the president’s cabinet.

By the mid-1860s, Alden relocated to Providence, maintaining a studio on the third floor of the Arcade and advertising prominently on the building’s front stairs. Like many photographers of the period, he adapted his business to changing consumer tastes. After the war, Americans continued to collect photographs—not only of family members, but also of notable public figures.

Courtesy of the Providence Public Library

Seeking greater opportunity, Alden moved to Boston in the 1870s. According to A Directory of Massachusetts Photographers 1839–1900 by Chris Steele and Ronald Polito (Picton Press, 1993), he operated studios at several addresses, including 503 Washington Street from 1877 to about 1880. The unidentified image of the man in uniform dates to that three-year period.

This narrow date range is key. The unidentified portrait of the man in uniform can be confidently dated to this three-year period. It coincides with Alden’s role as Eastern Agent for Applegate’s Pocket Portrait Machines in 1877, a technology that allowed photographers to produce multiple mechanically finished images quickly and inexpensively—often selling for as little as 6 for 25 cents. The photograph’s format and commercial context align more closely with the later period than with the Civil War era.

This example underscores that examining a single clue (the uniform) is insufficient. A photographer’s work history can add context for the image. If this was in a family collection, the clues of location and military service might be enough to give him a name.

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]]> 84976 Episode 217: Collecting Photography with Greg French of Greg French Early Photography https://maureentaylor.com/episode-217-collecting-photography-with-greg-french-of-greg-french-early-photography/ Sun, 08 Oct 2023 04:01:55 +0000 https://maureentaylor.com/?p=74543       This week Maureen Taylor, The Photo Detective TM, is joined by Greg French. Greg is an antique photograph enthusiast who buys and sells his images, as well as lending images to projects such as the 1991 book “American and the Daguerreotype, as well as placing a rare stereoview of Abraham Lincoln’s second […]

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This week Maureen Taylor, The Photo Detective TM, is joined by Greg French.

Greg is an antique photograph enthusiast who buys and sells his images, as well as lending images to projects such as the 1991 book “American and the Daguerreotype, as well as placing a rare stereoview of Abraham Lincoln’s second inauguration in the Library of Congress.

Greg and Maureen talk about photo collecting, photo identifying, and all about what it means to be a photo enthusiast in this week’s episode. 

 

Episode 207: An Underutilized Source: The Newberry Library 

Episode 204: Many Shades of Blue–Cyanotypes with Sabina Ocker 

About My Guest:

Greg French started collecting antique photographs in 1981, focusing on social history. As a collector, he lent images to seminal projects such as the 1991 book ‘American and the Daguerreotype’ by John Wood and the 1999 groundbreaking ‘Africans in America” documentary. Greg was one of three founding members of the ‘Mirror of Race’ project. Greg is affiliated with the Photographic Historical Society of New England. He chaired the Auction Committee of the Daguerreian Society for 17 years. Greg still toils away on eBay offering 21 auctions a week and many buy-it-nows at least 50 weeks a year. Meanwhile, he sells to museums around the country, with a particular interest in New England. 

About Maureen Taylor:

Maureen Taylor, The Photo DetectiveÒhelps clients with photo-related genealogical problems. Her pioneering work in historic photo research has earned her the title “the nation’s foremost historical photo detective” by The Wall Street Journal and appearances on The View, The Today Show, Pawn Stars, and others.   Learn more at Maureentaylor.com

Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a review on Apple Podcasts.

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]]> 74543 Episode 146: Using Twitter for a Photo Reunion https://maureentaylor.com/episode-146-using-twitter-for-a-photo-reunion/ Mon, 20 Sep 2021 20:05:12 +0000 https://maureentaylor.com/?p=69231 Twitter is a social media platform that folks either love or hate. It doesn’t generate too much of an in-between feeling. It’s known for short posts and hashtags. It’s the place you go for breaking news and some groups like #GenChat use it to inspire collaboration and social interaction in the genealogy world. There are […]

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Twitter is a social media platform that folks either love or hate. It doesn’t generate too much of an in-between feeling. It’s known for short posts and hashtags. It’s the place you go for breaking news and some groups like #GenChat use it to inspire collaboration and social interaction in the genealogy world. There are photo historians on Twitter too. 

