As an archivist & historian, I work a lot with old photos. In describing and cataloging those images you work to accurately categorize what is depicted in the image, what date was it taken, who is in the image, etc.
Ever look at one of the myriad of coffee table books produced annually loaded full of historical photographs. Local historical societies love to produce those and they are a great way to view the past. Many of them feature images of church buildings, as they often are the icons that have stood in the community longer than many other structures. A caption might read "St. Luke's in 1920" under a stark black-and-white image of the building, perhaps with an automobile parked out front to give it a chronological context. Most of us have seen these images or books before. But did you ever see one where the caption read "St. Luke's in 1920" and the image was of nothing but people? Hmmmm. Makes me wonder. Just what is a church again?
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