Tracking Down the Nameless Faces of Civil War Era Photos

The Civil War Photo Sleuth is on a mission to identify all the people whose pictures were taken during the Civil War era. They have developed a new facial recognition software that enables them to match the face to the name through 27 different facial landmarks.

CWPS has already identified more than 75 photographs and has hundreds more catalogued for eventual identification. The process of identifying unknown figures in Civil War-era photographs requires amateur detectives to draw on an arsenal of tools and skills: As Luther writes in a separate Military Images piece, researchers often augment print resources with a growing body of online data, including genealogical charts, military records and photographic archives, as well as tips offered by burgeoning communities of sleuthing enthusiasts.

To learn more about the project, visit the Civil War Photo Sleuth site. Check out more of the article by Meilan Solly at the Smithsonian Mag.

(Image credit: Betaface.com/Civil War Photo Sleuth)


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