Michael Pritchard's Posts (3037)

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12201182868?profile=originalToday, Historic England launches its new Aerial Photography Explorer - which for the first time allows users to search and explore an online map showing aerial photographs of England over the past 100 years. Aerial imagery provides a fascinating insight into the development and expansion of the nation’s urban centres and changes to the rural landscape. It can also reveal striking discoveries - such as ‘cropmarks’ showing hidden, archaeology beneath the surface. New imagery available online includes: 

  • The remains of ancient archaeology such as a Neolithic long barrow near Broughton, Hampshire, as well as remains of Iron Age forts such as Pilsdon Pen in Dorset and medieval villages such as Old Sulby in Northamptonshire.
  • Second World War anti-invasion measures such as anti-aircraft obstructions (ditches and earthworks) at Hampton Court Palace in 1941, and images from the same year of RAF Kenley showing camouflaged runways.
  • War-time adaptations to sites, for example, images of Greenwich Park in 1946 show it covered in a patchwork of allotments to grow food and aid the war effort. A modern photograph from August 2006 shows the outlines of the allotments appearing through the grass in hot weather.
  • Bomb damage such as images of central Liverpool and the Albert Dock from 1941, 1946 and 1948 with flattened areas and buildings with roofs blown off. By contrast, aerial images from 2017 show the development of the area since.
  • 20th century industrial sites such as the construction of Tilbury power station in 1955, and its demolition in 2017.
  • Famous buildings such as views of St James’ Park football stadium, Newcastle from the 1920s and St Paul’s Cathedral after the war.

Over 400,000 images from 1919 to the present day have been added to the tool, covering nearly 30% (c.15,000 square miles) of England, allowing people immediate digital access to Historic England’s nationally important collection of aerial photographs.

12201183487?profile=originalAround 300,000 of these are the work of Historic England’s Aerial Investigation and Mapping team. Established in 1967, the team takes photographs of England from the air to discover new archaeological sites, create archaeological maps and monitor the condition of historic sites across the country.

The remaining 100,000 images come from the Historic England Archive aerial photography collection, which numbers over two million images in total, and includes important historic photography, including interwar and post-war images from Aerofilms Ltd and The Royal Air Force.

By opening up these images to the public through this accessible online tool, Historic England hopes that people will use it to research their local areas, offering an insight into a century of changes and development. This will allow them potentially to make their own discoveries about their local areas. It will also provide industry professionals and local authorities with a useful resource to help planning, heritage projects and archaeological investigation.

Over the coming years, Historic England aims to expand the platform, as more of the six million aerial images in Historic England Archive are digitised.

The Aerial Photography Explorer joins Historic England’s recently launched Aerial Archaeology Mapping Explorer to offer an unparalleled insight into England’s archaeology and the nation’s development.

The new tool can be found here: Aerial Photograph Explorer tool

Images: 

 East Hecla steelworks and Meadowhall in Sheffield, South Yorkshire.

Multivallate Hillfort, West Hills -

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12201180683?profile=originalBPH has been contacted by a representative of Ana Briongos. In 1967 Prince Emmanuel travelled to Spain with his wife where he enrolled in the Escuala Massana art school. Three years later the married couple left Spain and moved to London. They never returned to Spain or reclaimed the precious suitcase, full of photographs and artworks from his time in Barcelona. 

Today, Emmanuel Adele Oyenuga must be in his eighties, and his wife Elisabeth Olayemi Oyenuga a little younger, and their children, son Adedoyin ‘Doyin’ Oyenuga, born ca. 1964 and daughter Oyinade “Oyin” Oyenuga, born 1968.

The materials found in the suitcase point to different social and cultural moments in the history of Nigeria and beyond: the Nigerian Civil War, the cultural ties between two countries, Nigeria and Spain, the legacy of the artist, the story of emigration, Nigerian studio photography of the 1970s and first and foremost, to restitution

The suitcase is in the safe keeping of Luisa Guadayol’s daughter – Ana Briongos and together with the African Artists’ Foundation they have begun the quest to find relatives of Prince Emmanuel Adewale Oyenuga or indeed the Prince himself.

If you can assist in finding, or have any knowledge of the Nigerian photographer please email: michael@mpritchard.com so information can be passed on.

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• An exhibition of Oyenuga's work is on view at FORMAT, Derby. See: https://formatfestival.com/event/unpacking-the-suitcase/

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12201179672?profile=originalIn researching their Madame Yevonde holdings, the National Portrait Gallery is on the hunt for a Vivex System / Taylor-Hobson three colour camera. A ‘One-shot’ camera used for exposing three plates at once. It is the camera Yevonde is shown with in a celebrated self-portrait, and the camera is reproduced here.

