Today's (Saturday) Financial Times newspaper FT Weekend magazine takes a five-page look at the RPS Collection at the V&A Museum in an extensive survey by Liz Jobey titled A rummage through the V&A’s new photography collection. In the piece curator Martin Barnes describes the RPS Collection coming to the V&A; 'with only about two per cent of it digitised and catalogued'. 

Sadly, the FT is behind a firewall but the link below will take you there to subscribe or, alternatively, buy the print edition of the newspaper today:

https://www.ft.com/content/f98c4860-0096-11e8-9650-9c0ad2d7c5b5

This is a visual resource made on the basis of a selection of 101 photographs from the collection of the Center for Image Research and Diffusion (CRDI) that are considered relevant. All of them are photographs that stand out for a particular aspect: for its visual content, its aesthetics, its historical relevance, its uniqueness or its exceptional nature as a photographic object. Its visualization, in an individualized way and outside of the production context, largely allows the release of meanings because the initial functionality is overcome by the interpretation and reinterpretation of each viewer.

Visit the website here: http://www.girona.cat/sgdap/101fotos/eng/index.php

This presentation outlines my new research project, which will investigate practices of technical innovation in the work of the Ilford Ltd. Photographic company and early colour photography enterprises during WWI and in the interwar period. Innovations include the introduction of daylight loading roll film and Ilford Special Rapid Panchromatic Plates (1915), the introduction of HP and infra-red films in the early 1930s, the introduction of colour film processes such as Dufaycolor and the early development of multigrade paper in 1939. Also circa 1928 a number of colour photography companies were floated on the stock market, as part of the boom in financial speculation. The Colour Snaps company collaborated with Ilford in 1928-30, although Boots the Chemists  expressed concern about the quality and viability of its process, and the company soon folded.

My research asks how industry archives might provide a source for a materialist history which is concerned not only with empirical description and analysis but with more elusive questions of a changing aesthetic and sensory “economy” in Britain during this period. My first step is to track technical, especially chemical, innovations and gain a sense of their impact on photographic practice across diverse fields. How did these address specific problems or needs such as those arising from war, economic changes, or new business and retail practices? The next step is more difficult: I want to ask how did these feed into the ongoing process by which technical images were being integrated into larger everyday experiences? This involves understanding photography not simply as a prosthetic means for extending human vision, but as something which transforms experience, understanding, sensory engagement with the world, habit and behaviour.  For this paper, I will discuss some aspects of the archive, aspects of existing studies of photographic companies (Kodak, Corbis, Polaroid and others) and outline some of the key theoretical approaches that might help us unpick the question of transformation of sensory experience.

Michelle Henning is a writer and artist, and is Professor of Photography and Cultural History at the University of West London. She writes on photography, modernism, new media, and museums. Her latest book is Photography: The Unfettered Image (forthcoming Routledge, 2018).

Photographic History Research Centre, De Montfort University, Leicester
Clephan Building, room CL2.02b, Mondays 5.00-6.30pm
Open to all

See: https://photographichistory.wordpress.com/2018/01/26/february-5-2018-research-seminar-in-cultures-of-photography/

Image: Plate labelling at Ilford limited c.1960.  Redbridge Borough Council Archive

Senior Curator International Art (Photography) at Tate Modern, London, Simon Baker, has been appointed director of the Maison Européenne de la Photographie, in Paris, effective from 24 January 2018. He succeeds Jean-Luc Monterosso, director and founder of the institution, whose term ends on 31 March, 2018. Monterosso has run the Maison Européenne de la Photographie since it opened in 1996 and was also the founder in 1978, with Henry Chapier, Francis Balagna and Marcel Landowski, from the Paris Audiovisual Association that foreshadowed the creation of the MEP.

Preselected by a jury chaired by Jean-François Dubos (president of the Maison Européenne de la Photographie) and made up of Xavier Canonne (director of the Charleroi Photography Museum), Alain Fleischer (director of the Fresnoy - National Studio of Contemporary Arts), Françoise Gaillard (vice-president of the Board of the MEP), Jean-Louis Milin (treasurer of the board of the MEP), Agnès Sire (general secretary of the Board of the MEP) and three representatives of the City of Paris, Baker's appointment  has been approved by the Board of Directors of the Maison Européenne de la Photographie.

A Ph.D. in art history, a graduate of the University College of London (UCL), he was a professor of Art History at the University of Nottingham (2004-2009). He joined Tate Modern in 2009 as a curator at the International Photography and Art Department, before being senior curator of the same department in 2015, rethinking Tate's strategy of acquisition, conservation and orientation of exhibitions.

