In this solo episode of Maureen Taylor’s podcast, “The Photo Detective,” Maureen delves into the captivating world of postcards. She explores their historical significance and practical uses, both as travel memorabilia and valuable tools in family history research. The episode highlights the evolution of postcards from the early 1900s, including the introduction of Kodak’s folding pocket camera that could take postcard-sized photos, to the legislative changes in 1907 allowing messages on the back. Maureen shares her personal experiences and tips on collecting postcards, emphasizing their role in documenting local history and personal stories.

• Historical Evolution of Postcards: Tracing back to Kodak’s 1903 introduction of a camera for postcard-sized photos and the legislative change in 1907 allowing messages on the back.
• Practical Uses of Postcards: From travel souvenirs to event invitations, and even as a method for advertising and documenting local businesses and real estate.
• Collecting Postcards as a Hobby: Tips on starting a postcard collection that can reflect personal or local history, and how to manage and organize such collections effectively.
• Unique Postcard Collections: Insights into Maureen Taylor’s own collections, including real photo postcards and historical doorways, offering a glimpse into the early 20th century life.
• Interactive Postcard Projects: Highlighting innovative projects like the TikTok channel “Return to Sender,” which reconnects postcards with descendants of the intended recipients.

Related Episodes:

Episode 139: Collecting Postcards for a Half Century with Mark Routh

Episode 141: Postal History Stories of Selling and Collecting with Jim Mehrer

Links:

• Sign up for my newsletter.
• Watch my YouTube Channel.
• Like the Photo Detective Facebook Page so you get notified of my Facebook Live videos.
• Need help identifying family photos? Check out the Identifying Family Photographs Online Course.
• Have a photo you need help identifying? Sign up for photo consultation.

About Maureen Taylor:
Maureen Taylor, The Photo Detective TM helps clients with photo related genealogical problems. Her pioneering work in historic photo research has earned her the title “the nation’s foremost historical photo detective” by The Wall Street Journal and appearances on The View, The Today Show, Pawn Stars, and others. Learn more at Maureentaylor.com

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I'm thrilled to be offering something new. Photo investigations. These collaborative one-on-one sessions. Look at your family photos then you and I meet to discuss your mystery images. And find out how each clue and hint might contribute to your family history. Find out more by going to maureentaylor.com and clicking on family photo investigations.

Support the Show.

Clare Hunter, author of “Threads of Life,” joins Maureen on The Photo Detective podcast. A Scottish native with a background in theatre, community art, and creative writing, Clare discusses her book, which intertwines memoir and history, highlighting the social, emotional, and political significance of sewing. “Threads of Life” explores the profound impacts of needlework beyond its traditional domestic roles, demonstrating its importance in various social and historical contexts. Clare shares anecdotes from her personal life and research, emphasizing sewing’s transformative power in both personal and communal settings.

• Clare Hunter’s journey from theatre to writing, leading to her debut book “Threads of Life.”
• The book discusses needlework’s extensive historical roles, transcending mere hobbyism to include social and political significance.
• Insight into needlework in community settings, its therapeutic aspects, and its historical gender dynamics.
• Exploration of sewing’s portrayal in family photographs and its potential for storytelling.
• Clare’s ongoing work, including her new projects focusing on historical and personal narratives through textiles.

Related Episodes:

Bonus Episode: Stitching on Pictures: Stitchography by Emma

Episode 155: Ancestral Handbag History with Curator Jessica Harpley

Links:

• Sign up for my newsletter.
• Watch my YouTube Channel.
• Like the Photo Detective Facebook Page so you get notified of my Facebook Live videos.
• Have a photo you need help identifying? Sign up for photo consultation.

About My Guest:
Clare Hunter has been a community textile artist, banner maker and textile curator for over twenty years and established the award-winning community sewing enterprise NeedleWorks in Glasgow in the 1980s. Threads of Life: the History of the World through the Eye of a Needle, was her first book. It was warmly received, reaching The Sunday Times Bestseller List, chosen as Waterstone’s Book of the Month in Scotland and BBC Radio 4’s Book of the Week and becoming joint winner of the Saltire Award for First Book. Her second book, Embroidering her Truth: Mary, Queen of Scots and the Language of Power, was published in March 2022 and has already reached the Scottish Books Bestseller list. Clare Hunter lives in Scotland.

About Maureen Taylor:
Maureen Taylor, The Photo DetectiveÒhelps clients with photo related genealogical problems. Her pioneering work in historic photo research has earned her the title “the nation’s foremost historical photo detective” by The Wall Street Journal and appearances on The View, The Today Show, Pawn Stars, and others. Learn more at Maureentaylor.com

I'm thrilled to be offering something new. Photo investigations. These collaborative one-on-one sessions. Look at your family photos then you and I meet to discuss your mystery images. And find out how each clue and hint might contribute to your family history. Find out more by going to maureentaylor.com and clicking on family photo investigations.

Support the Show.

Dr. Matt Lodder discusses his book Painted People: 5,000 Years of Tattooed History on The Photo Detective podcast.

• Focuses on tattoo history post-photography, noting tattoos often didn’t show up in early photos.
• Tattoos were private, often hidden under clothing, and not commonly photographed.
• Lodder's interest in tattoos started from family stories about his grandfather and great-grandmother’s tattoos.
• His research bridges common sailor tattoos with lesser-known tattoos on women and the middle class.
• Tattooing has a rich history, including 19th-century European aristocracy and tattoo tourism in Japan.
• He addresses common misconceptions: tattooing’s exclusivity to sailors/criminals and its introduction to Europe by Captain Cook.
• Lodder highlights tattooing’s historical continuity and its representation in art.
• The discussion covers various historical anecdotes and the evolution of color in tattoos.

Related Episodes:
Episode 210: The Dress Diary of Anne Sykes with Historian Dr. Kate Strasdin

Episode 215: The Story Behind Twentieth Century Skirts with Dr. Kimberly Chrisman Campbell

Links:

• Sign up for my newsletter.
• Watch my YouTube Channel.
• Like the Photo Detective Facebook Page so you get notified of my Facebook Live videos.
• Have a photo you need help identifying? Sign up for photo consultation.

About My Guest:
Dr. Matt Lodder is an academic, writer, curator, and broadcaster. He is currently Senior Lecturer in Art History and Theory and Director of American Studies at the University of Essex. He teaches European, American, and Japanese art, architecture, visual culture, and theory from the late 19th century to the present. His research primarily concerns the application of art-historical methods to the history of tattooing from the 17th century to the present day, with a principal focus on the professional era in the West from the 1880s onwards. Matt curated “Tattoo London” at the Museum of London in 2016. His latest major exhibition, “British Tattoo Art Revealed,” began at the National Maritime Museum Falmouth in March 2017 and toured through to 2021. He also served as the presenter of the landmark television series “Art of Museums,” which aired across Europe and beyond in late 2018 and early 2019. His first book, Painted People: Humanity in 21 Tattoos (HarperCollins), was published in 2022

About Maureen Taylor:
Maureen Taylor, The Photo DetectiveÒhelps clients with photo related genealogical problems. Her pioneering work in historic photo research has earned her the title “the nation’s foremost historical photo detective” by The Wall Street Journal and appearances on The View, The Today Show, Pawn Stars, and others. Learn more at Ma

I'm thrilled to be offering something new. Photo investigations. These collaborative one-on-one sessions. Look at your family photos then you and I meet to discuss your mystery images. And find out how each clue and hint might contribute to your family history. Find out more by going to maureentaylor.com and clicking on family photo investigations.

Support the Show.