Please contact Clare Freestone cfreestone@npg.org.uk with any leads.

 

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12201174296?profile=originalThe Royal Photographic Society’s Historical Group was formed on 22 March 1972 at a time when photography in Britain was undergoing a significant transition. The RPS, itself, was in a process of modernisation as it sought to remain relevant to British photography. The way photography was taught in higher education reflected a move away from the technical to a focus on approach and the content of the picture. New galleries showing photography were established, national museums and galleries began to take photography seriously and the Arts Council appointed its first photography officer. The period also saw major upheavals for the industry and the profession with recessions, a move to digital, and new ways for commissioners to source content. The way photography was experienced, shared and disseminated changed dramatically later in the period with the advent of new digital technologies.

The conference will examine how these changes have impacted British photography and photographers over the fifty years from 1972-2022. Papers may also look at how particular photographers’ work has evolved over the period. Some of the possible themes include, but are not limited to:

  • Museums, galleries and collections: broadly and within specific institutions; the independent gallery scene; how the art world embraced photography; curatorial practice and presentation; the RPS Collection
  • Education: how photographic higher education has changed; how photographic history has been used across disciplines and taught; the independent photography sector; photography in schools
  • The market for photography: auctions, commercial galleries, dealers, collecting by individuals; the loss of photographic heritage; fine art photography
  • The law: Intellectual property: photographers’ rights; privacy and surveillance
  • Community groups: collectives; camera clubs
  • Geographical perspectives: specific changes in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and England; Britain’s position in international photography
  • The public and photography: the popularisation of photographic history on television, genealogy, and local history; experience through newspapers, publications, and online
  • Photography as a profession and industry: the markets and changes to industrial, commercial and social photography; photojournalism and advertising and editorial; manufacturing and retailing; the photographic periodical press; publishing and the photobook
  • Photographers and Photography: changes to individual practice; new approaches to genres of photography e.g. documentary, landscape, etc
  • Digital: its impact; new ways of sharing and engaging with photography

Proposals should be focused on the period from 1972 to the present and the British experience.

Submission

The conference welcomes proposals from academics, early career researchers, postgraduate students;  those working within photography, education and heritage, and photographers.

Proposals of up to 300 words with a short biography should be sent to photohistorian@rps.org has been extended to 28 March 2022.Papers should be 25 minutes in length. Papers will be grouped by theme at the conference.

The conference will open for registrations on 14 April 2022. It takes place at RPS House, Bristol, on 1 and 2 July 2022. 

British Photography since 1972: Commemorating fifty years of the RPS Historical Group
Conference: 1-2 July 2022, Bristol, UK

See: https://rps.org/1972

#Britishphoto1972

Image: a cover of The Photographic Journal from 1972. 

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BPH has learnt that Dr John Lambert Wilson who was active in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s for his researches on the photographically illustrated book died on 1 March 2022, aged 79 years. John, who was then based in Oxford, built up a formidable collection of books on early photography and those illustrated with photographs.

His PhD was titled Publishers and Purchasers of the Photographically-Illustrated Book in the Nineteenth Century, (University of Reading, 1995). John also compiled in 1992 Catalogue of a collection relating to the literature of photography, 1639-1905 which is unpublished in two volumes.

John also helped arrange an exhibition of photographic books and associated conference in Oxford and supported the British Library's mid-1990s project to catalogue its photographically-illustrated books where it acknowledged 'the use of his two catalogues of The Literature of the History of Photography'. He was an independent scholar and he was also a volunteer assisting with cataloguing the RPS Collection, then in South Audley Street, London.

John's interests shifted to early agrarian history, particularly the history of sheep breeding.  He is described by one friend as "a fine bibliophile and sterling English eccentric". 

Details are of his funeral are not yet available. 

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12201182267?profile=originalIn 1888 in Leeds, Louis Le Prince shot what many now consider to be the world’s first films. Film-maker and researcher Irfan Shah will be talking to writer Paul Fischer about his ground-breaking new biography of Le Prince and trying to discover the truth about the many myths surrounding the man behind the camera.

