Hello All, The following is a copy of the email that I received from Minnie Ann of the VintagePhotos list that I have joined. Minnie Ann has okayed me sending this out to the lists because what she shared does work. I had posted about a portrait that has been in my family for years and is said to be of my grgr grandmother, MYRA MILLER, who is the mother to my gr grandmother, LOUELLA ANDERSON. One of Myra's husbands was WILLIAM ANDERSON, my grgr grandfather. My family is based out of Alabama around the Talladega area. The writing on the back of the picture says: L6096 Richards, Spring C August 8, 1810 If someone would like to see the picture and/or able to shed light on what the meaning of what was written on the back of the picture please email me off list and we can go from there. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. Hi Terry, its just me ,Minnie again . The reason I said that I would try to tell you the date of the photo , is because the photo might have been moved from another frame to the one its now in and the writing may not be right . The numbers seem to be a serial number . The name's can be the person who took the photo and the one who framed it or the company name . I collect old post card and I have found that they can be cleaned without hurting them in any way by just putting baby powder on them and useing very soft tissue , wipe it very slowly and gently and years of dust etc. comes off and I have found that when I did that , I would often find things in the post card that I couldn't see before . I'm not saying you should do this with that photo but if it were mine ,I would because it might have a date or name or anything that might help , I would also do the back of the photo because if some one wrote in pencil on it it might come up . After I take clean tissues and wipe it till there is no more powder showing . Another thing I do , this time with old photos , I put white paper on the back of the photo and rub gently with a soft led pencil over the paper so as to pick up any old writing . Well, just a thought . Minnie Ann Terri Cross _Terrilcg@aol.com_ (mailto:Terrilcg@aol.com) Atlanta, Georgia A Diligent Family History Hunter