They’re faces with a story to tell, many from long ago, but those tales have yet to be told because the faces are unidentified.
The Delta Archives has thousands of old photos of people whose identities are unknown, a problem common with other archives and even family photo albums, particularly when it comes to pictures from many decades ago. The subjects in such photos might have been well known at one time but as time passed those able to put names to faces have passed on as well.
The Delta Archives is hoping, with the public’s help, it will be able to put names to some of its many unknown faces.
Todd Stewardson, deputy director of the parks, recreation and culture department, said having unidentified photos is a problem everyone, including himself, can relate to, mainly because accurate record keeping isn’t usually top of mind for most people. He said during his own family reunion old photo albums were brought out, but there were images in them of people whose identities were not known, leaving the family guessing.
“Everyone has these photos. It’s been a challenge for both the archives and museum collection overall. It’s been built up over decades and practices when the collecting started were not the practices we follow today,” Stewardson added.
Delta Archives curator Darryl MacKenzie said many photos that were donated don’t have names written on the back or an accompanying record was lost, but they provide an interesting glimpse about a particular time nonetheless.
“There are certainly photos that nobody knows who’s in them, first of all. If that’s the main subject of the photo, what are we retraining here? Sometimes we will have photographs not because who is in the photo but what’s in behind the people in the picture and what does that reveal about the landscape or other historical events of the time,” said MacKenzie.
“That helps us be able to place the importance of the image overall. The story why we might retain the photograph is not necessarily the people, but maybe it’s the fashion. Just recently we were given a photograph of a number of people playing on cannons in Memorial Park in the 1920s. We don’t necessarily know who the children are but the fact the cannons were there following World War 1, that’s something we can use to say, ‘Where did these cannons come from and why were they important to Delta at the time?’ It’s a clue that leads us on a track,” he explained.
Barbara Baydala, president of the Delta Heritage Society, said such photos provide an interesting commentary, including what family groupings looked like. She noted some photos of children from as long as a century or more ago are fascinating as well, even though the kids’ names aren’t known, because of the types of toys they’re playing with.
MacKenzie noted in this digital age the problem continues and is even compounded with people easily taking photos on their phones, but they don’t have a place to write down information.
“That’s a problem we’re considering for the future in the archives. Where do you store that information, how do you capture that and think how many people are taking photos now compared to the past?”
He said people might post photos on Facebook and tag them, relying on those tags to remain.
Baydala agreed, saying she tries to sort though and categorize her own digital photos, but not all of them.
“With all this digital photography and how easy it is to take photos, you take photos of other people at the drop of a hat. They may not be significant in your life at all but they just happen to be there when you are at an event or on vacation. In the future your family is looking back at that thinking, ‘Well, that person looks like they must have been your best friend. Who’s that person?’”
MacKenzie said he was recently digitizing several photos from the early 1900s from his own family members, assuming they came with some sort of letter, but he had no idea who was in the photos other than they were his ancestors. The only clue was that they were “the western family” comprised of members who moved to B.C.
“I need to go back and do the genealogical research to try to piece together who that might be and find out where the connection is. I could have relatives in this area but I don’t know who they are. The records that are associated with those photographs somehow got lost along the way.”
Baydala said although many photos have little information, other than perhaps area of origin or just a few identified people in a group, it’s hoped once they are uploaded, descendants or anyone searching for a particular family might be able to add more names.
The archives is welcoming volunteers to take the time to help do some investigative work, said MacKenzie, noting clues are likely available, either through records or old newspaper articles, to help start piecing together a story that could help identify people in photos.
“If there is anyone interested in doing some of that digging, possibly doing that puzzle work, we’re more than happy to have them help,” he said.
Baydala said she was doing a little digging through the archival pages of the Optimist a couple of years ago to find out about actor Michael J. Fox’s family that came from Ladner, building an entire history of his predecessors and the type of community they lived in back in the day.
The society is also launching an initiative where some of the physical items in the museum collection will be posted in the hopes of identifying them and learning the significance of the articles to Delta’s history. The items likely have a story behind them as well and, perhaps, there’s someone in the community who can offer a trace that leads to those stories.
The Delta Museum and Archives Society recently changed its name to the Delta Heritage Society. For more information, contact [email protected].