Complimentary drink on arrival

The Man Who Invented Motion Pictures
Paul Fischer
Thursday, 28 April 2022 at 1900
Leeds Central Library, Local and Family History, Second Floor, Leeds, LS1 3AB
Book here: https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/leedslibraryevents/the-man-who-invented-motion-pictures/e-yvbvmq

Details of Paul Fischer's book are here: https://www.faber.co.uk/product/9780571348640-the-man-who-invented-motion-pictures/

As a taster Le Prince's film of traffic crossing Leeds Bridge from 1888 can be seen here: 
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12201191271?profile=originalThe Muslim woman has been a consistent subject of representation across regimes of historical colonialism and Orientalism, in events such as the Arab Spring and post-9/11, and mediated widely via news and social media. These have included variegated representations from the odalisque to the ‘oppressed’ which have converged the identity of the Muslim woman to the single image and symbol of the hijab (veil).

Spanning across different bodies of work, this lecture will introduce and plot Nurul’s photographic, annotative, and participatory research that have engaged with representations of Muslim women from the daguerreotype to data. These projects will be discussed alongside the medium of photography and the data shift, which transforms the self into data, rendering those in the margins as ‘absent data’. Through self-reflexive means and methods, the context of ‘absent data’ will become site for artistic explorations and aspire towards a recalibration of Muslim women identifies via the role of the Muslim woman as ‘actor’ in rethinking processes of image-making.

Nurul Huda Rashid (she/her) is a researcher-writer currently pursuing her PhD in Cultural Studies. Her research focuses on images and narratives, visual and sentient bodies, feminisms, and the intersections between them. These have been articulated through projects such as Women in War (2016-ongoing), unknown woman/wanita kami (2021), Hijab/Her (2012-2014), and through collaborations such as Pulau Something (2021) and New Curriculum for Old Questions (2019). Nurul loves smelling old books, looking after plant babies, and hopes to adopt a cat someday.

Image, Data, Actor: Unpacking Images of Muslim Women 
moderated by T:>Works’ Artistic Director Dr. Ong Keng Sen
T:>Works, free with registration
Thursday, 31 March 2022, 200 (SGT) | 1300 (BST) | 1400 (CET) | 0800 (EST)
Online: register here: https://tworkssg.wordpress.com/digital-lecture-image-data-actor-unpacking-images-of-muslim-women-by-nurul-huda-rashid/

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12201188272?profile=originalDr Mirjam Brusius, best known to BPH readers, as a scholar with a focus on W H F Talbot and his work, has won the David Dan Prize for history, alongside eight other outstanding early- and mid-career scholars of history.  A selection committee of eminent scholars assessed hundreds of nominations from around the world as part of a rigorous process to select the winners, who will each receive $300,000 to recognize their achievements to date and support their future work.

12201189494?profile=originalMirjam is a cultural historian with an interest in the circulation of objects and images in and between Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. She specializes in the history of photography, museums, collecting and race in colonial contexts. Her most recent book on the inventor of photography, W.H.F. Talbot, Science, and Empire, will be published with The University of Chicago Press. This is an expanded version of her monograph Photography and Museological Knowledge: William Henry Fox Talbot, Antiquity, and the Absence of Photography (De Gruyter, 2015). She is also the co-author of William Henry Fox Talbot: Beyond Photography (Yale University Press, 2013, with Katrina Dean and Chitra Ramalingam).

She has published widely in peer-reviewed journals, and is a regular media contributor on issues related to memory culture in Britain and Germany.

She is particularly interested in where museum objects come from and where they go, why some objects are displayed while others remain in storage, and what happens to repatriated objects. She also explores the scientific misuse of antiquities and the afterlife of objects beyond museums. 

Brusius started writing about the ‘journey’ of museum objects more than a decade ago, before the topic was at the heart of public debate. Today, the public increasingly questions where objects that adorn European museums really come from, but Brusius tries to focus on the less obvious answers, exploring the “in-between” spaces – what happens between archaeological excavation and the museum display, for example. 

As co-founder of the “100 Histories of 100 Worlds in 1 Object” grassroots project, Brusius combines historical research with curatorial practice to facilitate a more egalitarian dialogue between Western museums and communities of origin. The project began as an alternative history to the British Museum’s collection, but thanks to collaborators in and from the Global South, the project has become more: it is now a global network that aims to enrich current debates on repatriation and decolonization by foregrounding voices that were formerly underrepresented.

After completing a PhD in History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge, Brusius held postdoctoral fellowship positions at the Max Planck Society, Harvard University, and the University of Oxford. She is currently a Research Fellow in Colonial and Global History at GHI London. She is also a member of the Global Young Academy. She is in the process of completing a book on the movement of ancient artefacts from the Middle East to Western museums (Oxford University Press) and a short monograph on the politics of museum storage.

