Information and discussion on all aspects of British photographic history

lux: Showing off the St Andrews Photographic Collection on Tumblr

The Department of Special Collections of the University of St Andrews Library has a new Tumblr blog called “lux”. Marc Boulay, the photographic archivist writes... Its aim is to cater to those who will enjoy receiving a steady stream of images which illustrate the scope of our Photographic Collection and the new discoveries we're making every week. Out of our vast collection of over 700,000 historic photographs, only 10% are currently available online. “lux” will give followers the opportunity to enjoying a sneak peak at some of the previously unseen and rare photos we have on offer.

Our aim is to share weekly selections which illustrate the breadth of our collection and encourage those interested to learn more. Please share our images and forward our posts with others as the more people that use the collection the better. Don’t forget that you’re welcome to come see the originals! Members of the public, students of all ages and disciplines, or those who are just plain curious are all welcome.

As well, our wider Department of Special Collections has been doing an ongoing series entitled "52 weeks of Inspiring Illustrations" which represents material from across all our collections (Photographs, Books, Manuscripts) which is featured on "Echoes from the Vault" our departmental WordPress blog. Every 3rd or 4th week there is a post of photographic interest which highlights our collection through an introduction to various photographic processes. It is meant for a generalist audience, but I figured it might be of interest to certain members of your readership. Here's the run of posts which cover photography so far (earliest to latest):