The British Journal of Photography's blog reports more on the NMeM's London presence and takes a little further the comment posted here in January. The BJP notes that three spaces have been allocated at London's Science Museum: one for large scale exhibitions, one for smaller scale exhibitions and a retail space, and will open in 2011.
The museum will not confirm details but hope to make an annoucement later this year. The BJP's blog report can be read here and a fuller report will be in next week's issue of the magazine.
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The two shortlists have been announced for the 2009 And/or Book Awards, the UK’s leading prizes for books published in the fields of photography and the moving image. A winner from each category will share a prize fund of £10,000. They will be announced during an awards ceremony at the BFI Southbank, London, on Thursday 23 April.
The shortlisted titles for the 2009 And/or Photography Book Award are:
• Brought to Light: Photography and the Invisible, 1840-1900 by Corey Keller, Jennifer Tucker, Tom Gunning and Maren Gröning (Yale University Press)
• From Somewhere to Nowhere: China’s Internal Migrants by Andreas Seibert (Lars Müller)
• Susan Meiselas: In History edited by Kristen Lubbin (Steidl)
• The World from my Front Porch by Larry Towell (Chris Boot)
The shortlisted titles for the 2009 And/or Moving Image Book Award are:
• Photography and Cinema by David Campany (Reaktion Books)
• Fight Pictures: A History of Boxing and the Early Cinema by Dan Streible (University of California Press)
• Performing Illusions: Cinema, Special Effects and the Virtual Actor by Dan North (Wallflower Press)
Over 150 titles were submitted across the two categories for the awards, which have been narrowed down to a final seven books by the two judging panels chaired by Martin Parr (Photography) and Mike Dibb (Moving Image). The judges were looking for works which make a significant contribution to the understanding of photography and/or the moving image and which use photographs as more than a means of illustration.
The photography shortlist includes: a book which steps back to a time when the new visual technologies of photography, x-rays and microscopes captivated scientists and the public alike; a photo essay by Andreas Seibert investigating the lives of China’s internal economic migrants; an in depth look at Susan Meiselas’ esteemed career in socially engaged documentary photography; Larry Towell’s personal photo album comparing his family life in rural Ontario with his photojournalist work the world beyond. Martin Parr comments: “It is reassuring that despite the internet and the credit crunch, so much effort and care goes into the making of these books, all of which reflect the application and passion of individual photographers or curators.”
The moving image shortlist includes: David Campany’s missing history of the connections and influences between photography and cinema; a revelatory investigation into the importance of boxing films in early cinema by Dan Steible; Dan North’s exploration of the essential role of illusion to the process of movie making. Mike Dibb comments: “When I first worked in cinema there were so few books available on the subject, now I am amazed that there are so many. We all agreed on the shortlisted titles though, which all demonstrate insightful academic analysis, written clearly and without jargon.”
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Note has already been made of this exhibition under 'Events'. A review has appeared in The Independent newspaper on 25 March and written by Hannah Duguid and a small part is reproduced below. The exhibition is open until 19 April.
It took Thomas Annan three years to take 31 photographs inside the city centre slums of Glasgow during the late 1860s. Only rarely did the pale Scottish sun provide the light he needed for his large plate camera. Conditions may have been appalling but Annan very subtly tells us that the people were not.
In Close No 101, High Street, Glasgow, a pair of trousers hangs from a washing line strapped across the street. They are tatty – there's a hole in the leg – but they are clean. It was difficult to get water in the slums yet the people are able to uphold the Victorian ideal that cleanliness is next to godliness.
The ghostly face of a young boy – his face blurred by the long exposure – peeps out from a shabby doorway. Child mortality was high, and he is a reminder of all the dead children, but there is hope for him: the street leads down towards an opening filled with light. It is an exit; there is a way out.
The photograph belongs to the Scottish National Galleries, which is celebrating the 25th anniversary of its photography collection...
The full article can be seen here:
25 years of photography: Celebrating the anniversary of the national collection, National Gallery Complex, Edinburgh from The Independent
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The British Library has put online an exhibition of photographically illustrated books. The development of photographically illustrated books parallels the explosion in communications technology during the 19th century. In a period of unprecedented advances in science, exploration, travel, tourism and industry, photography provided an exciting, innovative and accurate alternative to conventional methods of book illustration, such as woodcuts, etchings and engravings. Click here to take a look.Read more…
An unparalleled collection of documents and photographs charting the development of photography from a gentlemen’s pursuit to a mass popular pastime has been donated to the British Library and De Montfort University.
