What Year Was This Picture Taken?

When we organize photos, we generally start by organizing the pictures into decades. Once the decades are done, then we sort by years. Around half of the time, the photos have clues of when they were taken. These clues include dates on the back, dates on the envelopes and sometimes even time stamps on the pictures, if accurate.

We use a photo age chart to help date pictures. It makes organizing your photos easier when you have a ready reference chart of important dates and milestones in your family's life.

Age Chart

This tool provides ESSENTIAL clues to dating pictures, especially for those people who have children. One of our clients has four children – all of whom had a birthday party every year. We couldn’t imagine helping her with her photos without the age chart. Here’s an example of an age chart:

Keep in mind that the school years span two years. For this age chart, I used the year the child started that grade. For example, at age 15, Mollie entered her Freshman year in high school in 1987. Photos of her in her Freshman year, however, may span from September 1987 to June of 1988.

Find clues in your photos that might help date the photo. In the photo below of young me, there are ten candles on the birthday cake. Looking at the age chart, I can see that I turned ten in 1982.

Here’s a handwritten age chart.

If you are organizing a large collection of photos with multiple families, a more expansive timeline may be required. Just apply the same principles of known dates and events (weddings, funerals, immigration dates, etc.)

DOWNLOAD AN AGE CHART from our Helpful Downloads Page. 

Having an Age Chart will make your photo organizing project easier! Need someone to just do the work for you? Click here to learn more about Pixologie Services.