22 Online Historical Photo Databases

By Maureen A. Taylor

If you’re lucky, you know what your ancestors looked like from old pictures handed down in the family. But do you know what their house or neighborhood looked like? The businesses, churches and schools that formed the backdrop for their lives? The immigrant ships they sailed on? These images will turn your ancestors from words on a flat page to three-dimensional people with experiences of their own. But how to you get to there from here?

Fortunately, most libraries, archives and museums have joined the digital age and posted at least part of their image collections online. As a result, you can browse or keyword-search these historical photo archives (many of them free) from the comfort of home. Some sites even let you tag photos to make them easier for others to search, or annotate them with your family’s story.

And any item may have been photographed or scanned is considered an image, meaning these databases don’t confine themselves to just old photographs. In addition to a turn-of-the-century picture of Great-grandma’s house, you might find an image of a washboard like the one she used, a map of the township where she lived, or a postcard of a landmark she visited.

Fact is, you never know what you’re going to find until you start searching. Here, we’ve gathered together 22 of the best websites where you can find historical photos—both in the United States and abroad.

1. AGSL Digital Photo Archive: South America

The University of Wisconsin—Milwaukee shares the American Geographical Society’s images of South America here. Search by place, or click Browse All to narrow the collection using filters for the place and photographer.

2. BYU Historical Photographs

Brigham Young University has a fantastic collection of historical images, many from Utah but some from other areas. Among the latter are images of the San Francisco Earthquake and Europe in World War II. The Huntington Bagley Collection features 4,500 portraits out of the 15,000 taken by this Springville, Utah, studio. Each image has a title, description and subject headings (which may include family names).

3. British Library: Picturing Places

In addition to photos, maps, engraved illustrations and paintings help us understand how the places our ancestors lived have changed over time. This growing collection from the British Library focuses on the landscape of British places, so search by the places your UK ancestors called home. Don’t stop with the visuals: Well-researched articles and videos help you understand the images and give insight into how your ancestors lived, traveled and expressed themselves.

4. Calisphere

Imagine being able to search historical images from a bunch of California libraries and archives all at once. A long list of historical societies, colleges and local libraries contributed photos, maps, illustrations and more to this site. Start your search by typing a term into the search box on the home page.

On the results page, use the filters on the left to narrow results by type of item (image, text, moving image, etc.), decade, institution or collection. Click an image for a larger view. One of my favorite features here? Underneath the image, click the gray Get Citation button for source information that’s easy to copy in one fell swoop.

5. CARLI Digital Collections

The Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries in Illinois brings together historical images, manuscripts, sound recordings and more. Searching here is easy: Enter a name, topic, or keyword into the search box at the top right. Click the Advanced Search tab for the option to search and narrow results with filters for date, subject, format (photo, text, etc.) and more. Bear in mind that not all items are available to the general public. Some, including Sanborn Fire Insurance maps, are restricted for use at CARLI member libraries.

6. Cincinnati Digital Library

If you have ancestors in southwestern Ohio, southeastern Indiana or northern Kentucky, look here for photos of their lives. The Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County’s digital collections include photos of early 20th-century Cincinnati, 1937 Ohio River flooding, and more. You’ll also find digitized city directories, newspapers and other resources. Use the search box at the top right, or select Advanced Search to scour specific collections, enter a date range and more.

An image I love here is the Cincinnati Panorama of 1848, a detailed daguerreotype of the city’s riverfront that captures storefronts, people (if they happened to remain still enough during the exposure time) and docked boats.

7. Cornell University Library Digital Collections 

Definitely worth searching here is the Loewentheil Collection of African-American Photographs, which gathers 640 images dating back to the 1800s. The majority are unidentified, but detailed descriptions include place and photographer when known. Search for names and places right on the home page. Once you get the results, you can use filters on the left to narrow your findings by collection, date, location and more.

8. Digital Library of Appalachia

I love when libraries and archives work together to create an online resource that crosses state lines. On this site, almost two dozen college and university libraries share photos, documents and artifacts from the hills of Appalachia. On the home page, you can browse collections by contributor or topic or enter a keyword in the search box. On a results page, search specific collections, add a date to your search and more.

9. Flickr

We’d wager that many of your favorite libraries have collections on Flickr—that includes several listed here. The site gives individuals, museums and other organizations an easy way to share pictures, let the public access them, and gather comments. Search at the top for a topic or organization, then click Photos (to see all related photos), People (to go to the photostreams of people and organizations that post related material) or Groups (to view the pages and photo­streams of groups that post related photos). Then choose the organization you’re looking for.

Many institutions participate in Flickr Commons, whose goal is to “share hidden treasures from the world’s public photography archives.” A search box on this page lets you search just these images. If you register for Flickr (it’s free), you can add tags and annotations to images.

Another cool thing about Flickr? You can use it to search the Internet Archive website’s images from old books. Information provided includes the publication in which they were found—even the exact page, textural references as well.

10. German National Archives

Twentieth-century German history is well represented in this collection of more than 245,000 images, but earlier treasures date back to the 1860s. Click Advanced Search to search by place, date or other terms, or click Topic Search to browse (you may need to use Google Translate for the Classification headings). Add finds to a “board” so you can view them in a gallery or list, or in a detailed view for each.

11. Getty Research Institute Digital Collections

The J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles is one of the world’s premier art museums, and of course it has a first-rate photograph collection. You can click one of the featured collections on the website’s home page to browse it, or click Search the Digital Collections to search item titles and descriptions with a keyword. Use filters on the left to narrow your search. In your search results, a green link indicates images you can view from home; others require you to be at the museum. Click Actions above the image thumbnail for a citation. Click on the thumbnail to see an enlarged image, as well as a download link for many photos.

