America's Pandemic Pastime: Making Photo Reunions Happen

The Photo Detective

Every time I see another news story on a photo reunion that’s happened through crowdsourcing images online I chuckle. I have a closet full of mysteries and not much luck reuniting images with living people. Yet, just in the last few months, there are images being shared online that are within a short time being reunited. It’s clearly the world’s new Pandemic pastime.

There is a Victoria Johnson, a professor at Hunter College who’s the author of American Eden: David Hosack Botany and Medicine in the Garden of the Early Republic a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize in 2019. 15 years ago she found a snapshot of a family in a used book she bought in New York City. This year she posted it to Twitter and it lit up the Twitterverse 80 comments, 684 shares, 1.9 Million likes Yowza. And the family was identified. You can view the image and thread in the Links.

In 2008, Jennifer Skupin, a designer who lives in the Netherlands, found a box of 200 slides at a Dutch flea market of people in Alaska circa 1960. She tried to identify the people but couldn’t. Recently she put the images in a Google Drive folder where people can comment.

Bingo! Many of the images have been commented on and identified. You can view them in the Google Drive link in the show notes

These are only two of the photo-related stories I’ve read about recently. Both of these covered on CNN. com

There are other photos in the news. Paul Moar was in the right place and time to find images of the Shetland Islands being discarded at the recycling center. He saved them and is using a Facebook page, Shared Shetland Memories, to share the images and gather information. Paul was on The Photo Detective podcast in a bonus episode

There are other photo reunion episodes being worked on for the podcast so stay tuned.

Let’s look at the history of this Orphan photo/photo rescue movement.

Decades ago, reuniting images with family wasn’t very popular. Then genealogist Marge Rice began collecting images with names on them from the Chicago area. Marge, we miss you! And in 1998 Joe Bott started DeadFred.com, a website where folks can post mystery images or identified ones looking for family connections. It was what we had prior to social media. By the way, Marge left her collection to him. I caught up with him in episode 32.

Reconnecting families with lost images and mementos was the stuff that genealogists did. Not journalists. How did this happen?

The huge genealogy databases of Ancestry.com, MyHeritage.com, and others changed all that. Anyone can go into an antique shop, purchase an image with a name, and start searching. Then facilitate a reunion.

Keep in mind the following: Not all images have living family members. Not all images are wanted by family.

The question in my mind is which family member should have the picture.

Debra Clifford of Ancestorville Genealogy offers digital copies or originals for sale on her website and on social media. It’s just one of the many sites that now do this.

Social media is altering the way photo rescues work.

On Social media “lost photos” looking for family love are prevalent. I wrote a blog post called Family Photos on Instagram. So many places to look!

You can also find image connections through special Facebook groups too.

Last April, I featured Identified images on the Photo Detective Facebook page in

I'm thrilled to be offering something new. Photo investigations. These collaborative one-on-one sessions. Look at your family photos then you and I meet to discuss your mystery images. And find out how each clue and hint might contribute to your family history. Find out more by going to maureentaylor.com and clicking on family photo investigations.

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