A few weeks ago, a client asked me how to tackle the mountains of photos in her collection. She had a lot of heritage images such as cabinet cards and carte des visite, but she really wanted to start with her more modern images. Those that she’d inherited from her parents and taken during their life and hers. If you’ve found yourself staring at piles of photo processing sleeves and carousels of slides, then you know that feeling of overwhelm. My advice was to start simply.

I’d never tell you to take all your pictures out of those sleeves all at once and spread them out on a table. Here’s why. You lose the context of the images. They get mixed together, and the negatives no longer match the images. Frankly, the whole idea of laying out all my photos at one time makes me shudder. It’s best to start small. All that sorting can be done digitally.

The point is to break your organizing project down into bite-sized pieces. Consider what you can get done. Perhaps it’s scanning a single sleeve of images at a time. Or you’ve budgeted for the project, so it makes sense to send out all images of one type for scanning. My earliest photo memories are sitting at the kitchen table with my Mom as she told me the stories behind the photos in the boxes. Those little moments changed my life. Ask your family if they’d like to help with the whole process. It can be a family bonding moment rather than an endless task.

That feeling of overwhelm makes most people put the task away for another day, which can turn into never. Instead, think about what photos are the most important to your family history process. A memoir has different priorities from a family tree book. In the latter, you are looking at modern images; for a genealogy, you want the old stuff.

For this client, a manageable task was starting with her parents’ slides. My advice was to review the slides using my strategy to reduce the number of images to digitize. Retain images of people; discard those that don’t unless they are important to family stories. Their vacation photos meant something to your parents, but unless you were there, you can’t share in those moments. I know that’s true for my own travel images.

Scanmyphotos.com offers carousel scanning without removing any slides. Number or label each box so that your scans will come back in “folders.” See their tips for sending material to them. Once those images are digitized, you can organize the scans using a digital photo organizer like Forever.com. Digital organizers don’t care how many keywords you use or how many digital albums you create. You’ll be able to find pictures instantly. If the organizer uses facial recognition, then it will make tagging those faces even easier.

Once you have a scan, the possibilities are endless. Identify the people. Tell their stories. Make family history shareable. It’s up to you. If you need help with any of these steps, email me.

The post Simple Ways to Tackle Your Photos appeared first on Maureen Taylor.

Every family has a photo keeper—sometimes several. If you’re trying to identify the people in your collection, start by reaching out to relatives. You might be surprised at what’s tucked away in an attic, stored on a phone, or neatly arranged in an album across the country.

Ask Before You Assume

Don’t assume that someone doesn’t have photos just because they’ve never mentioned them. Ask every family member you meet—yes, even distant cousins—if they have a photograph collection. Many people have a box or album inherited from a grandparent or tucked away in a closet that hasn’t been opened in years. Those hidden treasures might hold the answers you’ve been searching for. A distant relative was sure she didn’t have any old photos. There was an oversized wedding portrait of her parents on the living room wall. “Oh, I forgot about that one,” she exclaimed.

One Pose Was Never Enough

Beginning in the mid-nineteenth century, it was common for individuals to sit for multiple poses. Studios offered packages or encouraged people to try different looks—standing, seated, with props, or with family members. That means there may be duplicate or similar images in another branch of your family. A photo of your great-grandmother in your cousin’s album may have been taken on the same day as the one in yours.

Compare and Collaborate

What’s unidentified in your collection may be labeled in theirs. A quick message or shared scan might solve a long-standing mystery. I always recommend comparing notes—and metadata—when possible. Sometimes a small detail, like a photographer’s imprint or a handwritten name on the back, can unlock an entire family line.

Who Inherits the Photos?

One of the most fascinating (and sometimes contentious) questions in family history is: How are photos inherited in your family? Do they pass down through the eldest child? The one who shows the most interest? Or are they scattered among siblings and cousins? Understanding this pattern can help you trace where missing photographs might have gone—and where to look next. My Mom, the youngest, and her oldest sister inherited the photos. Her sister then gave them to her second daughter, who, in turn, gave them to her third child until they made their way to me.

Keep the Conversation Going

Photographs don’t just document family history—they are family history. Each one tells a story that’s waiting to be rediscovered and shared.

Join Me for Google Images and Beyond: Finding Family Photographs

If this topic intrigues you, you’ll love my talk “Google Images and Beyond: Finding Family Photographs.” I’ll show you how to locate images of your ancestors online—whether they’re hiding in digitized archives, social media posts, or unexpected corners of the internet.

Don’t miss out on new techniques, search tips, and ethical best practices for uncovering your family’s visual legacy.