12. Harvard Digital Collections

Scroll down on the home page to choose from historical image collections documenting women working, workers in the 1930s, immigration to the United States, Holocaust relief in Europe and more. One of my favorites is Daguerreotypes at Harvard, a group of 3,500 images from the 1840s and 1850s. On each collection page, click Search, or browse by topic.

13. Library and Archives Canada

This site’s Image Search (select Images from the dropdown) lets you look for photos and other digitized material at Canada’s national library and archives. Use the filters on the left side of the results page to view only certain types of archival material. Click an image in your gallery of search results to see an enlarged version, where you also can arrow between previous and subsequent photo hits.

14. Library of Congress Digital Collections

The United States’ largest library holds a lot of undiscovered digitized genealogical treasures. From the dropdown menu at the top of the page, select Photos, Prints, Drawings to search just visual content. Then search for topics, places, organizations and even names. You then can filter results by place, date and more.

If you find a good match, click the subject heading in the image’s catalog listing to see similar items. A few items are for use only in the library, but most are downloadable in several sizes. Check the copyright information to make sure an item is in the public domain before you publish it anywhere.

15. National Archives Catalog

While the National Archives and Records Administration’s online strength is helping you understand its holdings (and its main digitization strategy has been to work with third-party organizations like Ancestry.com), it does have digital collections. There’s no quick link to that content; rather, you’ll use the catalog to find it.

Click Advanced Search and enter a term such as Civil War. At the top, check only Archival Materials Online (otherwise, results will include catalog descriptions for photos that aren’t digitized). In the Type of Archival Materials section, choose Photographs and Other Graphic Materials. Then click Search.

That Civil War searches netted more than 2,000 photos, broadsides, military service records and more. For some images, a View/Add Contributions button lets you register or log in to add tags, transcriptions and comments.

16. National Library of Australia: Trove

The Picture Australia initiative, now part of the National Library of Australia’s Trove website, started in 2000 with half a million images. It quickly grew to more than 2 million pictures contributed by 70 organizations and individuals. Search for type of photo, surname or place to find old photos, maps and more. You, too, can add relevant photographs to Trove (via Flickr; see No. 9) and help grow a continent’s common visual history.

17. National Library of Ireland Digital Photographs

On the website of this Republic of Ireland institution, you can search for images of the places your Irish ancestors lived by entering a place name or browsing by place or other topic. (The library’s collection covers the entire island until 1922; and thereafter, the Republic.) On your results page, click an image for a closer view. Look to the right of your results for a list of related subject headings; click one to view all items assigned to that subject.

You can also click over to the library’s Flickr page (see No. 9), where members of the photo-sharing site can post information about an image.

18. National Library of Scotland

Collections here cover the First World War, 1929 Edinburgh, 1860s Glasgow, and Scots engaged in sporting activities. You can search some collections individually by clicking on the title. Or click the magnifying glass in the upper right corner of the home page to run a Google search of the website (which returns web pages containing your search terms, some of which also have photos).

19. New York Public Library Digital Collections

NYPL is one of the forerunners of digital collections for researchers, with more than 890,000 images from all over the world now accessible online. Scroll down the home page to see a sampling of collections, and search all of them at once using the keyword search box. On the results page, you can add a date range and filter by topic, place and more. Alternatively, click Browse on the home page.

A keyword search for Canal Street, narrowed to the place “New York, NY,” and the dates 1890 to 1910, resulted in more than 30 street scenes and maps. Find a collection overview and search tips here.

20. Tulane University Digital Library

Photo collections here cover New Orleans history and culture, African-American life in the South, the Civil War, and more. If your roots lie in Latin America, try the Early Images of Latin America collection with more than 1,800 pictures of people, places, landscapes, urban and rural scenes from the mid-19th century to around 1910. You can download many of the images.

You can keyword-search collections; click Advanced Search to look for terms in the image catalog’s title, creator, description or other field. Experiment with search terms to find the one that works best for the photos you want to see.

21. University of Washington Libraries: American Indians of the Pacific Northwest

This University of Washington collection lets you view more than 2,000 images of American Indians from the Pacific Northwest: people, dwellings, Indian schools and more. The holdings include the iconic images taken by photographer Edward Curtis. Essays by anthropologists, historians and teachers help you understand the context and content of the photographs.

22. YIVO Digital Archive on Jewish Life in Poland

The YIVO Institute for Jewish Research Polish Jewish Archive is America’s only collection about Poland’s once-thriving Jewish community (and one of few worldwide) to be saved from the destruction of the Holocaust. In addition to photos, you’ll find maps, documents, ephemera and catalog entries for non-digitized objects. To browse, look under the tab for Galleries, select Photos and scroll down.

Google Patent Search: How to Use It in Genealogy Research

By Lisa Alzo

From the Google Patents home page, enter the patent application or publication number, inventor’s name, keywords describing the invention or some combination of these.

On the search results page, find your search terms displayed on the left. Add keywords to the search by clicking +Synonym and pressing Enter to re-run the search.

Assign keywords to specific fields if you like (click More to see additional search fields). Results are automatically sorted by relevance; to re-sorted by filing date, click on Ordered by relevance. Results are also grouped by patent classification; turn off this feature by clicking Grouped by classification and selecting Ungrouped.

Click on a search result to see either a patent or a Google Scholar snippet. Note that search terms remain visible and editable from the left. Use the Next and Previous arrows (or keyboard Left and Right arrows) to navigate between search results, which appear in summary form in the middle section.

