Detecting an Unmarked Photo's Date & Locale

In Mooresville Public Library's Indiana Room vertical files, there are many unidentified photos.  One such picture was taken by lifetime Morgan County resident Maurice Hensley (1927-2017), who worked for 42 years at the Railway Mail Service and the United States Postal Service, retiring in 1987 as Mooresville's postmaster.  He was also an entrepreneur who owned and operated several local businesses with his wife, Beth (Medsker) Hensley.  We know Mr. Hensley took the photo because it was given to the library by Beth, who has volunteered at the library for over three decades.

Maurice Hensley (1927-2017)

Undated Photo by Maurice Hensley 

 (Click Image to Enlarge)

So, when and where were the photo taken?  Nothing was written on the back of the picture to tell us, so we need to search the clues in the captured image.

It is easy to identify the buildings as those situated along the north side of East Main Street in downtown Mooresville, based upon similar images included in the library's vertical files or in Mooresville High School's yearbooks.  The vehicles shown suggest the mid-1970s.  Advertisements from the 1974-1979 editions of Wagon Trails (the MHS yearbook) clarify which businesses were operating on East Main Street, and, more importantly, often provide their addresses.

 We also know from Clara Richardson's A Brief History of Mooresville, Indiana, 1824-1974 (1974) (on page 121) that Dickinson's Printing, who published the book, was then located at 10 East Main Street. By 1977, Dickinson's had moved to 22 East Main Street (according to Robinson's 1977 Mooresville Town Directory). This corresponds with the address shown in Mr. Hensley's photo. Furthermore, J. Neal & Son Pumps appears (to the right in the photo) in a building constructed in 1976. Plus, the liquor store sign shown in the rear view mirror's reflection was on West Main Street (in the mid- to late-1970s, but prior to 1980) by the alley where Sugar Mamas Custom Cakes stands today. So we may safely conclude that Mr. Hensley took this photo either in 1977 or 1978.

We just noticed the message on Dickinson's sign (at the bottom) quoting Mr. Hensley's advice to shop and mail early (as a good postmaster would do). That places the photo in late November or early December of 1977 or 1978 (note the bare trees in the background).

With a little effort, we may use the library's local historical resources to narrow down places and dates shown in unmarked photographs such as this.  Ordinary "town pictures" are invaluable because they record precious memories simply by capturing the way things were.  But to appreciate their meaning and significance, we still need human memory to recall, or, if none is still available, then historical materials to which we may turn to identify the scenes captured in film.