In 2006, I wrote a column about a book, Forensic Genealogy by Colleen Fitzpatrick, which includes techniques for discovering the who, what, when, and where of unlabeled family photos.

In 2011, Fitzpatrick started a business called Identifinders that specializes in Forensic Genetic Genealogy. The firm uses advanced DNA procedures to help law enforcement solve cold cases. They also help identify military remains and other Jane/John Doe situations. Go to their website (Identifinders.com) if you are interested or have a mystery for them to solve. But for this week’s column, let’s revisit some ideas from the book, Forensic Genealogy.

Say you have a family photo and no way to identify who it’s of or where or when it was taken. Is there anything you can do without shelling out a bunch of money to hire a professional? Absolutely.

According to Fitzpatrick, there are three places to look for clues: at the picture, in the picture, and behind the picture.

‘At the picture” means what does the thing itself look like? What shape is it? Is it printed on metal, or glass, or copper, or card stock, or paper, or what? There are histories of photography available that will give date ranges based on the type of photo.

Was it taken by a studio? If so, the studio’s name may be embossed on it. Search the Internet. Even if the establishment has long been defunct, information about its location and years of operation may be available. There could even be an archive or ledger of the studio’s work, giving you important help in solving your mystery.

Though forensic techniques may not tell you the names of the people in a picture, they often can tell you when and where it was taken. Many times having an approximate date and location can help determine who is in a photo and who is not. If your great-great-grandmother died in 1907 and the picture in question was taken in 1910, it’s probably not your great-great-grandmother.

Looking ‘in the picture’ means to make a list of identifiable things that were captured along with the people. Are there street signs, house numbers, magazines, books, framed items on the wall, automobiles, businesses, or railroad crossing signals? With a little research, such items can help date a picture and determine its location.

Can’t see background items clearly? By scanning a picture at a high resolution—a cheap flatbed scanner will do this—and loading the scan into a photo editing program, it can be enlarged, revealing details.

On Fitzpatrick’s old website, forensicgenealogy.info (which hasn’t been updated since 2015), there are results of some of her weekly photo quizzes. If you click on Weekly Quiz and scroll down, you will find photos with explanations of how details about them were discovered. These will give you ideas of techniques you can use.

For even more info, find a copy of her book, The Dead Horse Investigation—Forensic Photo Analysis for Everyone.

In next week’s column, I’ll tell what “behind the picture” means.

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