At Tate, Simon Baker has directed major exhibitions including those devoted to Boris Mikhailov, Sirkka-Liisa Kontin, Guy Bourdin, Yutaka Takanashi, Bernd and Hilla Becher. Recently, Salt and Silver (2015), Nick Waplington / Alexander McQueen: Working Progress, Performing for the camera and The radical Eye: Modernist Photography from the Sir John Elton Collection (2016) were among the most recognized.

Baker was Tate’s first Curator of Photography. Since his appointment in 2009 he has worked on acquisitions, displays of the permanent collection and exhibitions at both Tate Modern and Tate Britain, and in advisory roles for Tate St Ives and Tate Liverpool. Major exhibitions on which he has worked include William Klein + Daido Moriyama (2012) and Conflict, Time, Photography (2014). He has also been responsible, with colleagues, for establishing and running the Photography Acquisitions Committee and thereby overseeing the strategic expansion of Tate’s collection of photographs.

This month it was announced that Tate Modern's Assistant Curator of photography since 2011, Shoair Mavlian, had been appointed Director of Photoworks. Last October Kate Bush was appointed Adjunct Curator of Photography at Tate Britain. 

See more here:  www.mep-fr.org

Photographic historian Pete James discusses the early history of photography in Birmingham, with reference to its use as a means of surveillance by the Birmingham Police Force in the nineteenth century, and in relation to Edmund Clark’s exhibition at Ikon. The talk takes place at Steelhouse Lane Lock-up in collaboration with West Midlands Police Museum.

Please note access is via a spiral staircase.

Book online or call Ikon on 0121 248 0708. Please note that online booking closes at 5pm on Wednesday 7 March.

See more here: https://ikon-gallery.org/event/in-the-frame/?platform=hootsuite

In the Frame
Wednesday 7 March 2018 / 6.00pm — 8.00pm
Steelhouse Lane Lock-up
Steelhouse Lane, Birmingham B4 6NW

The Science Museum's Spring Research Seminar Series is open to students, museum professionals and academics with an interest in research relating to material culture and museums. The series starts on 16 January and runs through until 24 April. All seminars take place between 13:00–14:00 in the Dana Study or Studio, Dana Research Centre and Library, 165 Queen’s Gate, London SW7 5HD.

Of particular interest to BPH readers on 10 April Geoffrey Belknapp, curator of Photography and Photographic Technology at the National Science and Media Museum, Bradford, will talk about  ‘The Print after Photography – Talbot and the Invention of the Photographic Print’

Booking is not required and feel free to bring a packed lunch to eat during the seminar.

Tuesday, 23 January 2018 at 1800
Royal Philatelic Society, 41 Devonshire Place, London, W1G 6JY
Click here to book or to see more: http://rps.org/events/2018/january/23/colin-ford-lecture-series

Celebrating beach photography by some of Britain’s most popular photographers, featuring Tony Ray Jones, David Hurn and Simon Roberts and new work by Martin Parr at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, London. 

The exhibition will explore our changing relationship with the seaside over the last six decades and will hold up a critical and affectionate mirror to a quintessentially British experience, captured by photographers who share a mutual love of the seaside. The Great British Seaside will include images from the archival collections of each of the photographers, new films, and new work by Martin Parr. 

Read more at https://www.rmg.co.uk/see-do/great-british-seaside

Image: Herne Bay, Kent, 1963 / David Hurn/Magnum

From April 2018, two photography exhibitions at The Lightbox gallery and museum in Woking will display a rarely-seen, carefree side to the iconic artist, Pablo Picasso. In the Upper Gallery, Lee Miller: Picasso Portraits will depict Picasso enjoying the company of a lifelong friend, while a fascinating selection of never-before-seen photographs will show the artist on holiday in Four Days with Picasso, in the Art Fund Prize Gallery.

Lee Miller: Picasso Portraits (14 April – 17 June 2018) will consist of thirty portrait images of Picasso taken over a period of over three decades by Lee Miller, American model, turned Surrealist photographer. Miller first met Picasso around 1929 but their friendship really began from 1937 onwards when they became romantically linked and Miller became a temporary muse for Picasso. Their friendship was to endure until the artist’s death in 1973 and Miller’s husband, Roland Penrose, became a champion of Picasso’s work.