Find booking information here

The post Looking for Family Photographs: Ask a Relative appeared first on Maureen Taylor.

This week Maureen Taylor, The Photo Detective, is joined by fashion historian Darnell-Jamal Lisby, who is currently the Assistant Curator of Fashion at the Cleveland Museum of Art, and the first to take this role.

They discuss the latest exhibition, “Egyptomania: Fashion’s Conflicted Obsession,” and how the fascination with this time period has led to fashion influence throughout the centuries, as well as how it can impact your family photos. Darnell-Jamal and Maureen also delve into the history of fashion, fashion inspiration, and how something in our society and culture inspires and changes trends. 

Related Episodes:

Episode 186: Fashion History on Twitter   

Episode 155: Ancestral Handbag History 

Links:

• Egyptomania: Fashion’s Conflicted Obsession 
• 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:

Assistant Curator of Fashion, Darnell-Jamal Lisby joined the Cleveland Museum of Art in 2021. He develops fashion study projects across the museum’s various curatorial departments. Before coming to Cleveland, Lisby was an education coordinator at Cooper Hewitt and the Smithsonian Design Museum, where he organized the museum’s first virtual—and best-attended—symposium, “Fashion, Culture, Futures: African American Ingenuity, Activism, and Storytelling.” Lisby previously worked at the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology and the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  He also taught in the Fashion Institute of Technology master’s program in fashion design.

About Maureen Taylor:

Maureen Taylor, The Photo Detective^Òhelps 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.

The post Episode 213: Egyptomania and Your Family Photos appeared first on Maureen Taylor.

This week on The Photo Detective podcast, Maureen Taylor, the Photo Detective, is joined by Trevor Mattea.

Trevor shares how finding a photo in his home’s attic helped inspire him to find who that photo belonged to – meaning the descendants of the people in the photo. 

This episode looks at the intimate journey that can come from these so-called “orphan photos” and what a reunion looks like. In fact, Trevor actually reached out to Maureen for advice on what to do with the photo and the two recount those steps and how to approach one of these ownerless photos to help find a descendant. 

With so many orphan photos, this podcast episode offers advice on how to go about trying to reunite a photo with its owners. 

Related Episodes:

Bonus Episode: Lost History Discovered (in the Recycling) 

Episode 137: The Walls Can Talk: Finding History in a Hidden Room with David Whitcomb 

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 My Guest:

Trevor Mattea has a range of professional experiences and interests grounded in conversation, knowledge-building, and creative expression. As an at-home parent to a young son, he focuses on genealogy, family traditions, homeschooling, and home renovation. He creates personalized gifts and party games through his Etsy store, BingoMe.

Previously, Trevor taught elementary school and consulted throughout the country in the areas of deeper learning, digital portfolios, project-based learning, parent engagement, and technology integration. He also hosted the New Books in Education podcast.

He holds an M.A. in Education from Stanford University and an A.B. in Political Science from Washington University.

About Maureen Taylor:

Maureen Taylor, The Photo Detective^Òhelps 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.

The post Episode 206: Found in an Attic, Returned to Family appeared first on Maureen Taylor.

This week on the Photo Detective Podcast, Maureen Taylor, The Photo Detective, is joined by Daniel Patt. Daniel is a software engineer at Google, as well as the grandson of three holocaust survivors. 

It’s this familial relation that inspired Daniel, in his spare time, to create an artificial intelligence platform called “From Numbers to Names” that aids those descended from individuals who faced the Holocaust to discover connections and photos of their loved ones. The project also aims to help identify the millions of unidentified faces in the Holocaust photo and video archives. 

Maureen and Daniel discuss his project, how a trip to Poland six years ago served as the inspiration to create this project, and how his background has helped him develop AI. 

It’s a project that all listeners should hear about, whether they are descendants of those who were in the Holocaust or not. 

Related Episodes:

Episode 187 : Building a Story with the Ancestry.com App

Episode 153: Ellis Island Immigrant Photos Identified with Louis Takács

Links:

• Numbers to Names
• 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:

Daniel Patt is a software engineer at Google, and is the grandson of three holocaust survivors. In his spare time, he created an artificial intelligence platform called From Numbers to Names to help Holocaust descendants discover photos of their loved ones – and help identify the millions of unidentified faces in Holocaust photo and video archives.

About Maureen Taylor:

Maureen Taylor, The Photo Detective^Òhelps 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.

The post Episode 205: Numbers to Names: A Holocaust Photo Database appeared first on Maureen Taylor.