Scroll down to view more content in each search result, such as individual images (which you can enlarge by clicking on the boxed arrow to the right); digitally-converted text from the patent description; citations of this search result in other documents and similar documents.

On the right, download a PDF of patent results and click on blue hyperlinked terms to run new searches: clicking on Stefan Banic would run a new search with Stephan Banic’s name as the inventor. Learn more from Google.

Family Reunions: 10 Steps to Plan (and Save Your Sanity)

 By Mary Snyder

Written by Mary Snyder, unless otherwise noted

Jump to:

1. Send out a questionnaire for planning input.
2. Recruit and delegate tasks.
3. Create a planning command center.
4. Build a budget.
5. Prepare a back-up plan.
6. Communicate with attendees.
7. Offer activities for everyone.
8. Start the reunion with an icebreaker activity.
9. Share your family’s story.
10. Maintain the reunion’s momentum.
Related Reads

Family Reunion Planning Checklist Free Download

Planning a family reunion? Use this handy timeline and planning checklist to guide your decisions and strategies, for both before and after the event.

Family Tree Magazine

Whether you’re expecting a dozen cousins or several hundred relatives, planning a meaningful, memorable and fun family reunion is a challenge. It takes time, organizational skills and a sense of humor. These 10 steps will help make your reunion a success—and keep you sane.

1. Send out a questionnaire for planning input.

Start by picking a date and location. Professional planner Bill Gunkel of Reunions Unlimited recommends you begin planning at least 12 months ahead. Your best first step, he says, is sending questionnaires to family members to get input on when, where and what they want.

Gather a committee to select three possible dates and locations. Send questionnaires asking family members to rank the options. While you can’t meet everyone’s needs, a survey is the best tool for finding out what works for most relatives.

Are you in a reunion rut? If it’s at the same time in the same place every year, consider a change. Something as simple as a new menu (from a potluck, for example, to a catered meal) and different activities could bring the life back to the party. Whatever you decide, work within your budget and give relatives plenty of notice about the change.

Lisa A. Alzo

2. Recruit and delegate tasks.

No one person can manage all aspects of a family reunion. Surround yourself with capable and enthusiastic committee members. As the chairperson, you’ll oversee the event, handle communications between committees, coordinate the volunteers—and occasionally play peacemaker.

For small events with 20 or 30 people, you’ll need only a few volunteers. Large events require more volunteers and committees.

Enlist as many family members as possible, aiming for a representative from each family unit. Delegate tasks and follow up to make sure people do what they promise. Don’t worry if your committee members are scattered around the globe. You can conference call via Skype or start a Google Hangout. Skype text and voice chats with multiple people are free, but you’ll need a premium account to initiate a multiperson video chat. Google Hangouts are free for up to 10 people. You also can share files and spreadsheets on Google Drive or Dropbox.

This strategy has worked well for my family. Email and conference calls with members representing each family works best for deciding themes, or any new or different menu items, or games, This helps us divide up the tasks among several members.

Lisa A. Alzo

Reunion Jobs

• Finance director: handles the reunion checking account, maintains the budget, makes purchases
• Lodging liaison: finds accommodations and negotiates group discounts
• Food director: works with the caterer or handles the potluck
• Correspondence officer: communicates with family members
• Entertainment director: organizes activities for a variety of ages
• Reservations officer: tracks who’s coming
• Mementos procurement: gathers family mementos for display
• Welcome committee: makes name tags, agendas and signage; mans registration; helps people mingle
• Keepsakes collector: makes or purchases keepsake favors ahead of time, and passes them out at the gathering

3. Create a planning command center.

A reunion generates paperwork: Even with subcommittees, the reunion chairperson needs copies of pertinent information, such as contracts with food vendors, updated registration information, and lodging details.

You might keep everything in a simple file folder, or you may want separate folders for each committee in a file box. Keep your records organized—you’ll refer to them often

4. Build a budget.

The reality is your reunion will cost money. And unless you’ve hit the Powerball jackpot or have a wealthy and generous relative, you’ll need a budget and you’ll have to ask your family to pitch in. “It’s not written in stone that it must cost a lot of money. But you will need money if you’re doing mailings; and for deposits if you’re planning a banquet or reserving a park pavilion,” family reunion expert Edith Wagner says in her free How to Ask for Money podcast. “If you’re like many reunion organizers, you will be fronting some, if not all, of the money to begin. Others need to know that you expect them to contribute to and/or pay their fair share.”

You could write a letter to each family describing the upcoming reunion and asking for a contribution. Let them know how the money will be used. For more-expensive get-togethers such as cruises, offer monthly payment options. Another idea is to ask individuals to donate a service such as printing as their contribution. At the reunion, you might auction donated items to raise money for next year’s event. Keeping costs low, perhaps by booking a park shelter or community center and holding potluck meals, will encourage attendance.

In a subsequent family reunion update, asking each family to pitch in a set amount of seed money is a good way to offset startup costs. Get more dough with fundraising projects, and include financial updates in mailings.

5. Prepare a back-up plan.

If your reunion will be outside, reserve a pavilion that can accommodate all the attendees in case of unexpected weather. Pack a few board games or crafts the children can do indoors.

6. Communicate with attendees.

Send invitations as early as possible. If you wish to mail them you might opt for a simple flyer, a card or postcard, or an elaborate family newsletter. An eco-friendly option is an invite delivered via email from Evite or Punchbowl.

Meanwhile, go online to relay information and incite interest. You can create a private event page on Facebook and invite people to join, or put someone in charge of sending simple email updates from time to time. Another idea is to use a family-centered website such as Geni as a message hub.

