History Mystery Monday: Why are old local photos so hard to find?

People are often surprised by how hard it is to find old photos of particular buildings, places, events and people on the internet. 

So this Monday, we’re looking at the mystery of Moonee Valley historical photos: Why are old local photos of particular places and people hard to find?

This problem is not unique to us; old photos are generally hard to find online. Here’s why:
1. Taking photographs used to be rare. Many people and places simply never have had their photograph taken.
2. Most photos are printed onto paper or thin card which easily deteriorates. Photos get scrunched or torn, become mouldy or mildewy in the back of a cupboard and get thrown out. So, of the few photos taken, even fewer have survived to the present day.
3. Even when photos survive, often information about them does not. While the original owner of a photo usually knows exactly who or what is shown, when and where, this information is often lost as photographs are passed down. Then, even if the photos do get uploaded, we’re unlikely to find them.

This photo from our collection is badly damaged, and if it wasn’t for the handy lettering on side of the truck, (which tells us it belonged to A W Beer of Bangalore St, Kensington) we wouldn’t know anything about it. If only more photos had useful signage like this! 

4. Most photographs that have survived are privately owned and haven’t been publicly shared. Some owners upload some of their photos (for example, family history enthusiasts often share photos of their ancestors online) – but the majority don’t.
5. Although photography became more commonplace as the 20th Century progressed (for the later decades you can fairly expect that most people and places would have been snapped at some point) photos from these years are notoriously tricky to find online. Here copyright (which is generally still on photos from 1955 and after) is often the barrier that stops photos from being made available online.
6. Only a very small proportion of historical photos end up with libraries or historical groups, and not all of these groups put their collections online. Even if they do, scanning and cataloguing photos is very labour intensive, so not all photos in these publicly held collections will be uploaded (even if they are out of copyright). 

That explains why relatively few historical pictures of Moonee Valley end up online.
Join us again next Monday when we investigate the mystery of how to find the few that do.

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