The information on identifying old photo's has been helpful to me too!
I have been very involved with photographing photos from scrapbooks loaned to
me by relatives. Unfortunately, most of the photos are glued into the books
so I cannot see any information which might be on the back. My purpose for
photographing these photos is to reproduce them for myself and others in my
family and also to hopefully preserve the images of my family in case the
originals are lost. I have had excellent results with many of the photos,
sometimes using a magnifying lens which actually has helped me identify
people/places/things better than from the original photographs.
I have run across 3 "metal" photos of girls/women who I cannot identify. I
believe they might be of relatives who lived in Switzerland or Ripley Counties
or possibly Gallatin or Boone Counties in KY (or their predecessors from more
eastern states).
Can anyone help me with the following questions and /or give me advice on my
project to 'photograph photographs'?
1. are photos produced on metal called daguerrotype? Does anyone know when
this type of media was used to produce photos and when it was replaced with
paper? (to help me date these 3 photographs)
2. can anyone give me advice on a checklist of things to look for on an
original photograph while I still have it in my possession?
3. can anyone recommend a good book for learning how to identify and preserve
photographs?
Thanks!
Janis Gatschet