Include family trivia in your communications! Encourage relatives to send stories, ideas and updates for the mailings. This involvement often leads to better attendance.

Share the family reunion theme

Themes are an effective way to generate enthusiasm for your reunion and coordinate food, attire, decorations and activities. Our family did an All-American theme in 2003, with red, white and blue attire; picnic classics (hamburgers, hot dogs, potato salad); and musical chairs set to patriotic tunes. Other easy themes include back to school, Christmas in July, country and western, New Year’s Eve, pajama party and toga party. Decade-based themes—’50s, ’60s, ’70s, ’80s—also work well, as do those associated with an anniversary (the 25th annual reunion; your grandparents’ 50th wedding anniversary). Themes with a heritage flair, such as Hawaiian, Irish or Mexican, can help you incorporate your family’s heritage, as would a theme celebrating your Civil War ancestor or Grandpa’s WWII service.

Announce the theme well in advance so everyone can design their costumes and your committee can coordinate food, decorations and activities. Try to stick with themes that aren’t too elaborate so family members can use what they have around the house or buy cheaply at party stores or the local dollar store.

7. Offer activities for everyone.

Structured activities are great — even necessary — for getting relatives reacquainted when they’ve been out of touch for years. Roots reunion activities have another objective: to foster the exchange of family history information. Plan pastimes that appeal to a range of ages, and encourage different generations to interact. But don’t cram the schedule: Pick a few amusements, and leave downtime between them.

For each activity, find a way to record the memories that surface. Recruit responsible volunteers to take notes, hold a video camera or use a tape recorder. The end product will be a piece of family history, a source of research leads and perhaps a reunion souvenir. We recommend the following activities:

• Show-and-tell session: Ask everyone to bring an heirloom, photo or other memorabilia and share a story about it.
• Oral history interviews: They can be as simple as pairing up people with questionnaires, clipboards and pens. Or for a more “official” result, appoint a few relatives to conduct lengthier sessions.
• Family recipe bake-off: Publish recipes and a bake-off announcement in your reunion newsletter. Let Grandma judge whose apple pie tastes most like her own.
• Story time: Ask older relatives to tell family stories. Prepare prompts, such as “What about the time Grandpa had his tonsils out?” to encourage them if needed.
• Family trivia: Gather entertaining facts about ancestors, and hold a Trivial Pursuit-or spelling bee-style quiz. Or you can turn the game into an icebreaker: Give each person a printed list of questions to answer (within a 5- or 10-minute period) by asking other relatives. Small framed photos make good prizes.
• Field trip: Many cities have history-focused tour companies that can lead your expedition; these businesses may even arrange private outings for large groups. If your family’s more adventurous (or independent), print maps for self-guided tours. The d’Alvigny family, who descend from Confederate surgeon Noel d’Alvigny, toured the Civil War cyclorama painting in Atlanta’s Grant Park, as well as the cemetery where Dr. d’Alvigny is buried.
• Genealogy workshop or round table: Hold a get-started class, ask family historians to bring their research and compare notes, or treat the group with a research trip to the library or courthouse.
• Nostalgic games: Set up marbles, checkers, hopscotch, horseshoes, baseball or other games your ancestors played.
• Candid camera: Place disposable cameras on tables throughout the room. Kids love them, and you’re guaranteed to have plenty of reunion photos.

Don’t depend on these activities to get answers to specific genealogical questions, though — in the hustle and bustle, relatives might get distracted and forget details. Instead, schedule off-site time to interview Great-aunt Ethel or convene with family historians.

Diane Haddad

For kids, aim for a mix of outdoor and indoor activities. Teenagers can organize the younger children’s games.

8. Start the reunion with an icebreaker activity.

Linda Johnson Hoffman, author of The Reunion Planner (Goodman Lauren Publishing), suggests icebreakers to kick off the reunion. “Getting everyone involved as they arrive is essential to setting the right tone,” she says.

Icebreaker Activities

• Have a welcoming committee greet arriving guests.
• Create a blank family tree and have each member fill in his information.
• Provide an agenda of activities so no one gets left out.
• Create welcome banners
• Give away freebies, such as imprinted pens or notepads, at registration

9. Share your family’s story.

Once you’ve decided the planning particulars, you’re ready to move on to the genealogy particulars. That includes instilling enthusiasm among the invitees. Start a newsletter or Web site to report reunion updates and communicate your roots focus. Make it fun by publishing old “mystery” photos or family trivia. Promise to reveal the answers at the reunion, or offer prizes for the first correct answer. Consider including a family history questionnaire to collect stories. For help crafting one, visit .

Also ask family members to send copies of photos, letters and other memorabilia for a reunion display. “The Busse Family Reunion, cited in the Guinness Book of World Records as the country’s largest reunion, had a whole exhibition hall at the Lake County [Ill.] Fairgrounds to display family history and artifacts, including a collection of wedding dresses,” Wagner says. But there’s no need to rent a hall — even a dozen objects and photos arranged on a corner table will inspire memories and discussions about who has Great-grandpa Ed’s chin.

