Help Restoring Historical Newspaper Photo

[knrivers]

Hello,

I'm the historian for my church. The only image of one of our founders is, unfortunately, from a 150-year-old newspaper (that I have not been able to get an original copy of)... So, I'm hoping you may have ideas on how to improve the quality of this photo --enough so that we might end up with one suitable for framing--. Alternatively, if we can get the image cleaned up enough to use as a model for a painting, then I may try to paint a portrait of her for the church.

I've posted the image here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Byv...ew?usp=sharing

Thank you so much for your time and consideration.

Warmly,
Kristin

[0lBaldy]

Re: Help Restoring Historical Newspaper Photo

Kristin, Welcome to RetouchPRO
Hope you enjoy your stay here and make lots of friends.
Poke around, have fun!
Speaking of a painting...... that would probably be your best bet

[John Wheeler]

Re: Help Restoring Historical Newspaper Photo

Hi Kristin
Some improvement can be made by removing the newspaper print speckling yet its not going to get a ton better.
Personally having done a lot of genealogy, you would likely be better off getting a high quality digital copy.
The location of the image is in her obituary here found with a google search:
Death of Mrs. Sarah M. Overton is Loss to the Community”
San Jose Mercury Herald
08-30-1914; Volume LXXXVI,
Issue 61, page 5.
Most of the archives are available through request by calling the right people or through an online service e.g. Library of Congress. Here is a link that might help:
https://www.loc.gov/item/sn82014491/
Good luck with your project.
John Wheeler