See: https://dandavidprize.org/laureates/mirjam-brusius/

and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirjam_Brusius

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12201192894?profile=originalThe Bodleian Libraries have announced the appointment of Phillip Roberts as the Bern and Ronny Schwartz Curator of Photography. Phillip joins the Libraries from 7 March. He had been Associate Curator of Photography and Photographic Technology at the National Science and Media Museum (NSMM) since 2019. 

Phillip holds PhDs from Cardiff University and the University of York. Before joining the NSMM he was Research Assistant (Science and Industry) at Birmingham Museums Trust. He sits on the board of directors for the Amber Collective and has published widely on the histories and cultures of photographic media. His PhD from the University of York (2018) was titled The Emergence of the Magic Lantern Trade in Nineteenth-Century England and that from Cardiff (2013) Cinema and control.

As part of the Bodleian Libraries Special Collections team, he will develop the Bodleian’s growing photography collection through strategic acquisitions, collaborate with specialist conservation staff and work with scholars in the University to help to make the collection accessible to students and researchers. The role also includes a major commitment to sharing our holdings with the public through exhibitions, public programmes and digitisation. The curatorship was made possible by a transformational gift from The Bern Schwartz Family Foundation.

12201193692?profile=originalOn his appointment, Phillip Roberts, said: "I could not be more proud to be the Bodleian's Curator of Photography. Over the last few years, the Bodleian has cemented itself as one of the key guardians of our photographic heritage. We have recently acquired vast new archives of work by WHF Talbot, Helen Muspratt and Daniel Meadows. The Hyman collection offers a wonderful history of 20th century British photography, and the Chadwyck-Healey collection is the world's greatest collection of photobooks. Securing such riches in a short amount of time is remarkable, and speaks to the Bodleian’s commitment to preserving our photographic history.  I look forward to building on this work, and making the Bodleian home to one of the world's great collections of photography."

Susan Thomas, Head of Archives and Modern Manuscripts at the Bodleian Libraries, said: "Photography exists in the Bodleian's collections in many different ways. These materials – both astounding and everyday – have been an important part of the Bodleian's holdings for years, and it is exciting to now be in a position to share them more widely with the world. Phillip comes to us at a time when we are actively developing our photography collections for the future, and we are thrilled to welcome him to Oxford."

Separately, the NSMM Head Curator, Geoff Belknap, is leaving to join National Museums Scotland. 

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12201192856?profile=originalDick Weindling has written an online article titled 'We Photographed Magicians, Music Hall Performers and Royalty' which discusses the London photographic studio of Campbell Gray Ltd. The firm photographed Harry Houdini, David Devant amongst many others. Dick is still looking for additional information on the firm, and its proprietors Messrs Gray and Campbell. 

The article can be read here: http://kilburnwesthampstead.blogspot.com/2022/03/we-photographed-magicians-music-hall.html

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Percy R Salmon commemorated

12201182066?profile=originalA short film is to be released to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the birth of Percy Richard Salmon (1872-1959). For a period from the 1890s until his death he was active as a amateur photographer, journalist for the photographic periodical press, freelance writer and as a photographer recording his village of Melbourn, Cambridgeshire. He was sub-editor on the British Journal of Photography and editor of Photographic News (which merged with Amateur Photographer) and contributed to the Cambridge Independent Press and Chronicle. The film has been researched and is presented by Dr David Barber. 

See more here: https://rps.org/Salmon

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12201191079?profile=originalPhotographing Protest: resistance through a feminist lens is a new exhibition opening at Four Corners, London, from 18 March, which showcases striking images by photographers from across generations, who have used their cameras to support political struggle and social change in Britain from 1968 to today.

The exhibition centres the voices and perspectives of women and nonbinary photographers, and those who have been making work within a feminist framework, challenging the male-dominated history of protest reportage.

Photographing Protest reveals how images of resistance resonate across generations. The exhibition opens with rarely seen images by activist photographer Sally Fraser, who captured defining social movements of the 1968 era, from the Hornsey Art College student sit-ins to the fiery beginnings of the Women’s Liberation movement. Social protests of the 1980s and 90s are shown through the prolific work of Format, the all-women photo agency: at the Greenham Common women’s peace camp, on the Miner’s strike frontline, at Reclaim the Night marches and more.  Alongside, the exhibition explores  a new generation of photographers engaging with contemporary struggles: anti-racism, LGBTQI+ community rights and climate justice among others, to ask how feminist protest photography can be an agent for today’s political change.