Use copies of original documents when possible, and keep your display in an out-of-the-way spot — otherwise you’ll be known as the mean relative who shot dirty looks at anyone approaching the photo table with a soda. Frame photos or put them in plastic page protectors with names and dates on label stickers. If you don’t know who’s pictured, write that on the label. Provide pens and paper in case a cousin can supply details. Other ideas for setting the roots mood:

• Highlight an ancestor’s experience — such as immigrating to America or following the California Gold Rush — with a history display: Search the internet for photos and information, visit museums for brochures and create a fact sheet about your ancestor’s experience. 
• Post a giant family tree chart: Print one from your genealogy software, or draw your pedigree on taped-together sheets of paper (or butcher paper). Melanie Fagan of Crestwood, Ill., color-codes her tree’s branches with name tags to show at a glance where everyone fits. “The tree is tacked to a long table or wall, with a pen for people to make additions,” Fagan says. “Even people who don’t have anything to add love to look at it.”
• Serve heritage-based foods and family favorites for dinner: Work with the caterers to use some of your recipes, or you can hold a potluck and assign relatives to bring their famous dishes.

Diane Haddad

More family history ideas

You’ll certainly want to bring along a printed copy of the family tree to explain connections, but a mile-long chart might not be the best way to capture the attention of your attendees. You’ll likely generate more interest with displays of photos, albums and heirlooms. If fact, a photo guessing game makes a fun activity. At one of our family reunions with a Pajama Party theme, for example, we had a Name that Napper contest: We plastered a poster board with pictures of family members napping at reunions over the years, and attendees had to guess who was in each photograph. The person with the most answers received a prize, and the game became a conversation starter.

Another great project is to convert your old home movies and videotapes of past gatherings to DVD or digital files (you were planning to do that anyway, right?), or use an online service to play at the reunion. Pair up relatives for oral history interviews with questions you’ve provided. Have them record the interviews with a smartphone or tablet app such as Evernote. Or you could have them record their memories by phone and create a LifeOnRecord.

Lisa A. Alzo

10. Maintain the reunion’s memories and momentum.

After the reunion, plan to keep in touch until the next one. Family newsletters and websites are great for this. Recruit volunteers to send a newsletter, create and monitor a page on Geni or Facebook, or build a beautiful family history website!

Let attendees take home souvenirs that enhance family unity and share the memories you’ve gathered. Someone (perhaps a designated “keepsakes collector”) can make or purchase mementos ahead of time, and then pass them out at the gathering. Or everyone can contribute to a project during the reunion, and you can mail copies of the finished product afterward. To ease distribution, have anyone who wants a copy self-address an appropriate-sized envelope and put postage money inside. Use one of these suggestions:

• Pedigree charts and family directories: They’re easy to put together, and you can spice them up with the report options in your genealogy software. Use the reunion newsletter to let relatives update contact information or opt out of being listed.
• Family history book: Mary Briggs of Tigard, Ore., sent an information-gathering letter before her family rendezvous: “I explained that I was going to put together a genealogy book that would be available at the reunion. I also asked for copies of documents, newspaper clippings, stories or old pictures.” Briggs assembled these contributions with her research materials — a total of 500 pages — and had them copied and put in three-ring binders. She sold the books at cost, about $40.
• Video- or audiotape of reunion footage: Aside from allowing your cousins to relive the reunion fun, this option lets everyone have a “real-time” record of the family history discoveries made during the reunion — it’s ideal for preserving and sharing interviews or storytelling sessions.
• Reunion portrait: Don’t pass up the opportunity to shoot a group photo while you’re all in one place.
• Family recipe book: Along with recipes (solicited in the newsletter), include photos of family bakers and stories about their goodies.
• “Brag book”-sized photo album of family photos: Incorporate pics from those disposable cameras you placed around the room, as well as copies of ancestral photos shared during the festivities. You also might include a photo (or miniature copy) of the family tree chart you displayed.
• Scrapbook: Have each family create a page using provided papers, pens and Polaroids (or employ that handy newsletter to ask people to bring photos). Later, scan or color-copy the pages and mail them out.

Diane Haddad

Use a family email newsletter to share reunion updates, family stories, photos and recipes year-round. Collaborate on family tree research, participate in a fantasy football league, set up an NCAA basketball bracket, or check out other interactive online games. To guide your planning for next year, distribute a survey at the end of the event on paper, or via email a few days after.

Lisa A. Alzo

Versions of this article appeared in the April 2001 (Snyder), June 2004 (Haddad), and September 2013 (Alzo) issues of Family Tree Magazine.

Gravestone Symbols and Their Hidden Meanings

By Courtney Henderson

A gravestone decorated with carvings of flowers and plants. (Getty Images)

A walk through a cemetery when researching ancestors can be a haunting, yet beautiful and reflective experience. Aside from names, birthdates, and death dates, gravestones are often decorated with symbols and icons.

These majestic, weather-worn stone carvings were popularized by those cipher-loving Victorians (from 1839 to 1920) and are more than pure decoration. They mean something; a virtue the person exemplified, a value they held dear, or a nod to how they earned their living.

In the table below, learn the meanings behind some common (and several uncommon) gravestone symbols. A revelation about your ancestor’s life may just be right in front of you, hidden in plain sight.

A word of caution before we get started, though: tombstone scholars still debate the meanings of certain symbols, so you could find varying interpretations. Don’t forget to grab your free download to common tombstone symbols before you head out on your next research trip!

