Blogs

The Stanley B Burns, MD Medical Photography Collection was sold to Yale University Medical Library in anticipation of Dr Burns developing a specialized medical photography museum. The Washington Post among other papers carried the story. The collection of over 15,000 images (1840-1950) includes numerous British medical photographs including a rare 1874 women's medical school album depicting early women graduates and noted practitioners. The gilt inscribed cover title,  "Mrs. Dr. Fulton, Women’s Medical College London 1874". Among the WWI albums are unusual presentation albums of British wounded soldiers at Russian Grand Duchess George's London hospital's these albums are among the most detailed inscribed albums of identified wounded soldiers in the war. Many photographs of significant British physician images are also in the collection which will be available to the public by Yale University as thery are digitized. Some digitized copies of the images and albums remain available at the Burns Archive.www.burnsarchive.com

Here are two websites announcing the acquisition

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/medical-history-photos-yale/2020/12/18/6330a9f2-3fda-11eb-8db8-395dedaaa036_story.html

Yale News Release

https://news.yale.edu/2020/12/02/newly-acquired-trove-historic-photos-captures-evolution-medicine

As many collectors know finding a proper home for ones collection is very difficult and often a life long search. Yale Medical School Library is the perfect place for my collection as they already have the Harvey Cushing Medical Museum dedicated to neurosurgery, and are well staffed to handle another medical museum. The Yale Medical Library has had a significant collection of medical photography and my collection complements and draws attention to their own holdings. Most importantly the library staff's appreciation of the Burns Collection significance is evident and their dedication to preservation and access is exemplary.

Stanley B Burns,MD,FACS

This webinar series, funded by The National Endowment for the Humanities, is free and open for all to attend. The first three webinars will discuss the various materials and technologies of photographic prints. The next two will teach a methodology and controlled vocabulary for process identification, as well as a demo of how to use Graphics Atlas. The last one will include an overview of collections care for prints and photographs including proper storage, handling and display methods, and guidelines for the storage environment. Watching the webinars as a series is encouraged but not required.

Recordings of the webinars will be made available if you cannot attend.

A Methodology for Process Identification, Part 1 December 13, 2017, 2:00-3:00pm EST Process identification can be overwhelming and daunting.  IPI has developed several tools in order to make this task easier.  This includes a step-by-step methodology and a controlled vocabulary specific to photograph characteristics for identification. This webinar will present the methodology and controlled vocabulary.

Register Here https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/6833136394893109505?source=IPI+Website

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A Methodology for Process Identification, Part 2 January 10, 2018, 2:00-3:00pm EST This webinar will showcase IPI's web resource, www.GraphicsAtlas.org>. It will highlight the new process identification pages launched in December 2016 as well as the new filtered search and controlled vocabulary. IPI staff will demonstrate how these new features can be used toward accurate process ID.

Register Here: https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/1433305048513110273?source=IPI+Website

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Using Identification to Improve Collection Preservation and Access February 14, 2018, 2:00-3:00pm EST The webinar series will culminate with a discussion of preservation and access for photographic collections. This presentation will draw from recent research to include an overview of collections care for prints and photographs, such as proper storage, handling and display methods, and guidelines for a preservation storage environment.

Register here: https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/6542028596811544577?source=IPI+Website

A year ago, in Spring 2015, we launched www.britishphotography.org to showcase our private collection of British photographs and to use the collection as an educational resource. Since then we have acquired several hundred additional photographs by, among others, Ian Berry, John Blakemore, Jane Bown, Bill Brandt, Mat Collishaw, Thomas Joshua Cooper, Fay Godwin, Bert Hardy, Paul Hill, Susan Hiller, Colin Jones, Dafydd Jones, Chris Killip, Neil Libbert, Daniel Meadows, Paul Nash, Edwin Smith, Jo Spence and Homer Sykes.

We have also continued the process of making the collection available on line by adding a significant number of new works to the website.

Where possible we continue to acquire substantial bodies of work and we are delighted to have recently made one of our most significant acquisitions: the entire Daniel Meadows touring exhibition, Daniel Meadows. Early Photographic Works, consisting of over one hundred and thirty works, including framed photographs, screen projections and digital films. This acquisition follows other substantial purchases that include an important group of conceptual self-portraits by Susan Hiller; the entire Anna Fox touring exhibition, Cockroach Diaries and Other Stories; over four hundred photographs and contact prints by Jo Spence and Terry Dennett; and fifty vintage prints of Dafydd Jones's era defining photographs of high-society in the 1980s.

We also commissioned a major new series of photographs by Andrew Bruce and Anna Fox entitled Spitting, a response to the original Spitting Image puppets of Margaret Thatcher and her government ministers that are in our collection.

Sadly, in the year since we launched the website the climate for photography in Britain has worsened: Birmingham Library has closed the inspiring photography department run by Pete James and his colleagues; The National Media Museum in Bradford has announced the end of its commitment to photography; the fate of the Media Space at the Science Museum is uncertain; and Tate Britain remains without a curator of British Photography.

However, we continue to do what we can: acquiring photographs, commisioning work, giving lectures, participating in panel discussions, building the website, and loaning pictures to exhibitions worldwide. We are also in discussions to tour the collection internationally and look forward to announcing other new initiatives in the coming months.

In addition to www.britishphotography.org we can also be followed on twitter and Instagram.

Claire and James Hyman