Photo History Research

Welcome to Photo-Sleuth, devoted to investigating the stories behind old photographs.

I've set this up as a sister site to my Derbyshire Photographers & Photographic Studios. What I hope to include here is a series of images of old photographs, mainly portraits - both from contributors and from my own collection - that have interested me, and I hope will interest you too. They won't necessarily from Derbyshire or even England, but many will inevitably be. I would like to invite readers to participate - contributions of interesting images and your thoughts on any photos already on the site are most welcome. Most of the images will be accompanied by the results of my own research into either the photographer or the subject - if you have any questions or something to add, please don't hesitate to get in touch, either by posting a comment or emailing me.

At the moment, I'm particularly interested in the following categories:

• Old portrait photos by studios and photographers based in Derbyshire, England
• A series of photographs to illustrate the development of portrait photography in the Victorian & Edwardian periods, from the 1850s until the First World War
• Victorian portrait cartes de visite and cabinet photos with the subject(s) identified and dated on the reverse, the earlier the better.
• Victorian photos showing aspects of ordinary daily life e.g. dairy maid carrying milk buckets, men making hay, cobbler with tools, young man on old penny farthing bicycle
• Daguerreotypes and ambrotypes with either or both of the photographer and subject(s) identified
• Any other oddities with a family or local history bias, from anywhere in the world.

... but the list may change from time to time, and if you have something that doesn't fit into any of these categories, don't let that deter you from getting in touch. Most of the photos will have a family history or genealogical bias, as that is where I'm coming from, my interest originally having been stimulated by research into my own family. My postings may be irregular, but the best way to stimulate me into posting more photos is to provide some feedback. It's always nice to hear from like-minded folk.

Regards and best wishes, Brett