The Kodak Ltd Archive, dates back more than 120 years and represents a treasure trove of primary material for historians and researchers of the history of photography.
Kodak Ltd’s British company archives have been handed to the British Library and its research department’s library of important photographic journals to De Montfort University in Leicester.
The earliest items in the archive date back to 1885, when the Kodak Company – a subsidiary of the US-based Eastman Kodak Company – opened its first UK offices in Soho Square, London. It adds to the already outstanding photographic collections of the British Library, which hold around half a million photographs dating from the birth of the medium up to the present and which will be staging a major exhibition showcasing these collections in October 2009.
The archive includes financial ledgers dating back to the company’s earliest years in the UK, advertising photographs and original line drawings used in advertising campaigns, Kodak publications including catalogues, newsletters and calendars, correspondence and minutes of meetings, photographs of buildings and employees and research reports dating back to 1928. Books and journals from the archive, which are largely duplicates of items already held by the British Library, are to be donated to De Montfort University, Leicester, which is this year launching a Masters degree in Photographic History and Practice.
The archive was formed in 1977, when the holdings of the Kodak Museum (established 1927) were divided between items of significance to the history of photography generally and those relating to the history of the Kodak Company (The Kodak Ltd Archive). The former items – including photographs, photographic apparatus, products and processes – were donated to the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television at Bradford in 1985.
John Falconer, Head of Visual Materials at the British Library, said, “The Library is delighted to acquire such a significant collection as the Kodak Ltd Archive – which we will make available to researchers in our St Pancras Reading Rooms in perpetuity. It will form a unique resource for the study of the growth and development of photography as a professional tool and popular amusement from the 1890s onwards.”
Chairman & Managing Director of Kodak Limited, Julian Baust said “The earliest items in the Kodak Ltd Archive date from around 1885 when the first Kodak offices were opened in Soho Square. The Archive contains some excellent photographs from Kodak’s history. Kodak Limited is very excited to be relocating our valuable archive over to The British Library, where it will be available to historians and researchers alike.”
Dr Gerard Moran, Dean of DMU’s Art and Design Faculty, said: “De Montfort’s growing reputation as an International Centre in this area of study has been boosted by this generous donation. Postgraduate students at De Montfort University’s Centre for Photographic History will benefit greatly from having immediate access in Leicester to this tremendous resource. I’m grateful to colleagues at Kodak, the British Library and here in the University who have worked very hard to make this happen.”
Amateur Photographer magazine has also run a news story on this with different information. Click here to see.
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Harry Hammond, described as the first great photographer of British rock'n'roll has died aged 88. Hammond chronicled the first decade of that music up to and including the Beatles and the Rolling Stones and photographed every major American star who visited Britain.
A number of exhibitions of his work, including one at the Victoria and Albert Museum, were held from the 1980s. The V&A also acquired his archive.
A full obituary is available here.
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The National Media Museum, Bradford, and National Railway Museum, York, - both part of the National Museum of Science and Industry - are recruiting a Senior Development Executive - Trusts & Public Bodies at a salary of £28,000pa and located in Bardford.
The role is described: A number of exciting capital projects are currently underway at both museums and your role will be to identify and apply to appropriate grant giving bodies to help us reach our aim.
You will help us achieve our goal by contributing to the development and delivery of an effective fundraising strategy. Working with the Head of Development in the North, you will agree on funding priorities, develop action plans and research future prospects, as well as monitor KPI’s and report on progress. You will also build strong relationships with donors, supporters and strategic partners and lead on approaches to trusts, foundations and public bodies.
With a good track record of securing funds in a similar environment, you already know how to maximise opportunities, write funding applications and follow relevant legislation. You’re an experienced project manager too, with the ability to meet deadlines, engage important supporters and make commercially sound decisions. So you’ll quickly help us secure important funding that improves our cultural offering.
Details are available by clicking here. The deadline for applications is 27 March 2009.
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The collections held by the Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge, are among the richest in the world for the study of polar environments. Work began in April 2007 on the Freeze Frame project to capture and preserve its archive of historical images in digital form. This launched on 4 March 2009 and includes some of the most iconic polar images by Herbert Ponting, through to daguerreotypes and modern prints and slides.Click here to visit the website.
