Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Hunting for pictures

How can I find photos of my ancestors?  Here are some places to look:

Family Members

  • Ask your family members.   You never know who in your family may have the passed-down photos of grandparents, great-grandparents or even further back, and never mentioned it because they thought no-one was interested.  Today, it is easy to make copies – you can go to their house and take a digital photograph of the photo or take your laptop and scanner to scan the photo.
Photo Archives

Images of America Series
The Images of American Series, available for many towns across the US, have photos generally culled from the town’s historical society.  While the book may not have close-ups of people, they generally have group shots of the townspeople.  I found an ancestor in a group shot of the local Volunteer Fire Department taken 140 years ago.  These books are available at local book stores, libraries, and at Amazon.com It’s worth a browse, but no guarantee you will find your ancestor.  You will, however, find some pretty good photos of your town as it used to be.  To find these books atAmazon.com, search for your county or town name with the words Images of America. Be sure to check out the years the book covers as some of these books have historical photos while some have contemporary photos.

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