Picasso is often presented in photographs as a somewhat fearsome figure, his fierce stare was famous. However, many of the images selected for the exhibition have been chosen for their easy intimacy; portraits of off-duty Picasso, less work – more play. Miller got the sort of access only close friends and confidants ever get, the photographs show that Picasso was entirely comfortable and fully trusted her.

Also included in the exhibition are shots of Picasso’s famously chaotically messy studios, portraits alongside other artist friends and holiday snaps.

Alongside this, Four Days with Picasso (10 – 29 April 2018) tells the remarkable story of a chance encounter on the beach of Antibes, France in the summer of 1954, between the amateur British photographer Stanley Stanley and Picasso. The two men hit it off and Picasso invited Stanley to spend time at his nearby villa.

Stanley spent several days with Picasso, his family and circle of friends, and during this period the artist allowed Stanley to record the visit in a series of photographs. What resulted was a sequence of images which are magical in their informality and which are being publicly displayed for the first time in this exhibition.

These exhibitions will be running to complement the Main Gallery exhibition Picasso: Paper and Clay (17 March – 24 June 2018), celebrating 70 years of Picasso’s work, showcasing his boundary-pushing creativity in drawing, printmaking and ceramics.

Visitor Information: The Lightbox is situated in Woking (25 minutes from London Waterloo by train) open Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday 10.30am – 5.00pm, Thursday 10.30am – 9.30pm and Sunday 11.00am – 4.00pm. For more information please visit www.thelightbox.org.uk or call 01483 737800.

Image: © Lee Miller Archives

A display of Walter Benington's photographic portraits, which include leading members of Oxford and Cambridge Universities as well as renowned figures such as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Albert Einstein.

Oxford, Bodleian Library

Opening times:
Monday to Friday 9am-5pm
Saturday 9am-4.30pm
Sunday 11am-5pm

Weston Library Information desk - 01865 277094

See: http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/whatson/whats-on/upcoming-events/2018/jan/walter-benington

While stocks last, John Hannavy is offering a limited number of copies of his 2015 book The Victorian Photographs of Dr. Thomas Keith and John Forbes White to BPH readers at half the published price.

To order a copy at £10 + P&P (instead of the listed £20 + P&P), contact john@johnhannavy.co.uk quoting ‘BPH1855’.  Currently the cost of 2nd class postage to the UK, with the book in a sturdy jiffy bag, will be £3. Postage outside the UK will be added at cost.

Originally published in 2015 in a limited edition of 500 copies you can read more about the content here: http://britishphotohistory.ning.com/profiles/blogs/publication-thomas-keith-and-john-forbes-white

Explore London after dark in a new, evocative photography exhibition at the Museum of London, opening in 2018.

Fusing portraiture, documentary, conceptual photography and film, London Nights will reveal the city after dark through photographs ranging from the late 19th century to the present day. Drawing from the Museum's extensive collection and loaned works, 50 artists, including Alvin Langdon Coburn, Bill Brandt, Rut Blees Luxemburg and Nick Turpin, will be represented through over 200 works.

London Nights will take visitors on a dramatic, nocturnal study of the capital. From the unexplored to the imagined, from Soho to Sydenham, see stunning images of a city illuminated by limited natural and artificial light. Uncover the more threatening side of night-time London, and see how Londoners work, rest and play when the sun goes down in one of the biggest metropolises in the world.

If you are visiting as a group of 10 or more, please book your visit in advance using the group booking form. Groups receive discounted exhibition tickets and can also book an introductory tour with the exhibition curator. Visit the group visits page for more information.

See more here: https://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/museum-london/whats-on/exhibitions/london-nights

Image; George Davison Reid

John Hannavy's collection of Victorian photography and photographic ephemera is being put up for auction in the spring. The collection comprises, amongst other things, the largest collection of thermoplastic Union Cases in the UK – including many by John Smith, the only known British union case manufacturer – hundreds of cased and framed inages from the 1840s to the 1860s, a collection of Roger Fenton's Crimean War images (below), some of Francis Frith's views of the Nile Valley, and a rare Julia Margaret Cameron print titled ‘ ove’ with provenance back to Cameron’s daughter.

Hannavy has been collecting 19th and early 20th century photographca for over forty years. As well as providing illustrations for several of his books, the collection served as a teaching aid in his academic career at the University of Bolton, where he was Professor in Photography and Photographic History. The collection is being sold as his interests have moved to industrial archaeology and heritage.  

