Archival Materials Suppliers

 Some genealogists use conservation and archival products products to store a host of rare family artifacts. Many of these items include photos, books, folios, maps, newspaper articles, and miscellaneous ephemera. Even though grandma or a distant cousin is the owner and holder of this old family stuff, these materials should be stored in a proper manner. Much of this material is probably a one-of-a kind find. If it is destroyed, even by accident, it is gone forever. Why not store your rare family items in the proper boxes and or albums.

 Most of us have been to libraries and archives for onsite research. We have seen the storage materials and holders that the repositories use to hold items in its collection. For your information you can also purchase these items. These products are not cheap but as the saying goes, you get what you pay for! You just need to know where to look. BTW, if your family photos are stored in those magnetic photo albums from the 1980s. They seemed great at the time but do a little online research and you will find that they are not good for your photos. Get em out and into the proper album. Please do not wait.

 So where do you find these archival storage boxes? Below is a listing of online vendors who carry these products. I am not endorsing any of these online vendors; but I have purchased from them in the past without issue.

• Adorama
• Amazon.com
• Archival Methods
• B&H Photo-Video-Audio
• Gaylord Archival
• University Products

Throwback Thursday : Ambrotype

Recently I discovered what type of photograph a particular photo was. Now this photo was not really a photo as we know them today. For starters one of my grandfather's second cousins had a small square "piece of glass;" but when you put a dark color behind it, voila, an image appears. Almost like an old negative, however the image was very sharp. This type of photograph is known as an Ambrotype. This type of photo first appeared around 1854; its type peaked in popularity between 1856 and 1860, and faded away between 1861 and 1866.

If my recollection is correct, this piece of glass was actually two pieces of "glass" put together with the image sandwiched in between the glass panes. According to PhotoTree.com, this early type of Ambrotype was used from 1855 and 1857.

Michael Behrhof & wife Theresa Franz
Children Magadelena (left) & Stephen (right)
circa 1857

With this new found piece of information I feel confident that I can identify the adults in the photo. My grandfather Joe's grandfather and his cousin Charles' grandfather were siblings. Henry and Charles Koreman, respectively. Now the Koreman brothers married two sisters, Margaret and Magdalena Behrhof. Henry and Margaret did not begin a family until the late 1860s. Charles and Magdalena started their families in the 1870s. So the Ambrotype predates them.

Using my known genealogical data, Magdalena Behrhof was born circa 1854 and her brother Stephen was born circa 1856 to Michael Behrhof and Theresa Franz. The children definitely fit the age range for the Ambrotype time period. And they are the only children born in that vintage in the Koreman / Behrhof lines.

Years ago my grandfather mentioned to me that the family lived in Rondout, New York; just outside of Kingston before coming to Albany. I asked; which family but he did not know. But we knew it was either the Koreman's or the Behrhof's. A few years later, still researching the tree, I ended up at the home of another of my grandfather's cousins, Elizabeth and Florence. They pulled out two photo albums that belonged to their grandfather, Henry Koreman. Between the two albums there must have been at least 60 to 70 photos. Tin types, Carte de Visite, and Cabinet Card photos. The album dated to the 1860s and unfortunately they could not identify very many of the individuals in the photos. On the reverse of two Carte de Visite photos was the name and location of the photographer who took the photos. Now comparing the man in the Ambrotype picture to the man below in the Carte de Viste photo; we believe the man to be the same man.

Photographer: Vallaha, Division Street, Rondout

Below is a photo from Rondout of two unidentified children. Most likely Behrhof children.

Photographer: DJ Auchmoody, Garden & Ferry Streets, Rondout, NY
Most likely Magdalena & Stephen

Now the next photo below was also in Henry Koreman's family album and again we believe him to be the same man from the pictures above. We believe this to be Michael Behrhof, one of my great great great grandfathers, who was an immigrant from Bayern. Part of the reasoning behind this is aside from the Koreman's the common family shared between Charles' ancestors and Elizabeth and Florence's ancestors were the Behrhof's.

Michael Behrhof

Below is a copy of a tin type photo of Magdelena Behrhof as an adult. I see a resemblance. Do you?

Magdalena Behrhof Koreman

Below is Stephen Behrhof.

Who Are They? 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 9

As I have mentioned before everyone should know the importance of lightly writing on the back of old photos as to who the individual/s are. If writing on the reverse of the photo is not an option, some means of name identification should be accomplished. I have numerous photos of relatives and ancestors that date back to the 1860s and maybe earlier. Unfortunately everyone who would be in the know as to who these people are are long gone; some upwards of one hundred years or more.

This week's ancestor biography is on ... I do not know?  Below are photos of unknown ancestors. I have an idea of who they might be but that is it. No solid proof. Only a hunch?

Below are two photos that came from the town of Zierikzee in the Netherlands. Zierikzee is the town where my great great grandfather Hendrik Koreman and his three siblings were born.  Around 1852 the family immigrated to America. On the reverse side of the photos is the address of the photographer, which is how we know the photos are from the Netherlands. The below photos could be of siblings to my ggg grandfather Cornelis Koreman. Whoever they are? They felt it important to send these photos to New York.

