ATTLEBORO, Mass. (WBZ NewsRadio) — A special education teacher from Attleboro has a unique hobby, she helps link people to their past through old photographs.
Kate Kelley is known as “The Photo Angel” on Facebook. The Attleboro woman reunites long lost antique photos with the relatives of people in them. So far, she has been able to help people all over the world including in 30 U.S. states, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.
This unique hobby started when Kelley was going through pictures of her grandparents.
“We found pictures mixed in that were nonrelatives and thought it would be great to get these back to their family members,” said Kelley.
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She used a genealogy website to locate the relatives and once she made the connection, she sent stacks of photos to some very excited family members in Tennessee.
“Once I had that success story under my belt, it was very motivating,” said Kelley. story under my belt, it was very motivating,” said Kelley.
Now, she goes to antique stores and finds old photos with names on the back, researches those names online and sends the pictures to their descendants.
Kate Kelley of #Attleboro, aka the #PhotoAngel, helps to link people w/ their pasts. She goes to antique stores & buys long lost pictures & portraits w/the name of the person on the back, researches the name on geneology sites, then contacts descendants & sends the pics to them. pic.twitter.com/fLZs3w2RQk
— Kim Tunnicliffe (@KimWBZ) October 6, 2021
“They’re just over the moon and it feels so good to help people piece together their family history,” said Kelley.
She called her hobby a “labor of love” and says she’s sent hundreds of photos, so far. The group has more than 4,000 members on Facebook.