Maureen Alice Taylor, born April 14, 1956, is a genealogist, author, and speaker in Providence, Rhode Island with expertise in genealogy, art history, costume history and cultural anthropology. She is a blogger, and author of many books and magazine articles. The Wall Street Journal named her the "nation's foremost historical photo detective."
Education and career
Taylor holds a B.A. and an M.A. in history from Rhode Island College. She discovered a portrait of Dorothy Catherine Draper from 1839, which she believes to be the first American family photo. She has been widely featured in US national print media and television, including The Today Show, The View, the Boston Globe and MSNBC. Taylor is the author of a guide to family history for children, Through the Eyes of Your Ancestors. Voice of Youth Advocacy named Through the Eyes of Your Ancestors to its best nonfiction list for 1999. "Taylor works with children as young as second grade to create simple family trees or charts. But give the kids a wealth of art supplies, she says, and kids will come up with their own creative expressions." Taylor worked for the , , and Houghton Mifflin. She is a former president of the . Taylor is the author of 11 books and an active blogger. She also acts as contributing editor to Family Tree Magazine.
Work
Taylor's work includes:
Taylor, Maureen. Preserving Your Family Photographs: How to Care for Your Family Photographs - From Daguerreotypes to Digital Imaging. Westwood, MA: Picture Perfect Press, 2010.
Taylor, Maureen. Finding the Civil War in Your Family Album. Westwood, MA: Picture Perfect Press, 2011.
Taylor, Maureen. The Avery Family : The Ancestors and Descendants of Christopher Avery. Boston : Newbury Street Press, 2004.
Taylor, Maureen; Henry B Hoff; New England Historic Genealogical Society. A Guide to the Library of the New England Historic Genealogical Society. Boston, Mass. : New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2004.
Taylor, Maureen; Rhode Island Historical Society. Collections. Register of Seamen's Protection Certificates from the Providence, Rhode Island Custom District, 1796-1870 : From the Custom House Papers in the Rhode Island Historical Society.. Rockport, Me. : Picton Press, 1998.
Taylor, Maureen. Family Chronicle's More Dating Old Photographs, 1840-1929. Family Chronicle, 2004.
Memory Makers Books. Family Tree Page Ideas for Scrapbookers. F+W Media, 2004.
Carmack, Sharon DeBartolo; Nevius, Erin. The Family Tree Resource Book for Genealogists: Family Tree Resource Book for Genealogists. Writer's Digest Books, 2004.
Nevius, Erin. The Family Tree Guide Book to Europe: Your Passport to Tracing Your Genealogy Across Europe. Betterway Books, 2003.
Family Tree Magazine. The Family Tree Guide Book: Everything you Need to Know to Trace Your Genealogy Across North America. Betterway Books, 2003.
Benes, Peter; New England Historic Genealogical Society. The Art of Family: Genealogical Artifacts in New England: NGS Conference in the States. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2002.
Hannavy, John. Encyclopedia of Nineteenth-Century Photography. Routledge; 1 edition.
