Seems like everyone has that box of photos in their house from grandma and grandpa that is a collection of people, events and miscellaneous. You organize, label, upload and then what? There HAS to be more photos out there, right? You know that you cant be the only one that has pictures, so where can you look to find more? Apart from asking your family members to share, where else can you look? Here are 6 places online you might be able to find more family photos.
ANCESTRY:
Most people doing genealogy research have a membership to Ancestry. Go to Search in the top menu bar. Then when the page pulls up, scroll down to photos and maps in the right sidebar. You can then enter the information of the person you are looking for. If you are lucky maybe someone has uploaded a photo!
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS PRINTS AND PHOTOGRAPHS:
“Unique in their scope and richness, the picture collections number more than 16 million images. These include photographs, historical prints, posters, cartoons, documentary drawings, fine prints, and architectural and engineering designs. While international in scope, the collections are particularly strong in materials documenting the history of the United States and the lives, interests, and achievements of the American people” The various collections have a large number of photographs from the 19th and early 20th century as part of a government initiative to document everyday American lives.
FAMILY SEARCH PHOTOS:
You will need to register for family search, but it is free to use. You may be able to find photos from user submissions and uploads. search, download to your own computer, or even upload your own photos to help others in their research as well.
DEAD FRED–
With a name like this, what’s not to like? I saw this site and thought “This can’t be real”. But in doing research, this may be an excellent place to try. Dead Fred is free to use, and has over 21,000 surnames, 142,000 records uploaded for you to search. They even have a section with photographs waiting to be identified. You can upload your own submissions as well.
CYNDI’S LIST LOST AND FOUND:
This is not the first time I have linked back to Cyndi’s List, her site is a wealth of information, and this topic is no exception. She has compiled a GREAT list of links and resources for photographs and memories from across the web, some for specific families and/or locations.
Believe it or not the plain old Google can be a valuable resource in trying to locate more family photos. By searching to web you will have access to countless family websites, trees and collections, historical societies and more. If it has been labeled and uploaded, you should be able to find it on google! Try the Google Images site as well. It works best if you are using a google browser in doing your google searches.
BONUS: You can also try the archives from the state they lived. State Archives can be found by googling (Insert state here)State Archives, then follow the search results!
Remember if you find images online, return the favor and upload what you have to help others in their search as well. The great thing about genealogy research, is we are all in this together and can use the help any way we can get it sometimes.
Happy Hunting friends!
