Figure 1.--This American family snapshot was taken in 1949. It is a wonderful illustratuion as to how American boys dressed in the post-World War II era. Notice the white border and serrated edge. The size was 3 1/2" X 5".

With the invention of the Kodak Brownie, America and the world was suddently deluged with millions of family smapshots. This greatly expanded the photograsphic record and our ability to follow fashion and historical trends. Some parents dated the snapshots on the back. Most did not. A few had the date printed on them. To archive these snapshots on HBC, we need to date them. Here there are a range of indicators that can help us date these snaspshots. Some can be dated with considerable precession. This is probanly true of American snapshots because of our large archive. we can The clothing styles and basckground such as cars can help date the udated images. Most early snapshits were done as post cards. They can be dated to an extent by the stamp boxes. By the 1930s we see mostly prints with plain backs as the postcard backs became less common. . The prints varied in size, border, edges, and other factors. Black and white prints were standard until the 1970s. The variations in prints differed from country to country, although bthere were some similarities. We are going to use thedated prints to help develop chronological trends for the various varabilities.

Overall Chronology

The 19th Century

We begin to see amateur photography in the late-19th century. It was, however, complicated and expensive. And there was no stardarized ways of printing their work.

The 20th Century

Early snapshots were all black and white. With the invention of the Kodak Brownie, America and the world was suddenly deluged with millions of family smapshots. This greatly expanded the photographic record and our ability to follow fashion and historical trends. And we begin to see stardardized paper. This was because the huge number of individuals now taking snapshots created a demand fir photographic paper. And the manufctures created barious paper formats. Some parents dated the snapshots on the back. Most did not. A few had the date printed on them. To archive these snapshots on HBC, we need to date them. Here there are a range of indicators that can help us date these snaspshots. Some can be dated with considerable precession. This is probanly true of American snapshots because of our large archive. The clothing styles and background such as cars can help date the unudated images. Most early snapshots. at least in America, had postcard backs. Eventually snapshots were printed with white borders. These borders and the paper edges can be useful in dating the snapshots. Most early snapshots were done as post cards. They can be dated to an extent by the stamp boxes. By the 1930s we see mostly prints with plain backs as the postcard backs became less common. The prints varied in size, border, edges, and other factors. Commercial color film was developed in the inter-War era, but we do not begin to see large numbers of color snapshots until after well World War II. At firsr color prints were done with the same format as black-and white prints. Eventually by the 1970s we see color prints begin to replace black-and-white prints. They were generally printed without borders. The variations in prints differed from country to country, although bthere were some similarities. We are going to use the dated prints to help develop chronological trends for the various variabilities.

The 21st Century

Digital printing rapidly replaced chemical based printing in the early 21st century. And we see far fewer photogrphs being actually printed. Rather images are being exchanged and stored on co ciomouters and other digutal devices. Photo editing programs mean that that there are no longer standardized sizes or white borders as well as varied edges.

Country Trends

We see for the most part the same shapes and characteristics used for snap shots around the world. There were, however, some fifferences as well as variations in the time line. For this reason we will eventually create country sections to develop chronologucal trends.

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[Eton suits] [Rompers] [Tunics] [T-shirts] [Jeans] [Sneakers]

Created: 6:21 AM 6/3/2011
Last updated: 9:47 PM 6/21/2012