How can I find out what the printed numbers mean on the back of an older photo?
Upvote:4
These numbers were probably added by the company that printed the photographs. Their purpose is usually to record which job the prints belong to, where a "job" is a single film's development and printing. With hundreds or thousands of films being processed each day in an automated plant, tracking numbers were very helpful if there was any mix-up. The prints were put into paper wallets by hand at the end of processing, and mix-ups were possible there, as well as if there were problems in the automated parts of the process.
The numbering scheme would be specific to the company that did the work. Using it for dating would require identifying the company, it still being in existence and having all its old records, and being willing to go to the trouble of looking them up. Since many photo processing companies have gone out of business with the rise of digital photography, the odds of success are not good.
Source: observations from working in a camera shop in the 1970s.
More post
- 📝 How many customs houses were there in 1850 California?
- 📝 Where did the names of these Tyrian kings come from?
- 📝 What reasons did the Confederacy have for believing they would have a quick victory?
- 📝 Does footage of WWI bombing of London by zeppelins exist?
- 📝 What are historical examples of globalization in action?
- 📝 When is the first recorded instance of someone dying for a principle?
- 📝 What caused the shift from annexation of territory, to colonization of territory?
- 📝 When did it become acceptable to campaign for yourself for US President?
- 📝 Has capital penalty ever been a municipal-level decision?
- 📝 Advanced sub-saharan civilizations prior to cross-atlantic slave trade?
- 📝 Journeys from Gujarat in India to Dare es Salaam in what was then, Tanganyika in 1925 and 1948
- 📝 Need to identify a European uniform from around 1900
- 📝 What laws of war existed before the modern international treaties and conventions?
- 📝 Babylonian handbags - meaning?
- 📝 What impact does colonial legacy have on current US presence in the South China Sea dispute?
- 📝 Completeness of Old Parish Registers in the 1700s
- 📝 When did home weather thermometers become popular/common?
- 📝 What is "discovery" in the historical sense? How do historians today view and describe "discoveries"?
- 📝 What was the biggest empire that never had capital punishment?
- 📝 Hotel de Ville during Women's March on Versailles
- 📝 What is the earliest known reference to the phrase 'water of life'?
- 📝 What sorts of people were popular celebrities in 17th to 19th century Europe?
- 📝 History of eponymous cities
- 📝 Why was there a 2nd version of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact that gave Lithuania to USSR?
- 📝 Why did Germany take so long to consolidate into a single nation?
- 📝 Why didn't China assist in the Vietnam War like they did in Korea?
- 📝 Was the Bosnian Crisis the trigger to WWI and not the assassination?
- 📝 What were the main clans of the Sengoku period?
- 📝 What were the origins of Etruscan Civilisation?
- 📝 Was there an alcohol abuse problem among monks and priests in the High Middle Ages in England?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 How can I find out what the printed numbers mean on the back of an older photo?
- 📝 How can the value of older currencies be expressed in modern units? How is the conversion rate calculated?
- 📝 How did historians find out about the undoctored version of Stalin's doctored photographs?
- 📝 How can I find the most complete list of the names of Kaytn Massacre victims?
- 📝 Is it possible to find out on what Roman day of the week Jesus resurrected?
- 📝 What was the age distribution in the Bronze Age? How do I find out?
- 📝 Where can I find what the cost of a train ticket in the USA was in 1930?
- 📝 Where can I find data on the amount of fuel carried by WWII Warships and what their operational ranges were?
- 📝 How can we be sure what the first day of the month was 2000 years ago and how can we determine which years were leap years?
- 📝 When did the allies find out about the killing of Jews during WW2
- 📝 How did the authorities not find the speakeasy clubs during the prohibition?
- 📝 What do the numbers on this 1960s anti-integration sign mean?
- 📝 How do I find the sources which determined the year of the fall of Babylon?
- 📝 What is the name of the theory that says an early discovery can stop technological development?
- 📝 What did Hitler mean with the following statement about Franco?
- 📝 How did the Soviets decide what to annex in WW2?
- 📝 What historical reasons did the Nazis give for hating the Jews? How did they identify non-practicing Jews?
- 📝 How were servants to the Kaiser of Imperial Germany treated and where may I find more information on them?
- 📝 What does it mean that the early supreme court "gave themselves" the power of judicial review?
- 📝 What is the oldest musical composition that can still be listened to today?
- 📝 I'm reading The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. What should I watch out for?
- 📝 How can I properly learn the history of a country whose language I don't speak or read?
- 📝 What can be considered to be the single most important reason for the decline of muslim Golden Age?
- 📝 What was the Nove / Millar debate, how is it important to the historiography of the Soviet Union?
- 📝 What do historians mean when they talk about "supply side" and "demand side" explanations of the industrial revolution?
- 📝 Where can I find the original "On the New Rules for Destroying Countries" (1901) by Liang Qichao?
- 📝 What factors contributed to Jews moving out of the Middle East?
- 📝 What was the program of the Mensheviks in their later years? How did they hope to achieve it?
- 📝 Where can I find the earliest surviving versions of Herodotus's Histories?
- 📝 What did Ben Franklin mean when he said "The sun of liberty is set; you must light up the candle of industry & economy"?
