Every month Maureen does a live Q & A on Facebook and YouTube answering questions submitted by listeners. Have a question?  Email her at photodetective@maureentaylor.com

This month’s questions:

• How did Maureen become The Photo Detective?

• Summertime hazards for photos

• Disaster planning tips

• Did snapshots get mounted on card stock? 

Related Episodes:

Episode 138: Ask Maureen. July 2021 Edition

Episode 125: Ask Maureen. April 2021 Edition

Links:

• Sign up for my newsletter.
• Watch my YouTube Channel.
• Like the Photo Detective Facebook Page so you get notified of my Facebook Live videos.
• Need help organizing your photos? Check out the Essential Photo Organizing Video Course.
• Need help identifying family photos? Check out the Identifying Family Photographs Online Course.
• Have a photo you need help identifying? Sign up for photo consultation.

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.

The post Episode 143: Ask Maureen August 2021 Edition appeared first on Maureen Taylor.

In today’s world, those of us with mobile devices communicate by texting. For our turn of the twentieth-century ancestors, it was through the mail. Imagine getting multiple mail deliveries a day and the possibilities of that communication.  Postcards were a quick way of touching base with friends and family. Businesses used cards to advertise and so did realtors. Real photo postcards are my favorite, but if you think they were unique, my guest clarifies that.  My guest started writing postcards as a child and never stopped. He receives dozens of them in the mail every day.  

Related Episodes:

Episode 103: Organize, Preserve and Share with Collectionaire.com

Episode 98: Collect Photo Stories with StoryGlory.com

Links:

• The Postcardist
• Sign up for my newsletter.
• Watch my YouTube Channel.
• Like the Photo Detective Facebook Page so you get notified of my Facebook Live videos.
• Need help organizing your photos? Check out the Essential Photo Organizing Video Course.
• Need help identifying family photos? Check out the Identifying Family Photographs Online Course.
• Have a photo you need help identifying? Sign up for photo consultation.

About My Guest:

Frank Roche is the host of The Postcardist Podcast. Over the past three years and 110 episodes, he’s interviewed leading collectors, designers, writers, and authors about their postcard passion. A former journalist and executive communication consultant, Frank has been writing postcards since he was five. Frank is the proud owner of the world’s largest Bigfoot postcard collection.

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.

The post Episode 140: Talking Postcards with The Postcardist appeared first on Maureen Taylor.

It’s time for another themed month. This time it’s postcards.  Three guests this month share stories about their personal connections with these mailable images. In this episode, English collector Mark Routh chats about his collection which spans 1869 to the present. He has some museum-quality gems. Did you know that dirigibles mailed items for their passengers?  Neither did I.  You won’t believe how many postcards he’s accumulated in his lifetime.  It all began with a single card that his father gave him.  

Related Episodes:

Episode 116: America and the Tintype with Steven Kasher

Episode 108: Researching the Ships of Our Ancestors

Links:

• Picture Postcard Monthly
• Sign up for my newsletter.
• Watch my YouTube Channel.
• Like the Photo Detective Facebook Page so you get notified of my Facebook Live videos.
• Need help organizing your photos? Check out the Essential Photo Organizing Video Course.
• Need help identifying family photos? Check out the Identifying Family Photographs Online Course.
• Have a photo you need help identifying? Sign up for photo consultation.

About My Guest:

Mark Routh’s postcard collection began 50 years ago.  He’s a recently retired police officer.  He has a substantial collection from all periods of postcard production (1869 – 2021).

He  wrote  a regular postcard article for the international magazine Picture Postcard Monthly – 1992 to 2020 (the pandemic closed down the magazine)

He now writes a monthly article for the new international magazine Picture Postcard Collecting which started up in 2020 as a replacement for the previously mentioned magazine.

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.

The post Episode 139: Collecting Postcards for a Half Century with Mark Routh appeared first on Maureen Taylor.

Every month, Maureen tackles photo identification, photo preservation questions from those submitted through social media and email. You can submit a question through photodetective@maureentaylor.com

This month’s questions:

• After scanning portraits, what to do concerning saving or discarding the card stock photo frame/folders. Will that card stock damage the photo long-term?
• What should I use to mark the back of un-mounted tintypes?
• I inherited family pictures that are incredibly old. Many of them are in old scrapbooks that are slowly deteriorating with age. I know there are facts written on the back of many photos, but I am torn about taking the albums apart to organize and store vs keeping them as I received them where someone put a lot of thought into it at the time. Thoughts or suggestions to offer?
• If I am scanning and saving documents for family archival purposes, what is the best way to title each picture when I save it? Also, should I save it as a tiff or jpg?
• I know this has been asked before, but what pen/pencil should I use to identify photos?
• Any updates on the family movies you sent out? How are you planning to save and share any digital versions?
• I have inherited a large collection of photos from my mother-in-law’s school. How can I get them online so that people can find them?
• Our poor coal miner /steelworker ancestors in the 1900’s took quite large wedding photos.  Where might one find the cost of a photo like this way back then?

Related Episodes:

Episode 125: Ask Maureen April 2021

Episode 117: Ask Maureen February 2021

Links:

• Where to Find the Products Maureen Uses
• Sign up for my newsletter.
• Watch my YouTube Channel.
• Like the Photo Detective Facebook Page so you get notified of my Facebook Live videos.
• Need help organizing your photos? Check out the Essential Photo Organizing Video Course.
• Need help identifying family photos? Check out the Identifying Family Photographs Online Course.
• Have a photo you need help identifying? Sign up for photo consultation.

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.

The post Episode 138: Ask Maureen July 2021 Edition appeared first on Maureen Taylor.

Attorney David Whitcomb purchased space for a new office and found forgotten picture history of the suffrage movement. These old photos revealed clues about local history and national politics.

In our last house, we found a note from the first owner hidden beneath the wallpaper. Nothing too amazing. His name and a date. In this house, there is a cobweb filled bin in the back of the basement filled with old doors that were once used. I’m actually afraid to dig around in it, but this podcast episode is inspiring me to do so.  

Perhaps you’ve discovered a forgotten bit of the past in a place you’ve lived or worked? I’ve received countless emails from people that have found photographs in the darndest places when they are renovating houses–in walls, behind fireplaces, and more.  Never has anyone ever said they found a whole room.  Well…that is until I spoke with attorney David Whitcomb and his amazing unexpected find.   

His tale will have you looking in closets, examining ceilings and hoping to rediscover lost history like he did.  

Related Episodes:

Bonus  Lost History Discovered (in the Recycling)

Episode 84 U.S. Naval Photo Collections: Online Resources You Can Use

Links:

• CNN coverage of the story
• Sign up for my newsletter.
• Watch my YouTube Channel.
• Like the Photo Detective Facebook Page so you get notified of my Facebook Live videos.
• Need help organizing your photos? Check out the Essential Photo Organizing Video Course.
• Need help identifying family photos? Check out the Identifying Family Photographs Online Course.
• Have a photo you need help identifying? Sign up for photo consultation.

About My Guest:

David J. Whitcomb is the founder/owner of Whitcomb Law Firm, P.C.  Mr. Whitcomb is a graduate of Canandaigua Academy (1995) and obtained his law degree from the Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law (2007).  Mr. Whitcomb focuses his practice on real estate (transactions, contracts, leases, and evictions), lending, estate planning and probate, business entity formation and representation as well as representation in matrimonial and criminal matters.

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.

The post Episode 137: The Walls Can Talk: Finding History in a Hidden Room with David Whitcomb appeared first on Maureen Taylor.