Postcards
In 1894, the Royal Mail allowed postcard publishers to manufacture and distribute cards which could be sent through the post without envelopes. In 1902 the back of the postcard was divided and the address and message were separated.
Postcards were sent as souvenirs but they were also used to send messages during the war, show pictures of streets or town centres and in fact for almost any social reason. Postcards can be bought from a variety of outlets on line or at fairs and markets. But finding a postcard for your house or even street is going to require a huge slice of luck.
Days Past is a great site with lots of postcards
Photographs
Old pictures of your home can add to your finished home history. Sometimes they can provide evidence of what your house looked like and perhaps how it has changed. Local archives and libraries often have collections of pictures for their area. Local histories have been produced that are illustrated. Ask the library nearest to your house. When you talk to neighbours ask if they have any old pictures of the street or your house before you moved in. Although photographs were first introduced in the mid 1800s amateur photography didn’t really take off until the early-1900s.
For more about dating photographs we recommend reading Date an old photograph by Roger Vaughan
For more about dating photographs we recommend reading Date an old photograph by Roger Vaughan
Pictures on line as background
The Historic England Archive is a source for historical photographs of buildings- and many images are online.The Archive contains several fantastic photographic collections
England’s Places is a collection at Historic England- photos 1850s-1990s of street scenes, village scapes, individual buildings- not just houses! All now digitised and searchable by parish.
The National Library of Scotland also have an extensive historic photograph archive–any top tips for searching for research?
Coflein @RC_Archive is the online database for the National Monuments Record of Wales (NMRW) – and includes historic images of houses - many online
Britain From Above. contains lots of interesting images including images from the Aerofilms aerial photographic archive covering the whole country 1919-2006. These are long distance shots and a fantastic way of seeing how areas have developed over time.
If you are interested in images of 20th century house and interiors The Museum of the Design and Modern Architecture is particularly strong on wallpaper but also has a great collection of estate agents’ brochures.
Local & county archives will often have extensive regional image collections, including streets and houses and sometimes these have been digitised so worth checking to see if they hold anything relevant for your research.
Commercial picture libraries like www.maryevans.com are great sources of images of houses and interiors.
If you are interested in old photos and postcards of Sheffield here
England’s Places is a collection at Historic England- photos 1850s-1990s of street scenes, village scapes, individual buildings- not just houses! All now digitised and searchable by parish.
The National Library of Scotland also have an extensive historic photograph archive–any top tips for searching for research?
Coflein @RC_Archive is the online database for the National Monuments Record of Wales (NMRW) – and includes historic images of houses - many online
Britain From Above. contains lots of interesting images including images from the Aerofilms aerial photographic archive covering the whole country 1919-2006. These are long distance shots and a fantastic way of seeing how areas have developed over time.
If you are interested in images of 20th century house and interiors The Museum of the Design and Modern Architecture is particularly strong on wallpaper but also has a great collection of estate agents’ brochures.
Local & county archives will often have extensive regional image collections, including streets and houses and sometimes these have been digitised so worth checking to see if they hold anything relevant for your research.
Commercial picture libraries like www.maryevans.com are great sources of images of houses and interiors.
If you are interested in old photos and postcards of Sheffield here
COLLAGE contains images of over 250,000 images of London from the collections at
London Metropolitan Archives and Guildhall Art
If you are lucky photos of your ancestors' graves can be viewed free online here: http://www.gravestonephotos.com
MyHeritage to the rescue! https://www.myheritage.com/incolor
If your have ancestors are from Leeds, you may find Leodis useful, as it contains a photographic archive of Leeds.
RIBA’s image library of over 100,000 photographs and drawings from the RIBA Collections, available to view, buy and download here
If you are looking for image of places in Ireland, the Postcards Ireland website is an excellent resource,.
A really good source of images for Scotland is the CANMORE website. It contains photos and drawings of buildings of all types, plus some aerial photography collections.
Lots of old images of Shropshire are available online on the Shropshire Archives website
TuckDB Postcards is a free searchable (not-for-profit) database of historic postcards published by Raphael Tuck & Sons. Its collection is global, & there are some real house and street image gems.
For Nottingham try Nottinghamshire Archives
Another very useful picture library can be found at Getty Images
London Metropolitan Archives and Guildhall Art
If you are lucky photos of your ancestors' graves can be viewed free online here: http://www.gravestonephotos.com
MyHeritage to the rescue! https://www.myheritage.com/incolor
If your have ancestors are from Leeds, you may find Leodis useful, as it contains a photographic archive of Leeds.
RIBA’s image library of over 100,000 photographs and drawings from the RIBA Collections, available to view, buy and download here
If you are looking for image of places in Ireland, the Postcards Ireland website is an excellent resource,.
A really good source of images for Scotland is the CANMORE website. It contains photos and drawings of buildings of all types, plus some aerial photography collections.
Lots of old images of Shropshire are available online on the Shropshire Archives website
TuckDB Postcards is a free searchable (not-for-profit) database of historic postcards published by Raphael Tuck & Sons. Its collection is global, & there are some real house and street image gems.
For Nottingham try Nottinghamshire Archives
Another very useful picture library can be found at Getty Images