Amongst the early daguerreotypes which will be included in the sale is a pair of very rare framed portraits by Berlin photographer Gustave Oehme – the one illustrated here (above, right) is identified as Louise Brause, the other is of her sister. Oehme is believed to have been taught the process by Daguerre himself. Daguerreotypes by Kilburn, Mayall, Claudet, and others, and a rare stereo daguerreotype showing the interior of the Great Hall of the 1855 Exposition Universelle in Paris are also to be sold. 

 Many of the items to be included in the auction are illustrated in John’s 2005 book Case Histories – the Presentation of the Victorian Photographic Portrait, published by the Antique Collectors’ Club.

 The sale will be held at Dominic Winter Auctioneers in Cirencester on 9 March 2018. More information will be available from the auctioneers in due course: http://www.dominic-winter.co.uk/

Image: Roger Fenton, Chasseurs d'Afrique. 

The Faculty of Humanities at the University of Amsetrdam provides education and conducts research within a strong international framework and in a large number of disciplines in the field of language, history, and culture. Located in the heart of Amsterdam, the Faculty maintains close ties with cultural institutions in the capital city and beyond.

Based within the Faculty of Humanities, the four-year Graduate Programme in Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage is the sole programme for conservation in the Netherlands. It offers a two-year Master in Conservation Studies in one of nine conservation specializations. The master programme is followed by a two-year Post-master phase that leads to the qualification of conservator.

The faculty invites applications for the part-time position of Lecturer in Photograph Conservation to teach master and post-master students photograph conservation.

Job description

The successful candidate will collaborate with the Programme’s current lecturer in photograph conservation and will build upon and teach theory and practical coursework in photograph preservation and conservation, history of photography, and materials and techniques in photography. He/she will also teach an introduction to photograph conservation in the BA minor programme as well as photograph identification and preservation to students in related fields of conservation such as book and paper conservation and contemporary art conservation. The candidate will supervise photograph conservation treatment and research projects and provide mentoring and advice to the students during their 4 years of study.

The photograph conservation lecturer will actively participate in the activities of the department, including:

• coordination of and lecturing in the object-based hands-on classes in photograph conservation;
• organization of and coordination of the guest lecturers involved in the programme;
• supervision and mentoring of the research and hands-on projects in photograph conservation;
• up-keeping and maintaining the photograph conservation laboratory and the photography documentation studio;
• building client relations in regards to internships and acquisition of photographs for student hands-on sessions and research;
• serving on department and university committees, participating in department and university events, and advancing the department's public outreach initiatives.

Requirements

• MA degree or higher in photograph conservation, which may include certificates from internationally recognized academic conservation programs;
• evidence of ability and commitment to teaching photograph conservation at the graduate level;
• advanced experience and skills in the conservation of photographic materials of all kinds;
• evidence of scholarly work such as published research and lectures on relevant conservation issues at (international) conferences;
• fluency in English (oral and written);
• well-developed communication skills; evidence of ability to work co-operatively and collegially within an interdisciplinary work environment;
• the ambition to learn Dutch.

Further information

For further information candidates may contact:

• Clara von Waldthausen, Programme Director and Lecturer in Photograph Conservation
  Website Clara von Waldthausen
  T: +31 (0)6 11378974

Appointment

The appointment is for a period of 3 years, for 19 to 25 hours per week. The gross monthly salary will range from €2,588 (scale 10) to €4,757 (scale 11) per month, based on a full-time appointment (38 hours per week). The Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities is applicable.

Job application

You may send a letter of application, including a detailed curriculum vitae and two names of referees, to Prof. Maarten van Bommel, Professor of Conservation Science via secretariaat-cenr@uva.nl. Please state  job vacancy number 17-657 in the subject field. #LI-DNP

Tony Richards has recently written on his blog about a little known resource, The Strines Journal, compilied by Joel Wainwright and John M. Gregory, 1852-1856.

The monthly journal, produced in manuscript as a single copy only, records events in Strines and Marple, and wider occurrences, with articles on scientific, industrial and literary subjects. It is illustrated with watercolours, pen-and-ink drawings, and photographs. Joseph Sidebotham contributed drawings, photographs, and articles. Through him the editors were introduced to James Nasmyth, who contributed an article on the Moon, and there were several other notable contributors.

There are five bound volumes in total, plus an extraordinary issue on the occasion of Joel Wainwright’s marriage in May 1856. These volumes are now in the Rylands Collection at The John Rylands Library, University of Manchester.

