Do you have shoe boxes full of old family photographs? Learn how to date, identify and preserve these visual documents.

A workshop being held at Warsaw Community Public Library focuses on photographic processes and formats starting with the daguerreotype invented in 1839, moving up through present day digital images. Photograph history and preservation expert Joan Hostetler will discuss postcards, cyanotypes, panoramic images, glass negatives, tintypes, stereoviews, Polaroids, snapshots and other common photographs.

She teaches genealogists to think like detectives, looking for clues such as clothing, hairstyles, cars and license plates, photographers’ logos and even the shape of a person’s ear.

Photographs are sensitive to pollution, heat, light, and humidity and the program discusses the proper way to store and handle historic images. Participants are encouraged to bring interesting, mystery, or problem photographs for a show-and-tell session after the program.

Joan Hostetler, a Pierceton native, has a certificate in photograph preservation from the George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and an MFA in imaging arts from the Rochester Institute of Technology. She is co-owner of Heritage Photo & Research Services in Indianapolis, a company specializing in local history research, photo preservation and digitization, and archives management.

Kosciusko County Historical Society and Warsaw Community Public Library brings this free workshop to Warsaw. This workshop will be held in Meeting Room AB at Warsaw Community Public Library at 1 p.m. Tuesday, April 9. After the workshop, from the 3 p.m. to 5 p.m., refreshments will be served and Hostetler will view your photographs and give some tips on dating and identifying them.

To save your seat, please register at WCPL at 574-267-6011 or online.