Just as we can use the HAPPY Analysis as a tool to analyze primary source documents, we can think about images in the same way. Photographs are an asset in learning about the past, as they give us visual access to information about humans and nature.

When analyzing photographs, we want to do it in a similar way that we would primary source documents. You can use that same HAPPY approach for images, though it doesn’t always work quite as well, since, with a photograph, you may not know as much about the audience, the point of view, or the perspective. Instead, what’s important about analyzing photographs as a historian is that you take time to make careful observations, think about what the photograph portrays, research to get some additional context, and then draw conclusions about the significance. There is not any popular mnemonic for remembering this process, but you could loosely remember these steps as OPRY:

• O = Observation
  • The first step when using a photograph is to look closely at what is before you; observe the image in detail and take note of what you see.
• P = Ponder
  • Pondering the image invites you to do deeper thinking after your initial observations, and make inferences about what is shown.
• R = Research
  • This step is where we gather more information about the photograph and explore the historical context of the image.
• Y = Why?
  • This is the “why do we care?” part. What does this photograph add to our understanding of the past? How is it significant?

Do note that while these mnemonics are helpful in guiding our analysis of primary sources, they are only a tool and not a precise formula. HAPPY and OPRY help organize our thinking about textual and visual sources, especially when conducting an assignment for a course. However, one can expand upon their structure and utilize other helpful strategies to better understand documents in history.

STEP 1: Making Observations

During the first step, observe, you want to look closely at an image to figure out what you are looking at. What people are shown? What kinds of artifacts, symbols, or things are shown? Especially with historical photographs, it may be hard to see some of the details. Can you zoom in to make out any words or faces? Let’s try this together.

Observe the Photo EXAMPLE

First, let us practice OBSERVING a picture, meaning to examine the photograph and the details placed before you.

Consider this photograph and answer the following questions.

Figure 1. What can you observe in this photograph?

 

STEP 2: Ponder

Next, we will take time to PONDER  – to think deeper about the image before you and why it was captured.

PONDER the photo EXAMPLE

Consider again the photograph below and answer the following questions.

Figure 2. Ponder the image above.

 

STEP 3: Research

The next step involves doing some additional research to determine if your observations and ponderings were on the right track and finding out more about what we can learn from the photo. When we research images, it’s like we are zooming out of the image to understand the broader context of the time period. Not only do we want to verify that the image is accurate, but we also want to put it within its appropriate historical context and learn more about when, where, and why the image was taken in the first place. Fortunately, you can start your research of images relatively simply by using the image search feature in your web browser. When in Google Chrome, just right-click the image and choose “Search Image with Google Lens.” Let’s walk through an example, using the same photograph from the previous example sections.

Figure 3. Right-click on an image inside of Google Chrome to “Search Image with Google Lens” (Note that this was previously labeled “Search Google for Image.”)

That will take you to your search results and to Google’s best visual matches. Note that this tool even lets you search within an image, so you can zoom in on specific aspects of the photograph to learn more. If Google Lens does not provide the search results you need, another way to access the image search is to click the “Find Image Source” button above the photograph for different results.

Figure 4. This shows the search results after using Google lens, which can reveal more insights into your image. Sometimes this will give you the information you need from the “visual matches” section, or you may need to take a step further, which you can do by selecting the “Find Image Source,” button above the picture.

If we click “Find Image Source” for our example photo Google pulls up results for “Omaha”, which gives us search results too broad and generic to know exactly what it is, but if we scroll down or look at the other links from the Google Lens results, then we are directed to multiple websites that use the same image. 

Figure 5. These are the results from a Google lens search showing visually similar images. You can see here that we are getting a good idea of what the image is.

Click on these images to browse through websites, scanning for more information and context about the image.  By researching these sites you should be able to gather important details about the photograph, such as, when it was taken, where it was taken, who the subjects are, who took the photo, etc.

For example, if we click on the first visual match, it takes us to a website titled True West: History of the American Frontier.

YOUR TURN TO RESEARCH

It is your turn to conduct further research on a photograph.

1. Following the steps explained above, perform a Google Search on the image below.
2. Then explore a few of the websites from the search results.
3. Answer the question below.

Figure 6. Research this photograph.

 

STEP 4: WHY

Now that you’ve observed, pondered, and done some research on the image, you are ready to describe its significance. What does this image tell us about life, either then or now? How does it enhance our understanding of this time period? To help you with this, you can take the details you gleaned from the research step and conduct further Google searches. Then read through and study the information you find to consider what the photograph can teach you about the broader topic of the American West in the nineteenth century.

Conclusion

The photographs taken of people, places, and events in the American West are an important collection of primary sources for United States History. These images offer historians a powerful tool with which to study this time period and place. By observing, pondering, and researching these photographs, we can unveil their significance. In doing so, we can learn a great deal about western expansion. That is the power of primary source photographs from any period – they offer us a unique lens into our history, bringing to life people and places from the past.