Thursday, April 2, 2020

Researching the "Little Redheaded Girl"


The plan to researching the newest photo found by my cousin Ken is this: We have to date the photo by the dress of the woman, estimate her age and search for information about the photographer's studio shown in the lower left corner.  That's a long shot, but worth it to find an archived record of the sitting. No stone left unturned.  

To date the photo, I used Google Images , uploaded it by clicking on the camera icon, then searched for similar images and checked the details of those I found. I also googled a broader search for the period of time I believe the person in the photo sat for the portrait and click on the "images" link below the search box. Other factors I considered was the photo's finish, black/white or color, and the style of the dress using clues like the collar style. Of course the dress may not be new. That means the woman may be wearing her "Sunday Best" purchased several years before the sitting.  I'm satisfied this photo was taken in the 1940s. What I'm not certain of is if it was before or after WWII. 


So far, my search for a studio named "Foto Liko" in Lithuania was unsuccessful.  At least that is the name I interpreted for the studio.  Fast forward...our cousin in Lithuania notes the studio name as "Foto Zilio".  This studio name produced nothing in English either. I reached out to Lithuanian Genealogy, a Facebook group I'm a member of in hopes someone has a better way to search a business from the past and/or can read Lithuanian on the handful of sites produced from googling the names.


FOTO LIKO or FOTO ZILIO ?

This studio logo is on another identified photo we received last year from our cousin connection in Lithuania. Remember, this unnamed woman's original photo is in my cousin Ken's possession, so we have two photos from the same studio; one in Michigan with Ken and one in Lithuania.  That fact alone has Ken and I hopeful we can make a family connection of our unnamed woman in this photo to be that "little redheaded girl" from family lore (who did not travel to the USA) to the other photos from Foto Zilio.