Can I trace an old family photograph?

Can I trace an old family photograph?

You can do quite a lot with old photographs, because they contain so much information. For a start, it's a snapshot of a certain period of fashion, so you can do a little bit around dating the clothes, or the style in which they were wearing them. Secondly, there may well be a photographic studio marked on the bottom of the photograph which will take you to a place and maybe even a time by looking at trade directories to see when they were operating. Many photographs will have military insignia or uniform, particularly during the Victorian period or early Edwardian. You can start to work out rank, regiment, or indeed, which armed force your relative was working in. The photographs themselves will give you a huge amount of information. You ought to check the back, though. Some of the marks are written on, some of the names, or indeed, dates. Also, see whether the photograph matches up with some correspondence that may actually relate to a date or to a holiday home or visits to see other parts of the family elsewhere.