Over 20,000 photographic negatives and positives from 1845-1960, representing some of the most important visual resources for research into British and international polar exploration are represented. The work is still on-going so, for example, some of the earliest material from 1845 has yet to be added to the site. The digitisation of related documents - information from personal journals and official reports from expeditions on which these photographs were taken - will provide historical and cultural context for the images.
The Freeze Frame project is developing an online database of freely available visual and textual resources to support learning, teaching and research into topics relating to the history of Arctic and Antarctic exploration and science. Through a series of interpretative web pages and e-learning resources the project will provide access to hidden collections for all educational levels. We will encourage users to discover polar environments through the eyes of those explorers and scientists who dared to go into the last great wildernesses on earth.
Read more…
De Montfort University, Leicester, has launched the course brochure for it's new full-time MA course titled Photographic History and Practice which starts in October 2009. The university is currently recruiting students for what is the only course of it's type within Europe or the United States. A scholarship is available to fund, in part, one place. Full details are due to be announced shortly and will be posted here.
DMU has been active over recent years in making four online photographic databases available which have received international recognition. As exclusively announced the university has been given Kodak's research library which includes nineteenth and twentieth century journals which will further augment the primary source material available for students and for further research. The course brochure can can downloaded as a PDF by clicking here.
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The National Media Museum has praised its collaboration with Flickr, the online photograph sharing website...Joanna Drag reported in the British Journal of Photography.
The full article is available by clicking here. Part of the article is reproduced below:
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Initially started by the US Library of Congress and Flickr in January 2008, the project aims to give the public easier access to thousands of archived photographs while helping the library to categorise them through Flickr’s photo tagging system, in effect harnessing the power of social networks. The initiative was expanded to other institutions such as the National Media Museum in Bradford, who joined The Commons in August 2008.
‘Internally, we felt that the National Media Museum, with its web remit, needed to be in the vanguard of museums on the “social web”, and The Commons fulfilled this aim perfectly,’ says senior online marketing executive for the museum, Peer Lawther. ‘We didn’t want it to be a purely commercial or promotional opportunity but rather an opportunity for us to utilise the vast curatorial knowledge we hold and to use The Commons to show some of the breadth of our holdings.’
Since joining the project, the three initial groups of images made available online by the museum has received over 400,000 views. The groups consist of Peter Henry Emerson’s ‘Pictures from a life in Fields and Fen’ (1887), a selection of Kodak No.1 circular photos (c.1890) and a set of ‘Spirit’ photographs taken by William Hope (c.1920).
‘The Commons has confounded our expectations,’ says Lawther. ‘We’ve been featured on hundreds of blogs, “friended” thousands of fellow photographers and chatted with countless fans about our work. In showing discrete selections from our collection we’ve received a huge amount of goodwill from the community.’
To find photographs or to get more information visit flickr.com/commonsRead more…
The National Media Museum in Bradford has shown an increase of 4 per cent in visitors. The Association of Leading Visitor Attractions survey showed 745,857 people visited the museum in 2008 compared with 2007. The museum, which has had free admission since it first opened in 1983, has seen a gradual increase in visitor numbers over recent years as new galleries have been opened and existing ones refurbished, reversing a previous decline.
A remarkable collection of autochromes, photographs and diascopes by Mary Olive Edis Balsworth (1876-1955), whose self-portrait is shown right, is being offered at auction on 5 March 2009. All of the items have been at Edis's studio and house in Sheringham since her death under the ownership of Cyril Nunn and, until now, rarely seen. The autochomes include a number of rare Canadian scenes.
Nunn died last year and recently Olive's collection of Sheringham and Norfolk photographs and autochromes was acquired by Cromer Museum where they are due to be put on public display later this year. Many of these images were reproduced in Face to Face – Sheringham, Norfolk: The Remarkable Story of Photographers Olive Edis & Cyril Nunn, by Alan Childs, Cyril Nunn and Ashley Sampson (Halsgrove, 2005). A few of the Canadian images are reproduced in black and white and some were reproduced in colour in the e-newsletter for The Photographic Historical Society of Canada (March 2006).
The same auction features material from the estate of Robert 'Bob' Lassam, the former curator of the Fox Talbot Museum at Lacock. The material from Lassam's estate includes photographs from the Kodak exhibitions he helped arrange as well as cameras.
The catalogue is available on line at http://www.dominic-winter.co.uk/. The sale takes place at 5 March at 11am.