Read Tony's full blog posting here and see links to the fully digitised five volumes. 

The Photographic Collections Network is a new organisation established to save and share the UK’s visual photographic history. Arts Council England has generously supported the PCN as a Subject Specialist Network.

The steering group includes The Victoria & Albert Museum, The Royal Photographic Society, Photography and the Archive Research Centre and the National Science + Media Museum. The website and individual membership were successfully launched in November 2017.

The PCN is now soliciting individual member and recruiting founding supporters. Find out more and join on the werbsite. See more at: www.photocollections.org.uk

Just after last week’s weekly BPH blog reminder email had been sent out Lacy Scott and Knight (LSK), an auction house based in Bury St Edmunds, made contact to let me know that there were four lots of photographic interest coming up for auction on Saturday, 9 December. A quick look suggested they were important early material relating to Alfred Swaine Taylor (AST) (right). Their provenance of Thorne Court, an estate in Bury St Edmonds, confirmed this. Alfred Swaine Taylor's only daughter Edith, married Fred Methold, of Thorne Court, near Bury St Edmunds, and moved there in 1865. The information was duly posted on Wednesday.

One lot included some particularly valuable images, two Mayall stereo daguerreotypes, which I advised LSK that should be described in more detail, although they did appear in the catalogue pictures. More images were supplied to me.  The outcome of the auction was that the four lots sold considerably in excess of their estimates and totalled some £13,950 (£17,298, including 20% buyer’s premium and VAT). My own bids which had been left online, as I was attending the French early paper negatives conference in Paris, were exceeded very easily.  The buyer at this stage is unknown but had an agent bidding in the room on the day.

There is more to the story. A lot sold the previous week in a general sale at LSK also came from Thorne Court. In some ways it was even more interesting than the four on Saturday. It was listed as ‘A large quantity of unframed pictures and prints, to include; etchings, engravings, photographs, monochrome copies etc’. It contained a series of some thirty photographic images, both negatives and positives, camera views and copies of engravings. Many of these were initialled ‘C.T.’, which is very likely to be Caroline Taylor, AST’s wife (left). One other item in the lot was initialled ‘A.S.T.’ suggesting the respective initials indicated ownership or authorship. The earliest photographic image was captioned ‘King's College Chapel, Cambridge, 26 July, 1839’ another was a photogenic drawing of a plant, dated August 1839 (below, left).  One image (below, right) shows a photograph of an engraving cut in to three, with two annotated as ‘restored’ which is discussed in John Werge’s The Evolution of Photography (1890). Werge clearly knew AST and described him (p.106) as ‘a man of remarkable energy and versatility’. Other images included Calotype views of Paris dated 1850 and, again, initialled ‘C.T.’and an image also reproduced as figure 2 in Alt’s paper.

So, the lot included a series of very early images made within eight months from Talbot’s announcement of his photogenic drawing process in January 1839. It may also include work by one of the first women photographers, certainly the first outside of Talbot’s immediate circle, if the initials indicated authorship. Although the condition of many of the images was poor the lot sold for £4700 (£5828, including 20% buyer’s premium and VAT).

Taylor was discussed in two articles in History of Photography by Stephen White (July-Sept, 1987) and Laurence Alt (Winter, 1992) and AST has an entry in Taylor, Impressed by Light (Yale, 2007).

Lot descriptions from LSK

3457 (9 December 2017). *A pair of Victorian daguerreotype portraits of ladies, in gilt surrounds, housed in later velvet lined bakelite case in the form of a book, 5.5 x 5cm; together with various other Victorian daguerreotypes, mostly in fitted leather cases with hand-written annotations (12) Condition Report / Extra Information Two stereoscopic daguerreotypes - both labelled verso for Mayall's and of Edith C Taylor, both grubby otherwise good. Pair of small bakelite cased portraits - good. Daguerreotype of Edith Taylor with Emily, with numerous white spots on plate, otherwise good, annotated verso. two matching portraits of women, both corroding around all sides, one worse than the other. The last three framed portraits all good.

3456 (9 December 2017). *A Victorian hand-coloured daguerreotype three-quarter length portrait of a seated gentleman, in fitted J.C. Barrable Photographer red leather case, with hand-written label verso 'Alfred Swayne Taylor' and dated 1859, 12 x 9.5cm; together with four other Victorian portrait daguerreotypes, each in fitted leather cases with hand-written annotations (5)Note: Dr Alfred Swaine Taylor has been considered as the 'father of British forensic medicine' and was an important early pioneer of photography. Condition Report / Extra Information Daguerreotype of Swaine Taylor - numerous spots to glass plate, fine scratch lower left, otherwise good. Daguerreotype of Edith Taylor and her mother, 1847, some dust under glass case, otherwise appears excellent. Three remaining portraits - each with some losses.All annotated verso.

