Describe before identifying
Record clothing, signs, an occasion or a photographer’s mark. Keep the original and make a working copy for annotations. Do not write directly on the image to test an identification.
Ask open questions
Ask relatives what they recognise before offering your theory. Note who supplied a name and whether they attended the occasion. Agreement on a name does not make an approximate date exact.
Keep the context together
Store the scan, caption and source note under related filenames. Mark names that remain uncertain. An unanswered question is part of the record and gives the next family researcher a useful starting point.
Further reading
For source material and collection context, visit Library of Congress: preservation. Check the collection’s own scope and access instructions before relying on it.