March 2023 Blog Posts (29)

The National Portrait Gallery has acquired its most significant colour archive by a woman photographer to date. In 2021, the Gallery purchased the tri-colour separation negatives of Yevonde (1893-1975), making an important commitment to study and celebrate her pioneering work of the 1930s. 

Read the full blog here:…

In 1969 and 1970 a revolution took place in the pages of Architectural Review. An ambitious survey of architecture and town planning in late 1960s Britain, called Manplan, used photographic work by leading photojournalists and street photographers to powerfully articulate the theme of each issue.

Although photography had been integral to…

The latest number of The Classic, the magazine about fine classic photography, is now available in printed form from selected outlets and for free download. It includes features on the Leitz auction house photography specialist; Michael Hoppen Gallery; Conservator Nicholas Burnett's personal collection of photographic processes, Toronto's Image…

Lissa Mitchell has advised of the passing of Bill Main who was an important writer, researcher and collector of New Zealand photography.

Her full appreciation is here:…

The British Library is looking to recruit a full-time Cataloguer of Photographs. This exciting new opportunity is part of the Library’s Hidden Collections initiative to increase access to the 19th and 20th century British and global photographic collections. Working with one of the world’s major collections of historic…

Curator David F. Martin will discuss the work and international achievements of Issei photographers active in Seattle, Washington, in the early 20th century.

He will focus primarily on Soichi Sunami (1885-1971) whose artistic career began in Seattle and continued after he relocated to New York…

A friend from Sunderland has given me an album of thirty cartes de visite assembled in 1888.  The  eleven photographers whose work is represented were located in small towns throughout County Durham. The majority were in Sunderland, probably because this was the county's largest town and a major sea port.  One picture stands out from the rest in that the…

I hope someone here might be able to help. I’m seeking information about the Photographic Information Council, which seems to have existed as a photographic industry promotional body in Britain between the late 1950s and the early 1970s. The Photographic Information Council produced leaflets, organised competitions (including the Junior Photographer of the…

Recent challenges such as the climate crisis have pushed the field to consider how photography shapes and is shaped by the environment. From the mining of natural resources to the effects of mass digital storage, the environmental impact of photography is at the forefront of discussions in photography research, education and practice. In this…

I have a collection of portfolios with photographs by J.F. Langhans.  Each portfolio containsa a group of photographs mounted, with both type and hand written notes, embossed with National Art Library, mostly ecclesiastical garments.  I received confirmation from V&A Museum that they were once part of their collection.  They still have a portfolio of the…

The J. Paul Getty Museum seeks an Assistant Curator of Photographs to become a vital member of a team working with one of the foremost collections of photographs in the United States. The Assistant Curator will play an instrumental role in supporting the collection and its many audiences through acquisitions, exhibitions, original research, and…

New find! Richard Beard Patentee 9th plate Daguerreotype circa 1841 of a young man , the first British portrait photographer, signed by John Goddard on back of plate, with a Thomas Wharton pinch beck designed case with his Royal coat of arms.…

The first major exhibition as part of the National Portrait Gallery’s reopening on 22 June will showcase the ground-breaking work of 20th century British photographer, Yevonde. Supported by the CHANEL Culture Fund, the exhibition will include new prints and discoveries, revealed by the latest research on Yevonde’s colour negative archive, acquired by the…

I have been collecting photographica (1839-1880) for over forty years, and the time has come for me to decide what to do with all the material that I have accumulated, which amounts to over 700 daguerreotypes and ambrotypes, and a host of fine cdvs, albumen prints, family albums, and so on.

I have no heirs and I am not a keen salesman, so I reached an…

The photographer Dorothy Bohm has died aged 98 years after a short illness, just a few months short of her 99th birthday. A public celebration of Dorothy’s life and work will follow on the afternoon of Sunday 25 June, to mark what would have been her 99th birthday.

Obituary to follow. 

Read more about…

The latest RPS Historical Group talk, 'W. & D. Downey, Photographers: The Road to Balmoral,' was recorded and is now available to view online. It includes the discovery of Downey's Crystal Palace Portrait Gallery that toured villages in Northumberland in 1856, how the company utilised early photography networks in the North East of England and…

Thomas Begbie is known mainly because of the discovery of a cache of glass plate stereos in St James Square Edinburgh in 1955. These stereos from the late 1850s, the work of Alexander McGlashon, were incorrectly assumed to have been the work of Begbie. This post attempts to tease out what is known of Begbie

Census and other registration records point to him being born in 1841, (e.g. the 1901 census taken on 31st March gives his age as 59).…

Born 12th March 1872, photographer and writer Percy R. Salmon FRPS donated items to the Royal Photographic Society Museum in 1950. Now part of the V&A collection, one photograph, a collodion portrait dated around 1860, has been catalogued.

Discover more in a new blogpost at…

As many of you know, the Photographic History Research Centre at De Montfort University supports the following websites:…

For roughly 150 years, people have been accustomed to seeing photomechanical prints on a daily basis. Prints exist in a variety of milieus with multiple variations over time, use, and geography. Historic and contemporary examples are prevalent in museums, libraries, archives, and personal collections worldwide. Photomechanical…