Photos Through the Ages – come see us at Who Do You Think You Are? Live

Who do You Think You Are? Live newsletter, 4 February

I’ll be teaming up with America’s Photo Detective, Maureen Taylor (www.maureentaylor.com) at Who Do You Think You Are? Live at Olympia, London, 25-27 February 2011 to provide a vintage photograph dating and identification service.  Especially for the show we will also be creating a unique timeline display.   Photos Through the Ages displays photographs from the 1840s to the early twentieth century, revealing the continual changes in fashion and photographic techniques through the decades.

We are also collaborating on an exciting new project to recreate an interactive version of the timeline and allow users to contribute their own photographs. Why not share your own family memories and see them online? Come along to the show and ask us how, or revisit this site in March for more details.

More about us

James Morley (that’s me!) developed a fascination for vintage photographs less than ten years ago, but it quickly became a passion for collecting images and unraveling the many mysteries that old photographs contain. Placing unknown locations, identifying 150 year old photographic techniques, or tracing the descendents of the people in orphaned photographs from the distant past – James has done them all.

By day Morley applies the power of the web in the cultural heritage sector managing the website for the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.  Realising the power of the masses, in 2007 he founded the website What’s That Picture?  (www.whatsthatpicture.com), giving people a place where they could share their photographs whilst helping others to solve their own mysteries.  Recently re-launched the site focuses on highlighting unsolved mysteries and recent discoveries, shares useful hints and tips, and provides a gateway into the wealth of amazing resources that exist to help anyone with a photographic mystery to solve.  It also aims to provide innovative new ways to discover the wealth of images and information that exist online – “giving old photos new life”.

Maureen Taylor is an internationally known expert on photo identification.  A former photographic curator, Maureen’s focus is working with individuals to solve their picture mysteries and reveal the stories present in their photographs. Sometimes working with just the smallest of clues, she has dated photographs by the size and shape of automobile headlamps and using a technique employed by the CIA she identified a photo of Western outlaw Jesse James by studying the shape of his right ear. Her expertise bridges the disciplines of genealogy, art history, costume history and cultural anthropology.

Taylor travels extensively giving presentations on photo identification, photo preservation, and family history.  She has written for Irish Roots Magazine, Family Tree Magazine (U.K. and U.S.) and BBC’s Who Do You Think You Are? magazine. She’s been featured on American television and radio including The Today Show, The View and National Public Radio.  The Wall Street Journal called her the “nation’s foremost historical photo detective.”  She’s the author of numerous books on photographs and family history including Fashionable Folks: Hairstyles 1840-1900 (Picture Perfect Press).  Her latest project documents her search for photographs of America’s Revolutionary War generation, The Last Muster: Images of the Revolutionary War Generation (Kent State University Press).

Maureen and James have an extensive knowledge of vintage photographs, and especially a knack of searching out the right resources, or just finding the perfect people, to solve even the hardest of mysteries.   Stop by their stand 1143 at Who Do You Think You Are? Live to learn more about Photos Through the Ages or to have them cast their expert eye over a photo.