Gravestone Symbols and Their Meanings

Symbol	Meaning
Arches and gates	passage into the next life
Acorn	prosperity; power; triumph; strength; independence
Anchor	hope; Navy
Angels	God’s messengers and guardians; dropping flowers may signify grief, mourning; pointing to heaven may signify rejoicing
Anvil and/or hammer	blacksmith
Basket	fertility; maternal bond
Bat wings	death; misfortune
Beehive	possible membership with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, or the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Benches	mourning; contemplation
Bird	flight of the soul
Book	often the Bible, book of life
Bone	death
Candle	life
Church	ministry; possible pastor or minster
Clock	march of time, usually stopped at hour of death
Clover (three- or four-leafed)	Christian trinity; possible Irish ancestry or affiliation with 4H Club
Column and/or pillar (Broken)	life cut short; sudden death
Column and/or pillar (Unbroken)	a complete and full life
Corn	farming (also frequently symbolized by wheat)
Doves	peace; the Holy Spirit
Elk	possible membership with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks
Evergreen	faithfulness; remembrance
Feathered headdress	possible membership with the Improved Order of Red Men or Degree of Pocahontas
Fern	sincerity; humility; solitude
Forefinger pointing down	God reaching down for the soul
Forefinger pointing up	soul’s passage to Heaven
Fruit	eternal plenty
Half-carved tombstone	transition from life to death
Handshake	welcoming of a soul into Heaven; bond between spouses (if hands are feminine and masculine)
Harp	worship; music to God
Heart	a blissful soul (Colonial era); romantic love (Victorian era to today)
Horses	courage or generosity; possible membership with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (especially if two-headed)
Hourglass or clock	the passage of time
Key	knowledge; entrance to heaven
Lambs	purity, gentleness, innocence (popular on children’s graves)
Lamp	knowledge; spiritual immortality
Lily	innocence and purity; resurrection; marriage and fidelity (Calla); innocence and humility (Lily of the Valley)
Mariner	anchor; sextant
Mortar and pestle	medical profession (pharmacist or doctor)
Oak leaf	strength; stability; endurance
Olive tree	peace; reconciliation between God and man
Palm	life conquering death; resurrection
Phoenix	resurrection
Pineapple	prosperity; hospitality; perfection
Rose	love; beauty; virtue; motherhood; strong bond (intertwined); youthful death (rosebud)
Scales	justice; law
Shield	protection, faith, defense of the spirit
Shoes	(empty, one overturned) loss of a child
Skull	death; mortal remains
Soul effigy	immortality of the soul; passage to the afterlife (especially if winged)
Sphinx	courage; honor; power
Thistle	sorrow and remembrance; potential Scottish ancestry
Tree-shaped or tree stump	life cut short; sudden death; possible membership with the Modern Woodmen of America or Woodmen of the World
Urn	death of the flesh
Wheat	farming; harvest; prosperity; full life
Winged death’s head	mortal remains of the deceased
Willow	mourning and earthly sorrow

Headstone Initials and Acronyms

Initials	Meaning/Affiliation
AAONMS	Ancient Arabic Order or Nobles and the Mystic Shrine (Masonic)
AASR	Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite (Masonic)
BPOE	Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks
FOE	Fraternal Order of Eagles
IHC/HIS	Christian; the first three letters of Jesus’ name in Greek
IOOF	Independent Order of Odd Fellows
K of C	Knights of Columbus (Catholic)

Changing Meanings

If you have pictures of tombstones from different parts of the country, you’ll notice regional symbols that evolved as attitudes toward death changed. For instance, the winged death head (a skull with wings), most commonly seen on the graves of New England colonists, is one of the earliest cemetery art forms in America. The Puritans viewed death in its stark reality: It was part of their daily lives, and they believed their salvation was never certain. They had little regard for physical remains, and hastily buried loved ones with minimal ceremony. Although the Puritans grieved privately, they deemed public expressions of sadness inappropriate.

Harriette Merrifield Forbes, author of Gravestones of Early New England, and the Men Who Made Them, 1653-1800, has grouped Colonial and early American symbols from New England into five categories, according to their significance:

• recognition of the flight of time

• the certainty of death and warnings to the living

• the occupation of the deceased or his station in life

• the Christian life

• the resurrection of the body and the activities of the redeemed soul

Beginning in the early 1800s, Americans replaced the winged death head with symbols of mourning, hope and resurrection, as represented by the winged cherub, soul effigy, willows and urns. This transition no doubt stemmed from the Great Awakening revivals of the 1730s and 1740s. The old Calvinistic beliefs of predestination and damnation died, and notions of salvation through good deeds and divine grace took their place. Also during this period, people viewed the deceased as resting in a state of eternal sleep, so they adorned their loved ones’ graves with carved drapery, pillows, chairs, beds, flowers and other objects that would comfort them.

Headstone Materials

By determining the headstone’s composition, you can tell if the marker at your ancestor’s grave is the original or a replacement. Before the 1650s, people used mostly fieldstones or rough-cut rocks to mark graves. A stone from this time might have the deceased’s initials and death year carved on it. From about the 1660s to 1850s, headstones consisted of sedimentary rock, such as red or brown sandstone or limestone, and dark slate. You’ll also see early 1800s gravestones made from a grayish-blue slate. Marble was the stone of choice between the 1830s and 1880s. Since the 1880s, we’ve stuck with granite headstones. That means a granite stone with a pre-1880 death date isn’t the original marker.

A Note on Grave Epitaphs

Epitaphs are short verses or poems written to honor a deceased person, and they are frequently seen on gravestones.

Epitaphs typically reflect living relatives’ feelings toward the deceased, as survivors would select verses from monument makers’ and funeral directors’ catalogs. Occasionally, people would specify what they wanted on their tombstones — such pre-selected epitaphs tend to reflect the decedents’ personalities.

Like funerary art, epitaphs carved on gravestones reveal changing outlooks on death. Colonial verses were meant to provide instruction, not comfort. Here’s a common warning to the living:

Stranger, stop and cast an eye,

As you are now, so once was I,

As I am now, so you shall be,

Prepare for death and follow me.