Edis was born in 1876, her father was Dr. Arthur Wellesley Edis, professor of gynaecology at UCH and her mother was Mary Edis (neé Murray, the sister of John Murray.) They lived at 22 Wimpole Street, London, where Arthur had a medical practice. Olive had twin sisters, four years younger than her, Katherine and Emmeline. Olive's great uncle was Dr. John Murray (1809-1898), a surgeon with the Bengal Medical Service. He photographed Mughal architecture in India, making some 600 images, often 18 x 14 inches (salted paper prints from paper & collodion negs.), many of which are now in the BL collection. He retired to Sheringham in 1871. His descendents sold their collection at Sotheby's in 1999.
Olive photographed John Murray's daughter Caroline (said to have been her first photograph) in 1900. In 1893, when Olive was 17, her father died and in 1905, Olive & Katherine, as partners, opened a studio at 39 Church Street, Sheringham. Olive used only natural light when making photographs. Her printing, first done by her sister Katherine and later by Lilian Page, included platinotype, sepia platinotype or autochrome. In 1910, Olive's photographs were regularly appearing in the Illustrated London News and in 1912 she started making autochrome images. She became an RPS member in 1913 and in that year won a medal for her autochrome portraits in the RPS exhibition. In 1914 she was elected FRPS and designed an autochrome viewer, known as a diascope, which she patented (GB17132).
Although her income came from her work as a studio portraitist in March 1919 she was commissioned by the National (later Imperial) War Museum to photograph the work of British women in France & Flanders and, at the same time, made deeply moving images of the desolation of war. In 1920 she was asked to undertake a commission to make advertising photographs for the Canadian Pacific Railway and did the work during July to November. The plates were exhibited at the 1921 Toronto Fair, and at the Canadian Pacific Offices in London in 1922, but apart from a few 'seconds' offered here there is no trace of the main body of work. These are probably the earliest known colour images of Western Canada.
In 1928, when she was 52, Olive married Edwin Galsworthy a solicitor and director of Barclays bank. This family connection opened doors into society and she photographed many people of national importance. Olive and Edwin had a residence in 32 Ladbroke Square, London and in Sheringham they moved to a new house in South Street. Olive extended her business to include the printing and sale of real photographic postcards. In 1951 Olive exhibited photographs of fisherman at Sheringham. She died in 1955.
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Since the practical invention of photography in the 1840s, Scotland has been at the centre of the history and development of the medium. The Scottish National Portrait Gallery – which houses the Scottish National Photography Collection – and the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, hold outstanding collections of photographic art spanning three centuries. Included are figures such as D.O. Hill and Robert Adamson, Julia Margaret Cameron, Thomas Annan, Alfred Stieglitz, Robert Capa, Bill Brandt, Annie Leibovitz and Andreas Gursky. This book offers a detailed guide to the collections as well as an accessible and informative introduction to photography. This revised edition includes recently commissioned photography and significant new acquisitions, with works by Diane Arbus, Cindy Sherman and Robert Mapplethorpe.
The book will be available in March 2009, 224pp, 200 colour illustrations, £9.99.
National Galleries of Scotland
ISBN: 978 1 906270 20 9
The authors:
Dr Sara Stevenson is Chief Curator of the Scottish National Photography Collection, National Galleries of Scotland
Dr Duncan Forbes is Senior Curator of Photography at the National Galleries of Scotland. A nineteenth-century specialist, he also writes on aspects of contemporary photography, with recent articles and reviews appearing in the Oxford Art Journal, History Workshop Journal, Portfolio, History of Photography and Third Text. Recent curatorial projects include Joanna Kane’s ‘Somnambulists’ and Dieter Appelt’s ‘Forth Bridge – Cinema/Metric Space’. He is currently finishing a book on the early Scottish photographer John Muir Wood, titled Holding the World Together Within.
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This is the title of a new publication from the long-established photography dealer and collector Robert Hershkowitz. 2008. The book begins with an introducution to Hershkowitz's relationship with British calotype and salt print photography before illustrating full-page fifty photographs. These range from Roger Fenton, Thomas Sutton, Calvert Jones, Linneaus Tripe, Thomas Keith, Clifford and others. The illustrations do the original prints full justice.
The book, text plus fifty colour plates plus text is available from Robert Hershkowitz Ltd, Cockhaise, Monteswood Lane, Lindfield, Sussex RH16 2QP, England; Phone: +44 (0) 1444 482240; email: prhfoto@btconnect.com; ISBN No. 978-0-9560594-0-6.
