One picture may be worth a thousand words, but some photos are almost worthless without a few words to identify them.
I found this mystery photo after my grandmother Elizabeth died. Born in 1903 in Oklahoma, she lived an interesting and paripetetic life until settling down in Spokane, Washington in 1943. She moved from place to place with her children during the Great Depression, as my grandfather went from job to job. Before that, her father, a Presbyterian minister, moved his family from church to church in Oklahoma, Kansas, and California. Somewhere along the way, this photo may have been taken. She may be one of the children pictured. From the flat landscape, they may be somewhere in Oklahoma. The point is, I don’t know.
My grandmother left no information to indicate why she possessed this photograph and had kept it for the nearly 100 years that she lived. The questions I have about this mysterious photo are ones we should answer about all the significant photographs we leave for others to find:
- Who are the people in the picture?
- What is their relationship to the photo owner?
- Who took the photograph?
- Where was the picture taken? In what country and state? Near what town?
- When was the picture taken?
- What was the occasion of the picture? In this case, where had they come from? Where were they going? Why were they on the road? Why did they stop here?
Maybe the Photo Detective, Maureen Taylor, can provide some answers about my mystery photograph. I’ve sent it to her, and if she discovers anything, I will fill you in.
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