ELITE LIBRARY of

ANCESTOR PHOTOGRAPHS
from
1840-1940

Search our extensive collections and listings using name, location, and facial recognition; guide our efforts to discover photographs; request a high-res copy or an original itself; preserve your own photographs for future generations.

Search the Library

The above image is AI-generated and is meant to convey the brand and theme of the Visual Ancestor Library and this website.

Featuring

Facial Recognition
AI to help find
lost photographs

comparing persons in your photographs to all persons in our extensive collections including dealer and public collections.


Including

Library of Congress
and other extensive
public collections

incorporated in our searchable library so long as they are in the public domain with free rights to use without restrictions.

for the Genealogist

Discover photographs of your ancestors or preserve those you have for future generations.

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for the Dealer

List your antique photographs for sale to the people who would value them the most.

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donate to VA

We will digitize and preserve pre-1940 photographs sent to us, safeguarding the originals.

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sell to VA

We regularly purchase antique photographs and albums from dealers for inclusion in VA.

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Photograph Types

We focus on preserving these most popular historical photograph types

sample tintype
FERROTYPE

abt. 1853-1880

Image fixed to a metal sheet produced without the negative process, and thus were the mirror image of the subject
a.k.a. "TinType"

sample tintype
CARTE DE VISITE

abt. 1860-1890

Image fixed to cardstock via the negative process, thus were the same image of the subject, reproduceable, and cheaper
a.k.a. "CDV"

sample tintype
CABINET PHOTO

abt. 1870-1910

Image fixed to cardstock larger in size and weight than CDVs, and were regarded as higher end and thus more sought after

sample tintype
STEREOGRAPH

abt. 1870-1930

Two nearly identical images side-by-side on cardstock that, when viewed through a viewer, presents a stereoscopic 3D rendering of the subject

sample tintype
CARDSTOCK

abt. 1880-1940

Image fixed to cardstock of widely varying sizes usually displaying more decorative framing around the image than on other formats

sample tintype
POSTCARD

abt. 1900-1920

Image fixed to a standard postcard sized and weighted paper usually with the standard postcard mailing format printed on the reverse

sample tintype
PORTFOLIO

abt. 1915 +

Image fixed to paper mounted inside a folded portfolio of heavy paper or cardstock, providing a richer presentation of the photograph

sample tintype
PAPER

abt. 1900 +

Image on paper that is not fixed to any backing or mounting (like cardstock), typically the product of mass-produced cameras and amateur photography

What We Preserve

We preserve the following various kinds of pre-1940 photograph ephemera


PHOTOGRAPHS

Individual and family photographs up to the WWII period

STEREOGRAPHS

Victorian and Edwardian 3D stereographs of historical persons and places

POSTCARDS

Featuring historical scenes and locations on public domain postcards

ALBUMS

Albums and album content from the Civil War era up through the 1930s

CONTRIBUTIONS

Member contributions of photographs are preserved for future generations

DEALER LISTINGS

Photographs from dealers enhance your chances of finding a real treasure

What We're Working On

We are well through adding 6,722 Civil War photographs (within the Public Domain with no rights restrictions) from the Library of Congress (LOC) to Visual Ancestor. All photographs have already been passed through Facial Recognition and are live; all also have been mined for individuals' names and those are live; we are almost done properly labelling the photographers as this information was not part of the LOC's meta-data.

Get In Touch

We welcome your input, ideas, and collaboration. Please contact us if you would like to preserve your pre-1940 content with the Visual Ancestor library. We will do the "heavy lifting" for you.

P.O. Box 14
Somerset, MA  02726
United States of America