The location of Bradford for the National Museum of Photgraphy, Film and Television (now the National Media Museum) was always a bit problematic for Britain's London-centric visitors and arts community - notwithstanding the fact that there are almost as many potential visitors within an hour travel time of Bradford as there are to London. Overseas tourists unless they are persistent are reluctant to take a three hour train ride; scholars wishing to access the museum's collections have no choice. In the early days the museum would ship journalists and guest to exhibition openings by train in dedicated coaches. So it probably wasn't too many years after the museum's 1983 opening that thoughts turned to bringing the collections physically to a London audience in some way. The NMeM's much vaunted 'London presence' which has been discussed formally since at least 2003 still remains on the table in 2009 although a venue has still to be confirmed. Past rumours have centred on Somerset House and even a standalone space.
It seems likely that a space at the Science Museum in Exhibition Road, SW7, has been found which will open by 2011-12. Both museums are part of the National Museum of Science and Industry grouping and there would be benefits in making space available. What is known is that the NMeM is currently working with Event Communications Ltd and Thompson Brand Partners, a Leeds consultancy which undertook the museum's recent rebranding, to produce a masterplan for a London presence.The space under consideration consists of two temporary exhibition galleries totalling 1,000 sq.m. where world-class exhibitions in photography and other media could be staged. A separate entrance would allow the space to operate independently of the Science Museum's opening hours.
Funding remains problematic although the chair of the museum trustees, the James Bond producer Michael G. Wilson, has committed himself to the project and fundraising for it. Larger questions remain about what will be shown. The Science Museum closed its Photography, Cinematography and Optics galleries some years ago and the new space would allow the NMeM to showcase a changing selection objects from these subjects areas in the space. To simply showcase highlights from the collections in London would almost be an admission of defeat about Bradford as a location. What seems more likely is that the space will be used to launch exhibitions of photography in the capital before they transfer to Bradford. There is a considerable market for photography in London that the Science Museum's near neighbour, the Victoria and Album museum is unable to meet and a coordinated programme with the V&A might ensure that photography enjoys a better representation than hitherto.
The NMeM remains tightlipped about precise timings, plans and funding.
Keep watching this space.
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The National Media Museum is seeking a Creative Director - Exhibitions of international calibre to develop and deliver an exciting, enhanced vision for the content of its temporary exhibitions programme, as it delivers on its goal to be the best museum in the world for inspiring people to learn about, engage with and create media. Key to this goal is the ambition to create a showcase gallery in London to raise the profile of the Museum with new audiences in the nation's capital and to further enrich the city's cultural life.
Individuals with outstanding creative talent from any area of the visual arts and media are encouraged to seek further information by visiting the Perrett Laver website at http://www.perrettlaver.com/candidates, quoting reference 0409. Closing date for applications is 5pm on Thursday 12th February 2009.
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The National Media Museum in Bradford has purchased the historically important and unique photograph album, Miniature Edition of Mrs Cameron's Photographs From the Life, 1869 by the eminent British Victorian photographer Julia Margaret Cameron. This acquisition has been made possible through funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund (£10,000) and £5,000 from The Art Fund, the UK’s leading independent art charity. Exclusive details of the content and pictures are given below.
Cameron was presented with her first camera in 1863 at the age of 48. She embraced photography with a passion bordering on obsession, creating an unrivalled collection of portraits characterised by their remarkable intimacy. Cameron is now recognised as one of the most influential figures in the history of photography.
This unique album, the whereabouts of which was previously unknown to Cameron scholars, researchers and the general public, was identified during research undertaken by Philippa Wright, Curator of Photographs at the National Media Museum.
Philippa Wright said: “Acquiring the album is an important addition to the National Media Museum's world class and unrivalled collection of Julia Margaret Cameron’s work. The acquisition will enable us to make accessible a previously privately held object to our visitors, which last year exceeded 735,000 and included international photography scholars.”
Fiona Spiers, Head of Heritage Lottery Fund, Yorkshire and the Humber, said “Over the past 14 years we’ve been helping to keep the UK's collections alive by supporting grants for acquisitions. This particular acquisition is of major significance and will enable this important photograph album to go on public display and enhance the National Media Museum’s existing collection of Cameron’s work."
