Photographs of anonymous people are found in all manner of archival repositories. Because they lack identifying text, these records are at risk of being devalued and ignored. This thesis examines this class of document and argues that these photographs should not be disregarded but rather should be given attention by archivists so that they can be found and made useful. By defining archival value as the interaction between the viewing subject and the photographic object, photographs of anonymous people are seen to have a possibility of value. In order to identify potentially valuable records, a macro-appraisal strategy for personal photographs is outlined. This strategy focuses on the three key functions of photographs: documentation, memory formation, and identity formation. Methods of archival description for photographs of anonymous people are then discussed, emphasising the necessity of text for the discovery of these documents, while acknowledging the inherent dangers of interpretation.