The exhibition is accompanied by a programme of online talks, FEMINISM, PHOTOGRAPHY AND RESISTANCE, produced in collaboration with Kylie Thomas, researcher at the Netherlands Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies (NIOD) in Amsterdam, and the editor of a special issue of MAI: Feminism and Visual Culture journal on photography and resistance (forthcoming). You can read about the full programme by clicking on the link below. 

Photographing Protest: Resistance Through a Feminist Lens
18 March 2022 – 30 April 2022
Four Corners, London
See: https://www.fourcornersfilm.co.uk/whats-on/photographing-protest-resistance-through-a-feminist-lens

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12201181279?profile=originalBringing together insights from environmental history and photographic history, this lecture will focus on climate and weather as subjects understood in and through photographic images, and the ways in which weather and climate shape the very possibility of photography in the first place. Focussing on specific historical examples, we will explore how weather changes are seen, felt and experienced by people, in relation to the ways in which photography “senses” changes in the atmosphere around it, and also with respect to the emotional atmosphere or collective mood captured by photographs of extreme and unusual weather.

Join Professor Georgina Endfield, Professor of Environmental History, and Professor Michelle Henning, Chair in Photography and Media, for a fascinating illustrated lecture.

Public Lecture Series 2022: Arts, Sustainability and the Climate Crisis
School of the Arts - University of Liverpool
A lens on the weather: historical perspectives on photography and climate
Wednesday 25 May @ 1730-2000 (BST)
Free, book here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/public-lecture-a-lens-on-the-weather-tickets-251299733267

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Webinar: Fashion magazines / 2 March 2022

12201180287?profile=originalFor decades, renowned author and photo critic Vince Aletti has accumulated one of the largest private collections of fashion magazines in North America. Join Ryerson Imaging Centre Director Paul Roth and Aletti in conversation as they discuss his most recent publication, Issues (Phaidon, 2019), which features select seminal issues from his archive. He will speak about the history of photography within this medium, explore the intersection of art and commerce, and describe how photographers from outside of the fashion world influenced the magazines they appeared in.

Vince Aletti is a writer, curator, collector and critic whose work can be found in Aperture, Art + Auction, Photograph, Artforum and Vogue Italia. Formerly a music critic for Rolling Stone, Aletti went on to be the art editor of the Village Voice from 1994–2005 and the paper’s photo critic for twenty years, after which reviewed photography exhibitions for The New Yorker. He has published extensively on the impact of fashion magazines on the history of photography, and won the International Center of Photography’s prestigious Infinity Award for writing in 2005. His most recent book is Issues: A History of Photography in Fashion Magazines (Phaidon, 2019).

Webinar
2 March 2022
1900 (EST) | 0000 (GMT)
Book here:  https://ryerson.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_BtRaXaS9RiKiMH7t8jUrYQ

See details of the book here: https://www.phaidon.com/store/fashion-culture/issues-9780714876788/

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The V&A Museum has appointed Fiona Rogers as the inaugural Parasol Women in Photography curator. Rogers was at  Magnum from 2005 to 2020, ending up as Chief Operating Officer, and most recently she was Director of Photography and Operations for Webber Represents. She will start at the V&A on 7 March 2022. 

She is the founder of Firecracker which was set up in 2011 to promote women, those identifying as women and non-binary working in photography and has been a powerful voice in bringing women in photography to the fore. She also  acts as a trustee of the Martin Parr Foundation and The Peter Marlow Foundation, and advises the Royal Photographic Society. She has authored (with Max Houghton) Firecrackers: Female Photographers (Thames & Hudson, 2017) celebrating contemporary women practitioners.

The Parasol Women in Photography curator was advertised last autumn (see: https://britishphotohistory.ning.com/profiles/blogs/job-and-news-v-a-announces-the-parasol-foundation-women-in-photog

Details of Firecracker can be found here: https://fire-cracker.org/

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12201190256?profile=originalThe Royal Horticultural Lindley Library is seeking an experienced cataloguer to catalogue its extensive collection of analogue photography relating to the history and practice of horticulture, as part of Heritage Lottery funded digitisation project to increase access to its heritage collections. This is a two year, part-time post working 21 hours a week. The photography collection sits within the RHS Heritage Collections and comprises of prints, transparencies, glass negatives and lantern slides, covering horticultural practise and personalities, plant portraits, gardens and gardening. 

