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De Montfort University's Photographic History Research Centre has published details of its Autumn research seminars in cultures of photography. Seminars are open to everyone. 

Autumn 2012, Tuesdays 4 – 6pm, Edith Murphy Building, De Montfort University, Room number in square brackets.

October 9^th     [EM 1.07]

Dr Steve Edwards (Open University)

Beard Patentee, Claudet Exception: Photography, Biography and Intellectual Property

November 6^th  [EM 1.28]

Professor Clare Anderson (University of Leicester)

Representation, photograph-objects and family albums: visualising the Andaman Islands penal colony, 1858-1939

December 4^th  [EM 1.27]

Kim Timby (Independent Scholar, Paris)

From Mirror to Window: The Promise of Early Lenticular Photography

in conjunction with PHRC’s annual 3-D day]

Any queries, please contact the convener: Professor Elizabeth Edwards, Photographic History Research Centre. E: eedwards@dmu.ac.uk

An AHRC-funded Collaborative Doctoral Award studentship covering stipend and tuition fee costs is offered within the Photographic History Research Centre (PHRC) in the Faculty of Art, Design and Humanities in collaboration with the British Museum.

The project addresses the role of photography and its relationship with other mimetic technologies in field archaeology and the subsequent institutional life of the images in the construction of ‘heritage’. The project also explores the methodological implications for a ‘photographic history’ approach to collections and institutions.

The project will focus on the 1513 magnificent late nineteenth century photographs made of Maya archaeology by Alfred Maudslay, their relationship with other kinds of recording and their subsequent ‘life’ in the Museum. The student will have scope, within the project parameters, to develop an emphasis in photographic history, collections history, history of science, or museum practice in archaeological heritage.

The PhD studentship will be based at PHRC which undertakes leading innovative research on photography and its practices from the early nineteenth century to the present day, and over a wide range of social and cultural processes. It has a dynamic and growing research community and an excellent research library for photographic history. The successful candidate will be expected to contribute to the development of this community and that at the British Museum.

Supervision will be available from Professor Elizabeth Edwards (DMU) and key members of British Museum staff who have active interests in photography, history, archaeology and collections history.  The studentship will be based at DMU, Leicester, with extended London-based periods of study at the British Museum and related archives

Candidates might come from a range of possible disciplines: art history, history of photography, museum and heritage studies, science and technology studies, material culture studies, archaeology, visual anthropology, or visual culture studies. A knowledge of Meso-American archaeology is not a requirement.

PHOTOGRAPHS, MUSEUMS AND ARCHAEOLOGY

Alfred Maudslay, Photography and the Mimetic Technologies of Archaeology: A Study in Method, Process and Effect

Photographic History Research Centre, De Montfort University, Leicester/ British Museum, London

STARTING JANUARY 2013

For a more detailed description of the PHRC please visit our web site or contact

Professor Edwards (eedwards@dmu.ac.uk) who will be happy to discuss the studentship further.

Applications are invited from UK or eligible EU/overseas students  (please check http://www.ahrc.ac.uk/FundingOpportunities/Documents/GuidetoStudentFunding.pdf Annex A for residency requirements) with a good first degree (First, 2:1 or equivalent) and MA in a relevant subject. Applications are welcome from MAs completing 2012. The CDA scholarship is available for three years full-time study starting January 2013, providing a bursary for both maintenance  (currently c. £14,500) and fees.

To receive an application pack, please contact the Faculty Research Office via email at ADHresearch&innovation@dmu.ac.uk.  Completed applications should be returned together with a full CV, two supporting references, a statement explaining your interest in the project, and an example of your written work of c.3000 words.

Please quote ref: AHRC/CDA/PHRC12/2

CLOSING DATE: September 28^th 2012

Interview date:  week beginning October 15 2012

The status of photographs in the history of museum collections is a complex one. From the inception of the medium its double capacity as an aesthetic form and as a recording medium created tensions about its place in the hierarchy of museum objects.  While museums had been amassing photographs since about 1850, it was, for instance, only in the 1970s that the first senior curators of photographs were appointed in UK museums. On the one hand major collections of ‘art’ photography have grown in status and visibility, while photographs not designated  ‘art’ are often invisible in museums. On the other hand almost every museum has photographs as part of its ecosystem, gathered as information, corroboration or documentation, shaping the understanding of other classes of objects. Many of these collections remain uncatalogued and their significance unrecognised. However recent years have seen an increasing interest in the histories of these humble objects, both their role in collections histories and their histories in their own right.

This one-day meeting, a collaboration between MGHG and the Photographic History Research Centre at De Montfort University, Leicester, will explore the substantive and historiographical questions around museum collections of photographs. How do categories of the aesthetic and evidential shape the history of collecting photographs? What are the implications of shifts in these categories? What has been the work of photographs in museums? What does an understanding of photograph collections add to our understanding of collections history more broadly? What are the methodological demands of research on photograph collections?

Abstracts of no more than 250 words, for 25 minute papers, should be sent to Professor Elizabeth Edwards (eedwards@dmu.ac.uk)  and Dr Kate Hill (khill@lincoln.ac.uk) by November 10th  2012.

Details of the day will be posted in December 2012.

Between Art and Information: Collecting Photographs

One Day Meeting, Leicester, Saturday March 2^nd 2013

A collaboration between: Museums and Galleries History Group/Photographic History Research Centre, De Montfort University

The National Media Museum is looking to engage an architectural designer to work with it to create a new BFI Mediatheque in the museum building. It is looking for an experienced architectural designer to lead on the design, to appoint and manage a graphic designer and to coordinate the overall design scheme. This is an exciting opportunity to create a unique and innovative design which will refresh the museums’ visitor experience. The work is expected to last from October 2012-April 2013. 

There are currently five  BFI Mediatheque across the UK. The offer visitors the opportunity to access films and television programmes from the BFI National Archive, free of charge. The Mediatheque is a digital jukebox of film and television programmes from the BFI’s unique collections, augmented by content from regional archives.  With 85% of its content unavailable to view anywhere else new content is added regularly building a unique collection of titles from the lesser known and newly rediscovered through to well-loved classics.  Access to Mediatheque content is provided free to the general public. 

Contact: Sharon Goldsbrough, Science Museum Group, Science Museum, Exhibition Road, Property and Project Management (North), London, GB, SW7 2DD . Tel: 0274 203428. e: MPG@sciencemuseum.org.uk

BPH has reported on the decline in visitor numbers at the National Media Museum over recent years (see: http://britishphotohistory.ning.com/profiles/blogs/national-media-museum-visitor-numbers-continue-to-fall) The Museum has just issued a tender document for an audience research exercise to:

1. Review of existing audience research; produce a draft brief for commissioning additional qualitative research and an initial review of the NMeM.

2. Provide oversight of additional qualitative research, providing advice and guidance to process: 2.5 days work.

3. Presentation of initial review to internal stakeholders: 1 day.

4. Produce detailed recommendations for the audience development plan and an outline document.

5. Presentation of final plan to internal stakeholders: 1 day.

6. Provide training and implementation of Audience Plan: 10 days.

For more information or to bid for the contract contact: Heather Mayfield at the Science Museum 020 7942 4000.