The Photo Angel Project
When Kate Kelley contacted the Glebe House Museum, we had no idea that we would be reunited with an object from our past that we didn't have in our collection. The "tile trivet" (c. 1975) had been made to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the Glebe House Museum's opening in 1925. These were sold at the museum as a fundraiser, and Kate had found this one at her mother's home. Although the museum has many commemorative items in its collection, we did not have one of these.
After speaking with Kate about her background and her project, "The Photo Angel Project," we asked if she would be willing to do a program here at the Woodbury Public Library, and she graciously agreed to schedule a date: Saturday, November 7th at 11:00 am. We hope you will join us for this event sponsored by the Glebe House Museum & Gertrude Jekyll Garden.
The Photo Angel Project’s mission is to reunite long-lost photos with their relatives. Founder Kate Kelley has returned images to all 50 states and several countries. The project has appeared on NBC’s The Today Show, Family Tree Magazine, The Boston Globe, WCVB’s Channel 5 Boston “Chronicle,” “Who Do You Think You Are” magazine, and several other news outlets.
"It all began with a pile of labeled photos of non-relatives that were mixed in with my grandparents’ old family pictures. Were they friends? Classmates? War buddies? Neighbors? I was determined to find out. So I started poking around genealogy websites and immediately began connecting with relatives of the photographed. Now I’m hooked! I love to visit antique stores to thumb through their pictures in my quest to find those that are labeled so that I may return them to their family members. One woman affectionately dubbed me “The Photo Angel.”
"The purpose of this project is to inspire others to dig out their dusty attic boxes and visit antique stores for photos with identifying information to reunite them with families." - Kate Kelley
Kate Kelley is in her 25th year of teaching as a highly qualified, professionally licensed (Pre-K-8), special education teacher in the Plainville Public Schools (Plainville, MA). She holds a Master of Science in Special Education from Simmons University and a Bachelor of Science in Special Education (Communication Disorders) from Bridgewater State University. She has experience teaching in the inclusion, resource, and substantially separate classroom settings. Her specialty is phonetic reading instruction for students with dyslexia and other language- based learning disabilities.
Program Details:
Date: Saturday, November 7, 2026
Time: 11:00 am
Location: Woodbury Public Library, 269 Main Street S, Woodbury, CT 06798
Phone: 203-263-3502
Registration at www.woodburylibraryct.org
The program is free to attend.
Donations will be accepted and are greatly appreciated.
This program is sponsored by the Glebe House Museum & Gertrude Jekyll Garden.