Generally, families have derived epitaphs from popular or favorite poems, other classic literary works such as Shakespeare’s, and holy scriptures or prayers. As Americans came to favor more-comforting verses, scripture passages and prayers for mercy became the most common types of epitaphs.

The Gabs: What is the Importance of Giving Back?

December 18, 2021 by Gabby Reeder

This week, The Gabs asked, “What is the importance of giving back?” 

 Footnote: This was during a Marine Reserves "Toys for Tots" fundraiser, where over $32,000 was raised in toys and donations. A Great Event and Fun Time!

Santa Claus. Image by Gabby Reeder.

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Santa Claus, North Pole: “Well, when you’re younger Christmas is all about getting things. When you’re older it’s about giving.”

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Quentin Leer. Image by Gabby Reeder.

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Quentin Leer, St. Petersburg: “Keep you connected with the community, man. It makes you feel good.”

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Mary Pendergrast. Image by Gabby Reeder.

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Mary Pendergrast, Madeira Beach: “I think it’s important to give back to the community because there are a lot of people out there that need help. And if we don’t help them, they’re not going to get to enjoy life like everybody else. We always like to give back. I just do it because I feel like it’s our responsibility.”

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Bob Bolles. Image by Gabby Reeder.

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Bob Bolles, Seminole: “Oh, you always have to pay it forward. I mean, I’ve been very fortunate in my situation where people helped me, and you have to keep on giving it forward and help other people. Especially right now, things are a little tough for a lot of families.”

by Gabby Reeder

Military Rank and Insignia: How To Decode Your Ancestor’s

By Family Tree Editors

Military records can be a rich resource when researching your family history. However, many of us don’t fully understand the different symbols for ranks or record acronyms, particularly across the various branches. Here, we’ve included two charts highlighting military insignia: one for enlisted soldiers, and the other for officers—along with some guidelines to understanding how ranking works.

First, with the help of two charts from the official website of the US Army, we’ll explain the various ranks. Be sure to take some time to review the insignia of each branch’s ranks as well.

Understanding Military Insignia Charts

There are a few key items to note when reviewing these handy rank and insignia charts.

You probably noticed the different headers, such as E-1, W-1 and O-1. These are actually the labels for the pay grades, which are primarily used to standardize compensation in the services.

• “E” stands for “enlisted”
• “W” stands for “warrant officer”
• “O” stands for “commissioned officer”
• The number following the assigned letter indicates the pay grade

Rank Insignia of the U.S. Armed Forces: Enlisted

Pay Grades and Rank

A change in rank doesn’t always indicate a change in pay grade; pay grades can have more than one rank. For example, in the Army and the Marines, both a Master Sergeant and a First Sergeant fall under the E-8 pay grade. Thus, one may have a higher rank but still receive the same pay.

Rank Insignia of the U.S. Armed Forces: Officers

Commissioned Officers vs. Warrant Officers

In the US military, Officer ranks consist of commissioned officers and warrant officers. These ranks hold presidential commissions and are confirmed by the Senate. Army, Air Force and Marine Corps.

Commissioned officers

Commissioned officers are divided into:

• Company grade officers – those in pay grades of O-1 to O-3
• Field grade officers – those in pay grades O-4 to O-6General officers – those in pay grades O-7 or higher
• Equivalent ranks in the Navy

The equivalent officer groupings in the Navy are:

• Junior grade
• Mid-grade
• Flag

Warrant officers

Warrant officers hold warrants from their service secretary. They specialists and experts in certain military technologies or capabilities. For these officers:

• the lowest ranking warrant officers serve under a warrant. They receive commissions from the president upon promotion to chief warrant officer 2.
• these commissioned warrant officers are direct representatives of the President of the United States.
• they derive their authority from the same source as commissioned officers but remain specialists, in contrast to commissioned officers, who are generalists.

There are no warrant officers in the Air Force.

A version of this article appeared in the April 2002 issue of Family Tree Magazine.

How to Search the Social Security Death Index

 By Sunny Jane Morton

President Harry Truman’s SSDI listing, accessed via FamilySearch

In this article:

Who is in the Social Security Death Index?
What Details are Included?
Where Can I Search the SSDI?
Tips for Searching the Social Security Death Index
Related Reads

Looking for a totally free database of US death records? The Social Security Death Index (SSDI) is a valuable record set created from the Social Security Administration (SSA)’s Death Master File to track tax withholdings and Social Security survivors’ benefits. Here’s what the Social Security Death Index is, how genealogists can use it, and where to find it online.

Who is in the Social Security Death Index?

Though it doesn’t include every person who ever had a Social Security number, the SSDI generally includes all deaths reported to the SSA beginning in 1962 (though a few include deaths prior to that year). At time of writing, the SSDI cuts off at 2014.

What Details are Included?

The SSDI isn’t as detailed as some other Social Security documents, such as the SS-5. But you should still find the person’s full name, birth date, death date, state where the number was issued, and last known residence (down to the ZIP code level of detail). You may also find the person’s Social Security number.

Where Can I Search the SSDI?

The SSDI is widely available on genealogy websites—you don’t need to request transcripts from the SSA. Some websites include additional details in their SSDI databases that can help when you’re trying to distinguish between similarly named individuals.

You can search the SSDI for free at:

• FamilySearch
• Findmypast
• GenealogyBank
• MyHeritage

You can also search at Ancestry.com, but you’ll need a subscription. To search the SSDI across multiple websites, visit Stephen P. Morse’s webpage.

