Looking for Lost Photos



CAsanberdoAs your work on the family ancestral tree you long for some photographs or images of those relatives. You have checked all your storage boxes and that of your aunts, cousins and siblings, but there are very few if any photos of certain relatives. Strange as it may seem there maybe a genealogy site which could have an old photo of your great grandmother or of any ‘lost’ ancestor.

The online site is called ‘Family Old Photos‘. Some 22,000 images with over 37,000 surnames have been gathered and many submitted by the public to the free site. There are photos, tintypes, illustrations, drawings and postcards of people, places, events, schools and activities. Many of the individuals and locations are identified while there are many labeled as unknown. As much information about the person, or event along with dates are given with each photo.


There are several methods to search the photo collection. One is by an actual surname. When attempting this search always use as many spelling variations as possible. There is also a ‘Special Section’. Here would be schools, yearbooks, transportation, policemen, firemen, military, institutions, civic organizations, headstones, hotels, towns and churches to name a few.
One can research by topics such as American Civil War, railroads, circuses, countries outside the USA and those photos labeled unknown.


If you locate a photo of interest the name of the submitter of the photo is given. You would be able to contact via an email address that individual to get permission to have a copy of the image.

By registering for free you can likewise add any photos to the collection, allowing more people to view them. This could open the door of opportunity by locating another branch of the family or friends of the family and so exchange more photos.


‘Family Old Photos’ is a site you should frequently check for any new images submitted. It is also a great site just to view some fascinating old photos.

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