3455 (9 December 2017). *A Victorian hand-coloured daguerreotype three-quarter length portrait of a lady, in fitted leather case, with hand-written annotation 'Mrs Harris, aunt of D.A.S. Taylor, died 1863', together with a lock of her hair, the case with J.C. Barrable Photography, 24 Regent Street label, 12 x 9.5cm; together with four other Victorian hand-coloured daguerreotypes, each in fitted leather cases with hand-written annotations (5) Condition Report / Extra Information All slightly grubby. Hand-coloured. With some fading. Otherwise good.

3454 (9 December 2017). *A Victorian daguerreotype three-quarter portrait of a young girl, in fitted leather case, with hand-written annotation 'Edith C Taylor, aged 3 years, taken by Mayall, 1847', 7.5 x 6cm; together with various other Victorian daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, and over-painted photographic portraits, each in fitted leather cases, many with hand-written and dated annotations (7)Note: Edith Taylor was the daughter of Dr Alfred Swaine Taylor, who has been considered as the 'father of British forensic medicine' and was an important early pioneer of photography. Condition Report / Extra Information The largest with significant mould residue all over.Both 'cabinet portraits' are overpainted, with some fading, otherwise good.Miss Larisa (elderly woman) in very good condition.Family group with losses to edges and some crazing in several areas.Edith Taylor aged 3 - daguerreotype, some minor spots to spots, otherwise good.Small oval female portrait on glass - very good.Small oval male portrait on glass - very good.

1061 (2 December 2017). *A large quantity of unframed pictures and prints, to include; etchings, engravings, photographs, monochrome copies etc

Acknowledgments

With thanks to Darran Green for detailed lot information.

Photographs: Lacy Scott and Knight and Darran Green.

Photographic collections are found in libraries, archives and museums all over the world. Their sensitivity to environmental conditions, and the speed with which images can deteriorate present special challenges. This one day training session is led by Susie Clark, accredited photographic conservator. It is aimed at those with responsibility for the care of photographic collections regardless of institutional context. The day provides an introduction to understanding and identifying photographic processes and their vulnerability, information on common conservation problems and solutions, and the preservation measures that can be taken to prolong the life and accessibility of photographic collections. Contact with real examples of different photographic processes is an important feature of this training session which is therefore limited to only 16 places.

At the end of the day participants will be able to: identify historic photographic processes explain how damage is caused implement appropriate preservation measures commission conservation work.

See more and book here: https://www.westdean.org.uk/study/short-courses/courses/bl34-preserving-historic-photographs

Photographs are found in large numbers in many institutions. These include museums, art galleries, libraries, universities, businesses and newspapers. They are also found in the collections of private individuals. They are a valuable historic, artistic and scientific resource made from many diverse materials and it is easy to damage them by inappropriate conservation and care. Led by Susie Clark, this course will describe the processes and photographic materials which have been commonly used and how to recognise them. It will also examine the problems caused by different processes and the appropriate methods and materials for their conservation and care. The course will include the opportunity to look at practical examples of processes and deterioration. The roles of the environment, biological deterioration, health and safety, storage and handling will also be covered. 

Susie Clark, ACR is an accredited paper and photographic conservator with many years of experience. She was formerly the conservator for a collection of approximately 20 million photographs at the BBC Hulton Picture Library (now Getty Images). Since 1990, she has been a freelance paper and photograph conservator and consultant, working throughout Britain and abroad on public and private collections. She has been the conservator for the Collaborative Research Project between the National Media Museum and the Getty Conservation Institute (USA) looking at the characteristics of different photographic processes.

See more and book here: https://www.westdean.org.uk/study/short-courses/courses/m3d07328-conservation-of-photographs

Francis Hodgson's erudite, frequently opinionated and wide-ranging photography blog Writing about Photography carries a fascinating survey of Noel Pemberton Billing and the Compass camera. Although much of the history of the camera, P-B's other inventions and involvement with right-wind politics is known to some of us, they bear repeating. 

Take a look here: https://francishodgson.com/2017/12/06/the-cult-of-the-camera-noel-pemberton-billing-and-the-compass/