#AtoZChallenge - I is for Images

Images.  They are so important to family history and half my fun on this blog at least is trying to decipher old family photos.  Of course I need to look after them too.  I fear I am not doing a good job of this at the moment but will be vastly aided by having recently won a beautiful Albox Archival Album.  Thank you Gould Genealogy and History.  But I digress.

Books that have helped me enormously in the deciphering and curation of family photos are:

Dating Family Photos 1850-1920 by Lenore Frost - published in Victoria in 1991 the first part of the books looks at dating by type of photo and the second part dating by costume with sections broken into men, women, children, weddings, riding habits, working clothes and mourning clothes.  There is an excellent glossary (what is a paletot?) and bibliography.  This book is out of print now but you may be able to pick up a 2nd hand copy somewhere.

The Mechanical Eye - A History of Australian Photography by Con Tanre - gives a history of photography generally and Australia specifically as well as providing a valuable list of Australian photographic studios from 1842-1860 and Photographic Studios in Sydney from 1860-1900. Also out of print but maybe available 2nd hand.

Where can you find images to make your blog more appealing?

The Met Museum

NYPL Digital Collections

Picture Queensland

Flickr

Photographer Henry William Mobsby, Barcaldine, ca. 1905
John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland 

Want to get a feel of what life was like in old London?  Visit Collage or Spitalfields Life.

Don't know your Daguerrotype from your Collodion...check out the George Eastman Photographic Processes series on YouTube here.

Need help digitizing, editing, organizing and sharing your family images ?  You'd be hard-pressed to go past Geoffrey D. Rasmussen's Digital Imaging Essentials: Techniques and Tips for Genealogists and Family Historians.

I have read many of Jayne Shrimpton's articles in Family History magazines over the years and just borrowed her book from the new swanky Chermside Library today....Tracing Your Ancestors through Family Photographs: A Complete Guide for Family and Local Historians. It's going straight on my birthday/Xmas wish list.  What a beautiful book.

Looking for something more local and more abbreviated?  Graham Jaunay"s Solving riddles in 19th century albums might be just the ticket. Jaunay covers all you need to know about conservation and preservation, the history of photography and dating photographs as well as dress. There are plenty of images, examples and tables to help you identify types of photographs and date costumes.

I must acknowledge the enormous camaraderie and support that I receive from fellow contributors to Sepia Saturday - a blogging meme which encourages bloggers to post photographs from their archives on a weekly basis to match a meme.  Fellow bloggers have informed me about all sorts of websites and resources which have informed my analysis of family photos and helped make my blog more meaningful, attractive and informed.

Do you use images in your blog? What are your sources?