The Ultimate Guide to Dating Your Family Photos

Do you have a pile of old photos, and can’t quite figure out when the picture was taken?  Anyone who has tried to organize photos, especially vintage pictures, has had faced the dilemma of dating photos, whether you are a DIY-er or a trained professional photo organizer.

We asked our colleagues, members of The Photo Managers, to share their tips and tricks for dating problematic photos. Their answers are helpful and eye-opening.

Photo Detective Tools

As you develop your photo detective bag of tricks that is, it’s helpful to start with a few tools.

• A lighted magnifying glass or jeweler’s loop (If the photo is already digitized, the zoom function will be your friend.)
• Google (especially Google Lens) or your favorite search engine
• Books or websites about fashion, hairstyles, and photo types (Check out the selection offered by Maureen Taylor, The Photo Detective.)
• A family timeline of important dates and events

Get a list of my favorite tools for organizing printed photos here.

Tips for Dating Print Photos

Obvious Clues

If you get lucky, the back of the photo can give clues to the location or date. If you are really lucky someone has written down some identifying information (people, place, event, date) for you.  Congratulations, you have just won the photo detective jackpot! However, it’s a good idea to take the writing with a grain of salt. I recently found a family photo with 3 people identified on the back. The problem? It was a picture of only 1 person.

In some cases, a developing date will be printed on the back paper or the border on the front. Remember, these printed dates on photos are the date the picture was developed and printed, not the date the photo was taken, but at least it’s a starting point.  An obvious example would be Christmas photos dated January 1952 were most likely taken on Christmas of 1951. I have had clients reprint an old scan which then got mixed back into their print collection. The photo was obviously from the 1940s but the developing stamp on the back said May 2015.

Sometimes the date taken is not so obvious. When we still used actual film in our cameras, many people did not get it developed right away.   When only 4 or 5 photos were taken at an event, often the film contained several events before it was developed. So just remember the date on the back is the date developed.

Some photos taken on digital cameras and then printed may have date stamps on the front of the printed (or digital) photo. Again take this date with a grain of salt. Just like the blinking clock on a VCR, many people never correctly set the date on their camera.

Physical Clues

Let’s look at the photograph itself. Major developers like Kodak have changed their style over the years and these can be a great clue to the era a photo was developed. You can look at things like the paper on the back of the photo or its size and shape. All can be clues to the developing date of the photo.

Here are some online resources that you can use to identify the age of a print by its type and paper among other characteristics. 

1. Identifying the Era of a Photo By Its Type – primarily for photos prior to 1903
2. Dating Real Photo Postcards
3. History of Evolution of Kodak Logo
4. Kodak Colour Negative Film and Colour Printmaking Materials and Processes
5. Ektacolor Paper Backprint Chronology
6. How to Identify 5 Types of Old Photographs

Frequently slides will have a date stamped on the paper or plastic mount. But remember that this is the developing date, not the date the photo was taken.

Various kinds of Kodachrome/Kodak slide mounts

If your photos are in the original developing envelope, check it for dates. This will give you a time when the photo was developed. It may even have an address or phone number of your family member on it which could aid your search.

For professional photographs, research the photographer to find out when they were active, especially for vintage photos. The imprint on the front and the back of the photo can help you narrow down the time frame. (Thank you to Kate Jacus, The Photo Curator for her help compiling this list.)

• Langdon’s List of 19th & Early 20th Century Photographers
• Craig’s Daguerreian Registry (not updated since 1998 but still a great resource)
• Eastman Museum Collections Online (use advanced search)
• The J. Paul Getty Museum Photo Collection
• The Metropolitan Museum of Art Photography Collection
• Google the name of the photographer and the location

Context Clues

Happy Birthday To You

Count the candles on a birthday cake.  Keep in mind that some families “add one for good luck” and some people have multiple birthday parties each year.

“I (have) counted candles on a cake to determine the person’s age, used a magnifying app on my phone to read the name of the university on a diploma, googled an obituary to find a date of birth, and googled the name of a museum to determine what city/country the family was in.”

