The Photo Detective

Latest Episodes:

Finding Family on Ebay May 18, 2018

Show notes

Just about anything can be listed on eBay. In this episode of The Photo Detective, you'll learn how to search for family materials and how to set up an alert so you'll never miss a "lost" family item.

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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MemoryWeb Apr 20, 2018

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If you've ever wondered how to connect all your family photos with your genealogy, then you need to listen to this episode of The Photo Detective Podcast. My guest is Christopher Desmond of Memory Web.

Memory Web syncs to Google Drive, Dropbox, Instagram, FamilySearch, Facebook, and Flickr making it easy to transfer your photos to the sites you're using to connect. A new desktop version is about to be released, too.

He answers all of these questions as well as how to gather, edit, navigate, and edit photos using the app.

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Finding Family Photos Apr 03, 2018

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https://player.vimeo.com/video/261036540

A listener, Deborah Stock, asked me to talk about how to find family photos. There are photos everywhere from genealogical databases, to books. There is no quick way to search for photos online. It takes time and methodology.

Tips

Try making a list for each ancestor. Where they lived? Where they worked? Their activities. Then search for pictures based on their lives. Start big: Images.google.com For instance, search for historical images of the town they lived in.

Look for images of your ancestors in genealogy sites like FamilySearch, MyHeritage and Ancestry.com. You’ll have to search for them individually, or if you have an account on MyHeritage.com their photo discovery feature will find them for you. Did you watch my interview with Daniel Horowitz of MyHeritage? We took their discovery feature for a test drive.

You can also search older books for images. Archive.org partnered with Flicker.com to share images. Not only can you find images, you’ll be able to link to the exact page in the publication to see the picture in context. Who knows what you’ll find?

Photo Stories

Have you watched my video about a photo of my maternal grandmother and her siblings? As the Photo Detective I thought I’d already examined this image so what I found surprised me. I’m starting a new series called: Outside the Frame. Watch my newsletter and blog for new tales. You can sign up for my newsletter via Facebook or my website.

The Last Muster

RootsTech was exhausting as usual, BUT it’s also exhilarating. I met so many people, looked at a lot of photos. Caroline Miles stopped by my booth. She looked at The Last Muster books of images of people who lived during the Revolution but lived long enough to be photographed. Hmm…she wondered out loud if her great great great grandmother was in one of them. She was! The smile on her face said it all. It was the first time she’d seen a photo of Elizabeth Gillam.

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Ancestry Search Tips Mar 06, 2018

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In this episode of The Photo Detective, Julianna Szucs of Ancestry.com explains how to search this mega genealogy site. She covers general search strategies, global searches, category searches as well as how to find what you need in individual collections. My personal favorite tip is how to use three different types of wildcard searches. I guarantee this episode will change how you use Ancestry.com.

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RootsTech 2018 Jan 13, 2018

Show notes

Tara Bergeson of FamilySearch.org joined me to talk about RootsTech 2018. They have an outstanding line-up of events including a Wednesday night opening of the Expo Hall, a celebration of the Greatest Generation, and "My Family, Mi Herencia", a Luz de Las Naciones production on Saturday evening.

The deadline for the Photo & Story Competition is now January 19, 2018. Old photos or new, it doesn't matter as long as you tell the story and then post it online through a blog or a social media site. Full details are on the Rootstech website.

I hope you'll stop by my booth at the conference to say hello. On Family Discovery Day, I'll have a special handout for children in my booth.

Thank you to RootsTech for providing my listeners with a coupon code worth $100 off the regular RootsTech registration. Use 18PHOTO when registering on rootstech.org.

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My Heritage Photo Discoveries Nov 30, 2017

Show notes

Daniel Horowitz of MyHeritage was my guest this month. We did a demo of one of the really cool features of their instant discoveries option. You upload photos to your MyHeritage.com family tree website and then the matching happens. It sounds complicated and technical but follow along as Daniel and I discuss how to get the most out of your Premium Plus or Complete MyHeritage.com subscription.

I love how easy it is to find new family photos in the collections of others who share some of your ancestors. The website does all the matching work, but to maximize your results tag your photos and collaborate on identifying the unknown people. Daniel offered some tips to make the magic happen.

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Interview With Beth Forester of Animoto Nov 08, 2017

Show notes

I had the opportunity to interview Beth Forester of https://animoto.com where we discussed the power of video and family history.

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Animoto Nov 08, 2017

Show notes

In this episode we take a look at how I use Animoto to create family history and house history videos. I give a live photo consult on a picture submitted by a viewer, then I discuss scanning tintypes.

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Family History Videos Sep 26, 2017

Show notes

In this episode of Ask Maureen, Maureen Taylor, the Photo Detective, shares:

What do you see in a photo?
Photo Preservation Tips
Next Month I have a big surprise. A new class. It's in response to the survey many of my readers participated in.
Listen in on Extreme Genes to a discussion on houses in photos and on their new Patreon site for a discussion of Reverse Genealogy and Photographs.

Thank you for listening.

Resources

Schedule a Photo Consult with Maureen.
Join Maureen on Instagram for photo identification and preservation tips.
Extreme Genes and their new Patreon site with exclusive content.

Next Episode

The next episode of Ask Maureen will be on Thursday, 19 October 2017 at 1:00pm ET. Submit your photo organizing, photo ID, and genealogy questions to ask Maureen.

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Google’s "We Wear Culture!" Aug 21, 2017

Show notes

In this episode of Ask Maureen, Maureen Taylor, The Photo Detective, shares information about a new resource from Google, in partnership with museums around the world, called We Wear Culture. It is an amazing resource dedicated to 3,000 years of world fashion. Then, as we prepare for the upcoming solar eclipse, Maureen shares a glimpse back to a 1923 Solar Eclipse and gives a few helpful tips on photographing eclipse events. And finally, a peek behind the curtain into the clues you can use to date your photos.

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