But I was surprised to see a photo reunion trending. Historian and author Victoria Johnson maximized her Twitter reach by encouraging her students and twitterstorians (historians on Twitter) to share an unidentified photo she found in a used book. It caused a flood of comments, resulted in a reunion, and landed Victoria in the national spotlight of CNN and ABC News. 

It’s made me reevaluate the power of Twitter for family history ( and it might make you take a look at the social media platform). 

Episode 142: Vintage Aerial Photos

Episode 101: Rediscovering an American Community of Color

About My Guest:

Victoria Johnson is a historian and Professor of Urban Policy and Planning at Hunter College of the City University of New York. Her most recent book, American Eden, a biography of the New York doctor who served at the duel between Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr (yes, he has a small part in the musical!) was a finalist for the 2018 National Book Award in Nonfiction and for the 2019 Pulitzer Prize in History.

About Maureen Taylor:

Maureen is a frequent keynote speaker on photo identification, photograph preservation, and family history at historical and genealogical societies, museums, conferences, libraries, and other organizations across the U.S., London and Canada.  She’s the author of several books and hundreds of articles and her television appearances include The View and The Today Show (where she researched and presented a complete family tree for host Meredith Vieira).  She’s been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Better Homes and Gardens, The Boston Globe, Martha Stewart Living, Germany’s top newspaper Der Spiegel, American Spirit, and The New York Times. Maureen was recently a spokesperson and photograph expert for MyHeritage.com, an internationally known family history website and also writes guidebooks, scholarly articles and online columns for such media as Smithsonian.com. Learn more at Maureentaylor.com

Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a review on Apple Podcasts.

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]]> 69231 Episode 131: Visualizing Equality: African American Rights in Photographs and Drawings with Dr. Aston Gonzalez https://maureentaylor.com/episode-131-visualizing-equality-african-american-rights-in-photographs-and-drawings-with-dr-aston-gonzalez/ Sun, 06 Jun 2021 04:00:00 +0000 https://maureentaylor.com/?p=68488 The fight for racial equality in the nineteenth century played out not only in marches and political conventions but also in the print and visual culture created and disseminated throughout the United States by African Americans.  Producing printed and photographic images for activists advanced their campaigns for black rights.  Purchase “Visualizing Equality” by clicking here. […]

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The fight for racial equality in the nineteenth century played out not only in marches and political conventions but also in the print and visual culture created and disseminated throughout the United States by African Americans.  Producing printed and photographic images for activists advanced their campaigns for black rights. 

Purchase “Visualizing Equality” by clicking here.

Episode 101: Rediscovering an American Community of Color 

Episode 120: Good Pictures: Amateur Photography and Our Family with Art Historian Kim Beil

About My Guest:

Dr. Aston Gonzalez is a historian of African American culture and politics during the long nineteenth century. He is an associate professor of History at Salisbury University. Before teaching in Maryland, he completed a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship through the Library Company of Philadelphia’s Program in African American History and a Ford Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship.

The University of North Carolina Press published his first book, Visualizing Equality: African American Rights and Visual Culture in the Nineteenth Century, in September 2020. He has published articles about African American portraiture during the Early Republic, picturing Black citizenship during the Civil War, the creation of African American archives, the visual representations of escaped slaves, and the visual production of free Black abolitionists.

About Maureen Taylor:

Maureen is a frequent keynote speaker on photo identification, photograph preservation, and family history at historical and genealogical societies, museums, conferences, libraries, and other organizations across the U.S., London and Canada.  She’s the author of several books and hundreds of articles and her television appearances include The View and The Today Show (where she researched and presented a complete family tree for host Meredith Vieira).  She’s been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Better Homes and Gardens, The Boston Globe, Martha Stewart Living, Germany’s top newspaper Der Spiegel, American Spirit, and The New York Times. Maureen was recently a spokesperson and photograph expert for MyHeritage.com, an internationally known family history website and also writes guidebooks, scholarly articles and online columns for such media as Smithsonian.com. Learn more at Maureentaylor.com

Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a review on Apple Podcasts.

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