David Barrie, Director of The Art Fund, said: “This is an extraordinary piece, demonstrating Julia Margaret Cameron’s varied career – not only did she successfully capture eminent figures of her day, she also recorded intimate moments amongst friends and relatives. This album will enrich the National Media Museum’s substantial photographic archive, bringing pleasure to specialist researchers and general visitors alike. We are delighted to be able to continue our support of the Museum with this acquisition.”
The National Media Museum will conserve and make digital copies of the album, preserving it for future generations. There are plans for the album to appear as part of an interactive display in the Museum and permanent access to the album and the Museum’s collection will be available via the Museum’s research facility, Insight.
The National Media Museum holds the largest and most comprehensive collection of Cameron's work, consisting of photographs, ephemera and letters, including her hand written autobiography 'Annals of My Glass House,' and the original lens from her camera.
Since the National Media Museum opened in 1983, The Art Fund has given £430,722 towards new additions to its collections, including two other sets of works by Julia Margaret Cameron.
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The album is titled:
Miniature Edition of Mrs Cameron’s Photographs From the Life, 1869 by Julia Margaret Cameron for her Son Hardinge Hay Cameron, and contains the following images:
1. John Frederick William Herschel, 1867
2. Adolphus Liddell, 1867 (Previously unknown image)
3. Young Astyanax. (Freddy Gould), 1866 ( In the Iliad ( Sir John Herschel’s translation published in 1866), Astyanax is the Son of Hector.
4. (as you look at the album page:
Top left - Blessing and Blessed, (Mary Hillier and Freddy Gould), 1865
Top right – La Madonna Esaltata / Fervent in prayer (Mary Hiller and Percy Keown), 1865
Center – La Madonna Aspettante / Yet a little while (Freddy Gould and Mary Hillier)
Bottom left - The Beauty of Holiness ( Freddy Gould), 1866
Bottom right – The Turtle Doves (Alice Keown and Elizabeth Keown), 1864
5. Charles Darwin, 1868
6. right: Sappho (Mary Hillier), 1865
left: The Wild Flower (Mary Ryan), 1867
7. right- Henry Taylor, Study of King David, 1865 -66
left – Marie Spartali, 1868
8. My Niece Julia [Jackson], 1867
A new website has been launched which provides images and previously unpublished information about British camera manufacturing companies and their products. The site can be accessed here: www.earlyphotography.co.ukRead more…
Alison Morrison-Low wrote a review of this book for the Times High Education Supplement which can be found by clicking here
The first part of the review is below. The exhibition on which the book is based will be at the Albertina in Vienna from 20 March and should be worth visiting.
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A lavish catalogue illuminates the secrets of scientific photography, says A.D. Morrison-Low
The conjunction of photography and science has had something of a history, but perhaps not one that has been explored enough. Photography, after all, is the art form (though there are many in the art world who would deny that it is an art form) that was born of optical science married to chemistry in the late 1830s - in France by Louis-Jacques-Mande Daguerre, and in England by William Henry Fox Talbot. Brought to Light: Photography and the Invisible, 1840-1900 is the sumptuously illustrated catalogue of an exhibition of the same name which, after a lengthy run in late 2008 in San Francisco, will be at the Albertina museum in Vienna from 20 March until 6 June.
The first such exhibition of historic photographs of scientific importance was held more than 20 years ago at what was then the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television (now the National Media Museum) in Bradford, and named, along with its accompanying book, Beyond Vision. Written by Jon Darius,...Read more…
The collections held by the Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge, are among the richest in the world for the study of polar environments. Work began in April 2007 on the Freeze Frame project to capture and preserve its archive of historical images in digital form. This launched on 4 March 2009 and includes some of the most iconic polar images by Herbert Ponting, through to daguerreotypes and modern prints and slides.Click here to visit the website.
Over 20,000 photographic negatives and positives from 1845-1960, representing some of the most important visual resources for research into British and international polar exploration are represented. The work is still on-going so, for example, some of the earliest material from 1845 has yet to be added to the site. The digitisation of related documents - information from personal journals and official reports from expeditions on which these photographs were taken - will provide historical and cultural context for the images.
The Freeze Frame project is developing an online database of freely available visual and textual resources to support learning, teaching and research into topics relating to the history of Arctic and Antarctic exploration and science. Through a series of interpretative web pages and e-learning resources the project will provide access to hidden collections for all educational levels. We will encourage users to discover polar environments through the eyes of those explorers and scientists who dared to go into the last great wildernesses on earth.