Tips for Searching the Social Security Death Index

It’s only fair to warn you that SSA indexes (including the SSDI) are not always complete or accurate. You might see any of the following:

• Initials, nicknames or middle names instead of full names
• Birth dates appearing only as a year, or not at allNames or dates that are entered incorrectly, such as 2 November (11/2) instead of 11 February (2/11)
• Names that drop internal punctuation: OMalley or Omalley instead of O’Malley
• Women’s paperwork filed under an unfamiliar married or maiden name (you may not have found every surname she used)
• Unfamiliar places of issue, residence or last known benefit (people could apply from anywhere, and you may not know every place they lived)

If needed, run several searches with different combinations of names, dates and places. Explore all possible results, even partial matches. It may take a while to accumulate enough bits and pieces of evidence—from Social Security or other documentation—to identify a correct entry.

Last updated: October 2020

A version of this article appeared in the January/February 2021 issue of Family Tree Magazine.

How to Convert Old Slides to Digital

 By Allison Dolan

How can I digitize my old slides?

Q: I have some 35mm slides that I want to put on my computer. Also, the color on these pictures has turned red. What’s the best method to save these slides?

A: If you have a flatbed scanner, you may be able to find a special attachment for scanning slides, but these don’t always produce good results. Luckily, you can get a slide converter such as this KODAK Slide N Scan.

Alternatively, your local photo lab may be able to convert the slides for you, or you can use a service (great for large quantities) such as ScanDigital or ScanMyPhotos.

Color shifting in slides is common, says photo expert Maureen A. Taylor. “To slow the process, store color photographic materials such as prints and slides in a dark, cool place that is not subject to fluctuations in temperature and humidity. Large archives actually store their color materials in refrigerated vaults.”

Though it may not be possible to return the images to their brand-new appearance, most professional services can correct the color and remove scratch marks. Do-it-yourselfers can use photo-editing software such as Adobe PhotoShop Express.

Make sure you save the unedited scans as TIF files, a format that does the best job of preserving image quality. Make copies of the images to edit. Store the edited copies as high-resolution TIFs, too. For sharing or posting online, copy the edited files as JPGs (which reduces file size).

Finally, be sure to back up your digitized images. The best way is with an online storage service. You also can save the files to an external hard drive kept in a location away from your home. Give copies to family, too.

Answer provided by Allison Dolan

Can I scan multiple slides at once?

Q: I have a few thousand 35 mm color slides. I’d like to know if there’s any agency that’s able to convert these slides to digital format. I don’t mind scanning several at a time at home, but I don’t have time to scan thousands of slides. As an alternative, are you familiar with any slide scanner that does multiple slides at once?

A. Some slide scanners can handle multiple slides at once, but experts advise scanning slides individually to maintain image quality. You might want to consider scanning limited numbers of slides at first. Evaluate your collection and choose a select few.

After carefully examining your slide collection, you’re ready to start thinking about purchasing a scanner. With scanners’ wide price range—from less than $100 to $2,000—you need to study your options. Next, identify the key features you want in a scanner. Read user reviews of scanners at before shopping around.

If you opt not to buy a scanner, you can take advantage of scanning services offered by many camera stores. Services range in price from $2 to more than $10 per slide. Whether this is cost-effective for you depends on the number of slides you want scanned and the value of your time. Before sending all your slides to one store, try the services first to see if you like the results. Selecting a method to scan slides is a personal decision based on your reasons for scanning the collection balanced with the number of slides and costs.

A version of this article appeared in the June 2003 issue of Family Tree Magazine.

Answer provided by Maureen A. Taylor

Updated: November 2021

Daguerreotype, Ambrotype and Tintype: Telling Them Apart

 By Maureen A. Taylor

When an individual visited a photo studio in the late 1850s, he could choose the style of portrait—shiny reflective daguerreotype, glass ambrotype, metal tintype or a paper card photo. This is a key part of identifying a photo from the mid-19th century. If an image was taken before 1854, then it’s a daguerreotype, but if it was taken after that point, then it could be one of the others.

Daguerreotypes

Daguerreotypes, introduced in 1839, have a distinctive appearance. Because they’re reflective, you have to tilt them at a 45-degree angle in order to view the image. Otherwise, the silver-coated copper plate is often so shiny you just see yourself in the plate.

Ambrotypes

Ambrotypes, patented in 1854, are on glass. Backed with a dark substance (such as varnish or paper) they look positive, but when the backing starts to deteriorate, you can often see through the glass. This gives the image a ghostly appearance.

Tintypes

Tintypes, patented in 1856, are actually on iron, not tin. Unlike a daguerreotype, tintypes are not reflective. While you can find them in cases (like the previous two image types), most tintypes found in collections aren’t in any type of protective sleeve or case.

Paper cards

Card photographs (introduced in the United States about 1859) are on cardstock and instantly recognizable.

Case study: Daguerreotype, ambrotype or tintype?

Family Tree Magazine reader Jay Kruizenga’s ancestor James Pennington’s dreamy blue eyes and trendy 1850s fashion.

James Pennington posed for this photo about 1857, which means his portrait could be a daguerreotype, ambrotype or tintype.

Jay’s cousin sent him the pictures digitally. When she photographed the images, she propped them on a dark surface to decrease the reflection. Plus, the image has a type of deterioration known as a halo, usually found on daguerreotypes. I’m leaning toward it being a daguerreotype, but sometimes a digital image can be deceiving.After reading Jay’s family history website, it’s pretty clear when James posed for this image. He married his wife Esther Inwood in 1857. Both James and his bride are dressed for the occasion. (If you’d like to see a wonderful example of how to present your family history on the web, take a few minutes to look at Jay’s site on James Pennington. You’ll find everything from narrative to documents and DNA.)