– Sandra Williams, Infinity Photo Solutions

Car Hints

Look for a year on a license plate.

What is the make and model of the car? This can help pinpoint decades.

• Cars in the 1950s
• Talk to a local car enthusiast or dealer.

Study the state/province on the license plate and Google images for license plates for those years. For example, we found History of Nebraska Passenger Vehicle License Plates and Vehicle Registration plates of Virginia.

“I was looking at old photos online of Michigan Tech campus to see if the photos I was sorting were taken there and using a magnifying glass on old photos to see license plate and shape of grill on truck in different photos.”

– Kathy Stone, Calgary Photo Solutions

What’s in the Background

Use a magnifying glass (or your computer’s zoom button) to look for anything in the background that may give clues to the date some ideas are.

Calendars in the photo will give you a general time frame to consider.

Look at the headlines of newspapers or magazines (or the name of the paper if trying to pinpoint the location) in the photo, then google the headline.

A certain TV show or newscaster on a TV may help you narrow down a date.

Google dates of sporting events by the teams playing on the TV in the background.

Zoom in and look for any hand-written notes, such as the label on a cradle in a hospital nursery or a graduation diploma.

“ If I had a nickel for every birthday candle I’ve counted! Kitchen calendars with just the month and day can help and I have to google to find the year that it could have been. “

– Laura Woolsey, Memory Forward

Location, Location, Location

In outdoor shots, look for house number or street address, to match with years lived in a location. This is when that family timeline can come in very handy.

Look at the shape of a door, the finish on the house, the type of porch, and the style of windows to match an unknown photo with a known photo or to fit in a known chronology.

Look for words on advertising signs to pinpoint the location and/or date of a photo.

Indoor/outdoor seasonal decorations can give hints of the time of year.

Construction and restoration of major buildings and monuments can give you a time frame in which the photo was taken. Skylines with missing landmark skyscrapers could give hints to date. For example, New York City without the Twin Towers is either pre-1973 or post-2001.

I’ve used a magnifying glass to read a few words of a newspaper headline on a desk and then googled the headline. Also googled what football teams played each other on a certain date.

– Cheryl DiFrank, My Memory File

Fashion Details

Hairstyles and clothing can help identify decades in a photo. Maureen Taylor, The Photo Detective, has some great resources for dating photos of your ancestors based on the fashion and styles of the time.

Pay attention to details like bangs (Suzie got bangs in 3^rd grade therefore photos with the bangs are probably 3^rd or 4^th grade) or braces. They may not give you a specific date, but they can help your general chronology. These are good details to add to your family timeline.

What’s Going On

If the photo shows a public event (Indy Car race, State Fair, Bon Jovi concert), google the names of the event then look for logos that match yours. That will usually help you find the year, if not the month and day as well.

Mother Nature

Take note of blooming flowers or bare trees. This will give you a clue as to the time of year.

I’ve compared several pics of a child and aged them as before braces, with braces, straight teeth! Also, house pictures (can be dated) by sizes of the trees.

– Debbie Wiener, Got Pix

Other Supporting Documents

If you have other supporting documents such as obituaries and funeral service bulletins, they can give dates of birth, places of residence, family members, and other information that can help identify photos.

Birthday party invitations with a specific theme (like Spiderman or roller skating) can give you a date when paired with photos showing the same theme.

Of course, your most valuable resource is a family member (or two) who you can ask about dates, locations, and stories. Ask them before it’s too late.

What is your favorite trick or resource for dating photos of your family?

This blog was originally co-written with Kathy Stone of Calgary Photo Solutions and originally appeared on The Photo Organizers blog.

Some Other Resources

Dating Old Photos Pinterest Board

How to Date Family Photographs – The National Archive

How Old Are My Photos – Everpresent

Dating and Identifying Your Old Family Photographs – Lisa Lisson for The Photo Managers

A Guide to Popular Film Formats – The Darkroom Photo Lab

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