Ever  been stumped trying to figure out the identity of a mystery person in an old photo?

Or looked through an old landscape image and wondered: “Where was this taken?”

You can prevent some of the mystery by labeling your photos when you print or download them. (And label old photos with as much information as is known.)

On the back of photographs, write or place a label with information about the people, places or things that are featured in it.

Indicate the names of individuals, the date of the photo, the location where it was taken, and who the photographer is.

For digital photographs, add these details in the file’s properties (for example, in Windows, you can right click on a photo file, then select Properties, click on the Summary tab, then fill in the appropriate fields), or name the files and file folders with descriptive names (example, NYC_JSmith_1925).

You can also keep a text file or Word document listing the file names coupled with descriptive sentences.

Unsure about a date? Write the word circa followed by the year(s). For example, “circa 1920s,” or “circa 2001.”

This way 5, 10, 20, or even 100 years later, when you or whoever is looking through photos will be able to decipher the contents and context of images.