A Nova Scotia museum is asking for the public’s help in identifying the people and places featured in a number of photos posted online.

The Mahone Bay Museum processed hundreds of photographs between January and March, thanks to a government grant. While some people and places in the photos have been identified, others remain a mystery, so the museum has posted the photo collection on its website in the hopes of finding some answers.

“Some of the pictures are extraordinary, even though we don’t know who they are, but it always adds another element to the story,” says museum curator Lyne Allain.

Allain sorted through the 500 pictures – some of them more than a century old – and carefully handled and scanned the fragile originals. She has become a detective of sorts, sifting through the backlog of black-and-white photos at the Mahone Bay Museum, finding more questions than answers.

“We thought we would reach out to the community and see if anyone could identify people for us,” she says.

Enter local resident Beverly Eisnor.

Born and raised in Mahone Bay, Eisnor is a treasure trove of information, so she decided to step in and help solve as many mysteries as she could.

Eisnor was able to identify Harold Corkum, who had been the mayor of Mahone Bay as well as a principal, in one of the photos.

While viewing another photo, she spotted a very familiar face – her mother, Lela Hyson, sitting in the second row of a class picture from 1913.

“My mother was born in 1908 and she was probably in Grade 2,” says Eisnor. “I had some pictures of her when she was little, so I could tell her right away.”

Thanks to the project, a copy of a 104-year-old picture Eisnor didn’t even know existed is now hers to keep, and Allain can put another mystery to rest.

But Allain says there are still dozens of mysteries to be solved at the Mahone Bay Museum. Anyone can view the collection online and email the museum with information regarding the people, location, or date related to the photos.

With files from CTV Atlantic's Kelly Linehan