How old is the oldest family photo you have?

[Blondie]

My mom gave me this photo, my great-great grandmother is sitting down with the child on her lap and my great-grandmother is the third female from the left (standing) and doesn't look all too happy, does she? It was taken in the late 1800's.

Out of all the photos I have, I think this is the oldest one! I love vintage family photos!

What about you?

 

[Dan Murphy]

I recall an old one but no access to it. From around that time. This picture reminds me of the Munsters for some reason, LOL.

(Sorry Blondie, LOL )

 

[Blondie]

The Munsters?

 

[daipp]

I've got lots of old family photographs from around the turn of the century but my favourite must be of my grandfather with Lord Baden-Powell (the founder of the Scout movement) on an inspection of Scouts in South Wales just after the First World War.

 

[Blondie]

Daipp, I'd love to see it! Do you have a scanner?

 

[RitaZ.]

I have some, not as old as what you have though. Most people didn't smile in pictures back then, so it's not surprising to see people with serious faces.

 

[CEDmom]

We have quite a few old family photos probably dating from in the mid to late 1800's. The reason no one is smiling in photos from that era is it took so long for the picture to be taken that no one could hold a smile.

 

[BlkBearSuz]

I have all of my grandmother's old photos. Luckily, I've managed to identify most everyone in the pictures. The oldest picture I have is dated June 1900.

 

[Robinrs]

I still treasure a picture of my Dad on a bicycle when he was 7. It was taken in 1926. I also have a picture of my Mom on her Grandmother's lap. It was taken in 1928.

Both have the worse PAINED expressions on their faces. Thanks, CEDmom for explaining that!

 

[winniedapooh]

I have a few from the early 1900's of my Grandparent's and Great Grandparent's. I also have one from the late 1800's from my Grandfather's house that no one has any idea of who is in the picture!

 

[Stepharoonie!]

Early 1900's. I have my dad's old photo album that has the weird corners and tiiiiiiiiny black and white photos.

 

[snoopy]

I would so treasure a photo like the one you have, Blondie. My grandmother has a bunch of old photos that she won't let anyone near, even to make a copy. I do hope that when she dies they will be left to someone who doesn't mind sharing them -- there are some real gems in there, dating back to pictures of my grandmother as a baby in Italy -- she was born in 1920, and I think there are some she has that are 20 years or more older than that.

 

[piratesmate]

I have a bunch of old photos from my grandmother's ancestors. The "oldest" one gives the names of my great-great-great-great grandparents. (Yes, that's 4 greats!) The problem is that they were born in the 1760s & they look to be about 40 in the picture! Even if they held their ages well, she died in 1841 - according to her tombstone. What's especially odd (to me) is that the picture is on some sort of thick cardboard backing. I'm not sure that it's possible to have a photo from even 1841 that looks like this.

I do have a set of tintypes for each of my great-great grandfather's children. These I'm certain on the identities. They're from about 1857 - 1867.

 

[ilovepcot]

I live in an old Victorian home and it's covered in very old family photos. I have quite a few tin types, but many photos from the mid 1800's that I had blown up and placed in period frames. (Put most of the origionals away for safe keeping.) No one in my family loves and appreciates antiques the way I do, so....along with these photos which I treasure, I also have old purses, china, silver, crystal, linens, love letters written by my grandparents, a victrola that still plays, a canopy bed I sleep in that belonged to my great grandmother, many other pieces of furniture, gun from BEFORE the Civil War and on and on and on. My parents, on the other hand, live in a very contemporary home with very modern furniture. Go figure!

 

[wdwnutze]

We just found some old photos at my dad's house yesterday when we were cleaning. There is one of him sitting on his mother's lap and his grandmother is standing behind them. He was about 2 so the picture was taken about 1931. It is the only picture he has of his mother since she died when he was 5. He also has a picture of his father taken when his father was about 18 so it was probably about 1925. That was the first time I had ever seen pictures of his parents or grandparents.

 

[iNTeNSeBLue98]

I don't have an actual copy of this one, but my aunt and uncle do. They scanned it and emailed it to me. As my grandmother, standing on the running board behind the front wheel, just turned 80, this would have been taken in the late 1920's.

 

[Virgo10]

Here's a couple I found.

This is my mother's high school graduation picture from 1929. She is the second person in from the left on the bottom row. Doesn't she look like a "Flapper"?

This handsome young man is my father. The picture isn't dated but he looks to be around 5 years old... maybe less. That would make the year it was taken 1918.

This is my grandmother, my father's mother, and her family. It's not the oldest photo I have but it was handy.

The back row on the left is my great grandmother. I don't know who the woman is next to her.

In the front row is my great aunt Jenny, their younger sister, Catherine and my grandmother.

Once again I don't know when this was taken but my best guesstimate is 1900. The photo was taken at their house in Jamaica Plain, MA.

Roberta

 

[Blondie]

Great photos, thanks for sharing them!

 

[nuke]

I love old photos! Thanks to everyone for sharing them.

The oldest that I know of in the family is of my great-grandparents wedding in Austria. It is from the 1880's. They are all dressed in black and have that bleak look on their faces. What is really interesting is that the waitresses and waiters are in the picture with them.

My aunt has some really cool old pictures. One is of our family grocery store from before the depression. She has my uncles 2nd grade class picture framed on their family room wall. It's from the forties and there are 62 children in the class. That wouldn't fly now!

 

[Ragmop]

My darling grandmother went to California in 1918, after graduating from college. We have a pic of her swimming in the Ocean with seaweed draped around her, and riding an Ostrich-she is sitting on a saddle on it's back.