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| My Grandfather Wilton Tisdale Booksh, Sr. tells us about some of his photos. Vera Booksh Zimmerman, W. T. Booksh, Sr., Dina and Erik Zimmerman. 1984 Photo by W. T. Booksh, Jr. |
Next Monday, February 9, 2015, I will be
doing my presentation on Dating Old Photographs for the Brevard
Genealogical Society at 9:30 am at the Cocoa Library. The handout for
the program is available by clicking on the “Dating Photographs”
tab above.
It's hard to believe that I first put
this program together 15 years ago as a slide presentation. Slides,
you remember them, don't you? All tucked into one of those metal carousels?
And lugging a big heavy projector in a leather carrying case? Now I just grab
my thumb drive and I'm ready to go.
This program brings together
two of my favorite subjects, photography and costume design. I got my love of photography from my
paternal grandfather, Wilton Tisdale Booksh Sr. (1886-1985). He built his own
camera about the turn of the century. I got my first box camera when
I was 10 years old and my first 35mm camera when I graduated from
high school. I also got interested in sewing very early, starting
out with a hand-cranked sewing machine when I was 5 years old. I got
my love of sewing from my maternal grandmother, Sarah Gonzales Begue (1888-1965). Of course, living in New Orleans the progression from sewing to
costume design was only natural. I did extensive research on clothing
styles in designing costumes for Mardi Gras balls.
These two subjects came together when I
started copying Great Grandma Belle Tisdale Booksh's photo
collection. Fortunately I became interested while Grandpa Booksh was
still alive and he was able to identify most of the people in the
pictures. Often the only way to figure out the dates of these old
photos was to look at the clothing styles.
Eventually I put together the
information I collected on dating photos into a slide presentation
for my local genealogical society. I went digital about ten years ago
and have updated my presentation each year. So if you're in the
Cocoa, Florida area, stop in. If not, keep reading this blog as I
plan to touch on the dating and identification of the photos that I
post.
