Death by outfit isn’t something featured in the game of Clue but it could be. Our ancestors lured to the new bright colors of the nineteenth century wore garments poisoned with arsenic and mercury, perhaps hurrying along their deaths. Not that you’re likely to see that as a cause on a death certificate. These garments…
The Photo Detective Podcast
Episode 126: Passed and Present-Keeping Memories of Loved Ones Alive with Allison Gilbert
Episode 125: Ask Maureen April 2021
At the end of every month, I answer questions from listeners. How do I safely remove photos from a spiral-bound album? The kind with the sticky page covered with a sheet of cellophane Celia, that’s called a magnetic album and they were really, really popular and you can still buy them today. There are so…
Episode 124:The Shot Heard Round the World at the Concord Museum
It doesn’t take hindsight to realize you’re living in historic times. This last year has taught us that. This week’s guest, David Wood, told me that residents of Lexington and Concord immediately recognized the significance of April 19, 1775 and saved pieces to document that day. A few years ago, the Concord Museum in Concord,…
Episode 123: America’s Pandemic Pastime: Making Photo Reunions Happen
Every time I see another news story on a photo reunion that’s happened through crowdsourcing images online I chuckle. I have a closet full of mysteries and not much luck reuniting images with living people. Yet, just in the last few months, there are images being shared online that are within a short time being…
Episode 122: Reproducing History and Protecting the Past: One Cased Image at a Time
Over the years, clients have asked, “Where can I purchase a replacement case for my daguerreotype (or other cased images)? I finally have an answer for that. My guest takes molds of historic cases and creates reproductions. Not only can you purchase a variety of designs for old photos. Some of his clients use them…
Episode 121: Ask Maureen March 2021
In this monthly podcast, Maureen shares questions received via email and through social media. Can you tell us about changing exposure times for photographic portraits and why people didn’t smile for pictures?Do you have a good resource for looking up photographer names by location and years they were active?Is there a good resource for dating…
Episode 120: Good Pictures: Amateur Photography and Our Family with Art Historian Kim Beil
How did you and your ancestors learn how to take “Good Pictures?” It’s likely they read Kodak’s guide for amateur photographers, How to Make Good Pictures published from 1912 to 1995. New cameras and new technology influenced how we took photographs and what they photographed. My guest studied those popular guides to photography to compile…
Episode 119: Dressing for the Camera: Rules are Foremothers Followed (and Sometimes Broke)
Episode 118: Eliza Hamilton Revealed with author Susan Holloway Scott
If you thought that you knew Eliza Hamilton because you watched the Broadway musical, well…you need to read Susan Holloway Scott’s book, I Eliza. What makes good theater isn’t necessarily accurate. There is a whole lot more to the Alexander/ Eliza story. Susan is a master storyteller weaving fact with fiction to weave a tale…