Key accountabilities include: cataloguing designated collections to agreed standards using the Library collection management system (currently Axiell CALM); enhancing related documentation, such as accessions and donor records and creating relevant authority files; maintaining good location control; improving housing and storage of collections to conservation standards. 

Salary is £16,000 (£26,600 fte). For a full job description and person specification, please visit https://www.rhs.org.uk/about-the-rhs/opportunities. To apply please complete and return the short online application form to: recruitment@rhs.org.uk.

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12201179659?profile=originalThis workshop delivered by The National Archives, Kew, is designed to develop the knowledge and experience of students undertaking research in material culture, and in particular through the use of visual sources.

Students will learn about the different kinds of records held at The National Archives which can be particularly useful sources for material culture research. These comprise designs, images registered for copyright protection, and other artwork, graphic design and photographs produced or collected by government departments.

Our specialists will guide students through the history and structure of the different collections and explain how best to search and browse the online catalogue to find useful results. Students will also learn how to move between indexes and registers to find specific relevant material.

Attendance options

The National Archives is offering hybrid attendance options for its programme of PAST Skills and Methodology workshops in 2022. This workshop, focusing on visual sources, can be attended at two levels:

  • Online-only workshop: Day 1 - 22 March  (online) only
  • Full hybrid workshop: Day 1 (online) and Day 2 24 March (on site at The National Archives)

Course outline

Day 1 (online) will focus on providing an overview of the kinds of records relevant to material culture research and how they can be used and analysed. It will introduce three key areas of The National Archives visual collections: registered designs, art & graphic design and photographs & film. The day will include demonstrations of the use of Discovery, our online catalogue, and other online resources to access these collections and students will be given practical exercises to tests the knowledge they have acquired.

Day 2 (on site) will  give students the opportunity to handle and work with original records from each of the collections introduced in day 1. The sessions will include practical exercises to familiarise students with the use of indexes and registers to find material within the collections. There will also be an opportunity to hear about the research journeys of other researchers who have worked with The National Archives' visual collections to investigate aspects of material culture history.

At the end of the course, you will understand the range of visual records available at The National Archives and how they can be analysed and applied to the study of material culture. You will also feel confident using online search techniques, and original indexes and registers to find records in the different collections.

This event is aimed at current taught postgraduate and PhD students, but other researchers are welcome. Please get in touch if you fall outside these categories and would like to attend. 

Each day is a full-day workshop, running roughly from 9am to 5pm. Exact timings for the programme will be confirmed and published on this page a week before the workshop.

Details and booking here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/past-skills-methodology-visual-sources-for-material-culture-research-registration-229349258807

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12201178475?profile=originalEric Butler writes...Many people will be aware of the A4 sized paperback book with the pale blue cover, A Faithful Likeness the very informative book by the late Pauline and Bernard Heathcote. It is frequently referenced in publications about early photographers. A Faithful Likeness: The First Photographic Studios in the British Isles 1841 to 1855, has now been made available online by Bromley House Library, Nottingham. It is also accompanied by a five-volume appendix.

Background

Pauline Heathcote, supported by her husband Bernard, became a full-time researcher into early photographers and their studios. In her quest for information, she searched directories and wrote to librarians, archivists, museum curators and even descendants of the photographers. In addition, she also visited newspaper archives, scouring them for announcements, features, and advertisements relating to early photographers and their studios. Bernard and Pauline would travel around the country visiting archives or museums.

Bernard was, justifiably, extremely proud of his wife’s achievements and in 2015, ten years after her death, he donated the Pauline Heathcote Archive to Bromley House Library. The archive contains notes, letters, marriage and death certificates, and a large number of file index cards under the main headings Names, and Places. Today it is difficult to comprehend that such an extensive research archive had been compiled without using the internet. The archive has been available, by appointment, at Bromley House Library since 2015. Only a few people made use of this wonderful resource, possibly because they were familiar with the title A Faithful Likeness, but not with the name Heathcote.

Although published in 2002 and despite the advent of online resources A Faithful Likeness is still relevant today

Now Bromley House has made A Faithful Likeness and its 5 volume appendix available online. This significant publication lists over 800 photographers and the appendices comprise carefully referenced advertisements and editorial comment from newspapers throughout the country, from Aberdeen to York alphabetically. A total of over 600 pages.

Perhaps I should add that Bernard, until his death in 2020, was very protective of Pauline’s work and always insisted on appropriate acknowledgement!

Access the resource here: https://www.bromleyhouse.org/our-photographic-history/

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