CJ Korsten, Zierikzee, Photographer

Zierikzee

The remaining two photos below are from Rondout, New York; just outside Kingston. My grandfather told me numerous times about his ancestors living in Rondout before coming to Albany. These photos are proof that they were in Rondout.

Vallaha, Division Street, Rondout

DJ Auchmoody, Garden & Ferry Streets, Rondout, NY

The final photo, I do not know if it can be called a photo. It is like a piece of glass with a negative print in it.  It is very difficult to see the print. However if a dark background is placed behind it then the image becomes very clear. I do not know what type of photo it is. If anyone knows the answer to this question, please let me know. One noticeable thing is the man in this photo is also the same man in the photo two pictures above. Both of these photos came from different cousins within the Koreman family.

Glass negative type photo?

Care of old Photos

A project that I have been working on for about a year that seems very simple will hopefully be complete in about a week.  My old family photos were put in those magnetic photo albums from the 1980s and 1990s. The perpetrator of this crime was myself.  I unknowingly put upwards of 500+ photos into multiple magnetic albums which are supposedly not very good for the photos.

The final, but largest collection will finally be put into archival quality albums and photo sleeves.  It has been a lot of work but I think that it will be worth it.  These photos were in the albums for a little over twenty years and it appeared that some of the photos were beginning to stick to the magnetic cover.  I was able to remove them from the magnetic film without damaging them.  I guess that I was lucky. Who knows how it would have worked had the photos been in the album for another twenty years?

A photo below shows some of the photos that are organized and piled into groups that will be put into new albums.  It does not look like many but believe me; there are enough of them to keep anyone busy for a while.

A company called University Products, Inc. is where I purchased the new archival albums and sleeves.  The company website is http://www.universityproducts.com
Although their materials are very expensive, so far I am very happy with their products.  The bottom line is if I had done this, initially, years ago I would not be doing today. Also, very very important before putting photos in albums, be sure to lightly write on the back of the photo who the photo is of and perhaps a date as to when the photo was taken.  I have numerous photos of unknown relatives that are upwards of 130-140 years old; and we have no idea who these people are because everyone who might know who they were are long gone now.  Please do not let this happen to you.

Who's in that Picture?

Most all genealogists can relate to this scenario.  About twenty-five years ago, I got in touch with one of my maternal grandfather's first cousins.  Florence was her name.  She was in her early 80s at this time.  By today's standards, she amazingly lived in the same house all of her life.  Also, her Holland-born grandfather, Henry Koreman, (my great great grandfather) also lived in the same house until his death in 1923 at 120 Morton Avenue.  This was in the South End of Albany in the vicinity of the area known as the "Beehive", centered around Morton Avenue and Catherine Street.  

Florence and her sister, Elisabeth, pulled out two very old family photo albums from the attic.  The albums were their grandfather's.  Considering their age, the albums were in excellent condition, practically brand new.  They contained upwards of 80 to 100 photos.  The photos were a mix of Tin-types, Carte-de-Visites, Cabinet cards, and Card mounts.  As I poured through this genealogical "Holy Grail" find, my heart rate increased dramatically and I believe my mouth was watering.  Unfortunately, my hopes all soon started to fade.  

Florence and Elizabeth could not name anyone who was in any of the photos.  Now what?  These girls and my grandfather were the oldest of that still living generation at the time.  Who could identify these people?  I took the albums home and photographed each photo with an excellent camera and zoom lens stationed on a tripod with black and white film.  Scanners make this process much easier today!  

As time went by, I was able to identify perhaps 20% of the individuals by comparing the photos with with pictures of relatives in my possession.  I also brought these copies to all of the older cousins,  No one could recognize anyone in these photos..  I was told that the last person who could have identified most of the people in the albums was my great grandfather's sister, Mary Koreman, who also lived in the same house on Morton Avenue.  Mary passed away in 1962.  Six years before I was born.

I soon realized that even today we (my family) are guilty of not writing the individual's name on the back of the photo.  As we look at present day photos of our immediate family, we obviously know these people.  But in 50 years or even 100 years, where will these pictures be and who will have them?  Since this "heartbreak" happened to me, I have made an attempt to write on the back of the photo who the individual/s are and have mentioned this to others about preserving the identity of their relatives for future generations.

An excellent example of a Tin type photo of an unknown relative.

Could this Carte-de-Visite photograph be of the same man in the above picture?  The photo was taken in Rondout, NY.

This mystery photo was acquired from a different cousin in the same family.  This image was approximately 3" by 3" and was on clear glass.  The above image was not visible until something dark was placed behind the glass.  The image without a dark background looked like a negative.  I am not 100% sure but I believe this may be a Ambotype from the 1850s.  Could the man from all three photos be the same person?

As I acquire copies/scans of old photos, when known, I always write on the the reverse who the individual/s are with a pencil.  This way I am preserving for future generations who these people are.