A Canberra woman is reuniting strangers with photos she has found in opportunity-shops and rescued from skips and tips. In the process, she is helping to solve family mysteries. The lost portrait archive is part of a growing online community using modern technology to shed light on the past.
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00:00There are a few from overseas.
00:09It's kind of, it's interesting, isn't it?
00:11Actually one of them's really fascinating.
00:14I do kind of love this one.
00:16I think there's a real art and craftsmanship to these photos.
00:21So they were really well considered.
00:23People are sometimes posed.
00:27Jessica Dowell boasts quite the photo collection.
00:31I'd say thousands.
00:33I've never actually counted, but this is only a tiny little portion of them.
00:37What's even more remarkable, she has no idea who's in any of them.
00:43I just am fascinated by the people, the times they lived in.
00:47Who were they?
00:48How did they get here?
00:49What are their stories?
00:50I love it.
00:51Yeah.
00:52It started as a hobby 20 years ago.
00:54I've been collecting old photos from rubbish tips, or they'd be thrown out accidentally
01:00through deceased estate clearances, sometimes the old charity shop.
01:04And I just couldn't bear the thought of them being thrown away.
01:08I feel like they hold so much history, so many stories.
01:13But has developed into a labour of love.
01:16My husband and I have had a bit of a rough few years.
01:18We've had two beautiful stillborn babies, and he said to me, you know what?
01:23Maybe this is something really joyful and positive and beautiful.
01:26It's a nice place to focus all your energy.
01:29I just started this account online to see if we could identify who's in the photos and
01:34return them to their families.
01:36The Lost Portrait Archive encourages followers to study the genealogy clues, like studio
01:42imprints and handwriting, and help put names to faces.
01:47There was a smudgy stamp on the back, and we tracked it down to the town of Hay in New
01:51South Wales, and I put it on the Hay Facebook page, and a lady identified it as her mum,
01:57wrote her a card, and I posted it away to her, and I got a message saying, thank you
02:01so much.
02:02I'd never seen this photo before, it's really special to our family.
02:05Jessica is part of a growing community of photo reuniters around Australia and the world.
02:12I thought they were just going to be fun photos, but I realised quickly, these are memories.
02:16I think I put a lot of value in these photos and hope that people find that same connection
02:20with their family and ancestors through them too.
02:23The very picture of hope.