by Maura Lerner Fisher
As a child, Ava Cohn was obsessed with old photos. When other kids were playing outside in the summertime, she says, “I would be inside going through the boxes of (family) photographs, asking my parents ‘Who is this? Who is this?’”
Eventually, that childhood fascination turned into an extraordinary career.Today, she’s known as “Sherlock Cohn, The Photo Genealogist,” and has built an international reputation with her talent for unlocking the secrets hidden in old (especially Jewish) family photos. Cohn will share some of her insights as the featured speaker at an upcoming MNJGS program on Zoom on November 17: “Clued-in: The Stories are in the Details.”
Almost everyone, it seems, has old family photos that have survived for generations with little, if any, identifying information. Cohn studies the clues — in their clothes, jewelry, backgrounds and more — to narrow down when and where the photos were taken, as well as something illuminating about the people behind those enigmatic expressions.
“I come at your photos with a fresh eye,” she explains.
For Cohn, who lives in Chicago, it all started as a hobby. Delving into her own family history, she was drawn to the old family portraits that other people would post on genealogy websites, asking for help.With her fine eye for historical details, she started analyzing the photos and sharing her findings, often in lengthy online posts. Before long, fans were urging her to turn pro.
“They said ‘Wow, nobody’s ever done this,’” she said. “I thought, well, this is where I belong. I’m meant to do this... In 2009, I dubbed myself 'Sherlock Cohn' and I started doing this professionally, and never looked back."
From the start, she couldn't help noticing that many historical photos posted online seemed improperly dated — some off by decades. “Everything starts with a date,” she explained. “A lot of times it’s not written on the photo.” She examines how it was printed - daguerreotype, tintype, paper, etc. - and any hint of who the photographer was.
“Then I start to look at the image itself. What are they wearing? How are they posed? What was the backdrop? Was it a studio, was it taken in somebody’s backyard? I like to say it’s kind of like peeling an onion.”
Today, Ava has customers all over the world. “I do everything over email. People send me scans of the photos, front and back.” Her main goal, she says, is to reveal the stories behind the photos. Sometimes, the family lore that was handed down the generations is belied by the pictures themselves. Sometimes, it turns out, the story we’ve grown up believing isn’t quite true.
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