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Manuscripts and Archives at Oxford University is a new tool which searches descriptions of manuscripts and archives held at the Bodleian Libraries and some Oxford colleges. These descriptions are drawn from eleven online catalogues. The manuscript and archive holdings of the Bodleian extend from Greek papyrus fragments from the 5th century BC to 21st century born-digital archives.
The manuscript and archive collections include works of literature, politics, science, medicine, theology, law, music and religious devotion, as well as many forms of documentary material produced by individuals and institutions. The extensive archives held at the Bodleian include manuscripts, documents, audio-visual recordings, photographic material, music and born-digital content from thousands of personal and institutional archives.
A quick check with several photographic-related search terms reveals a wealth of material.
It is hard to overestimate the extent to which the advent of photography in the early nineteenth century changed the course of visual culture in France and abroad. New photographic inventions, such as Louis Daguerre’s ‘diorama’ (a popular Parisian spectacle featuring theatrical painting and lighting effects) introduced novel visual mechanisms to a wide audience. Though denigrated by critics like Charles Baudelaire for its presumed limitation to merely reproduce the visible world, photography was in fact in dialogue with other means of visual expression.Artists such as Eugène Delacroix and Paul Cezanne were indebted to the medium for the development of many of their paintings; Eadweard Muybridge’s photographic studies of bodies in motion allowed artists such as Edgar Degas to reconsider the artist’s capacity to depict movement. While linked to aesthetic and scientific advancement, however, photography was equally a vital tool for French colonial endeavours, reinforcing propagandistic messages,justifying missionary activities, and lending seemingly objective evidence to the pseudoscientific project of eugenics and related endeavours of white supremacy. The tool of photography was put to many uses, unified by its promise of technological progress.
In this session we hear from researchers who are working in diverse aspects of French visual culture and photography. We are pleased to welcome the following speakers:
- Isabelle Lynch (University of Pennsylvania) - "'World Without Sun': The Diving Bell, The Camera, and the Rapture of the Deep."
- Édouard de Saint-Ours (University of St Andrews) - “Capturing the French imperial imagination: Émile Gsell’s photographs at the edge of colonial desires in Indochina, 1865–79”
- Joshua Teasdale (University of Oxford) - “Capturing Subjectivity in Late Nineteenth-Century Photographic Catalogues”
- Joshua Teasdale is a research student at the University of Oxford’s Department of History of Art, and a member of Wadham College
Details and free registration: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/transformation-and-trouble-photography-as-a-tool-in-19th-century-france-tickets-726768523217?aff=oddtdtcreator
Stills presents a six week lecture and discussion event in the gallery for students and those keen to develop an understanding of the philosophies and ideas which are most often used to think with, and about, photography.
Have you ever wondered what Post-Modernity really means? And if it has anything at all to do with taking photos?! This course, led by our Research Associate David Grinly, will help you to navigate the terminologies and ideas which sometimes put us off thinking more deeply about photography. Aiming at the big names who stand (sometimes very closely) behind the theories of today, this course will offer approachable “translations” of a selection of critical texts, and provide a space to discuss the questions they raise, now.
Course outline:
1 Nov: Introduction – Photographic Modernity and PostModernity
8 Nov: Walter Benjamin’s The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction
15 Nov: Roland Barthes – Rhetoric and Mourning
22 Nov: Susan Sontag – In Plato’s Cave
29 Nov: Jean Baudrillard – Photographer in the Matrix
6 Dec: Teju Cole and Lucy Sante – The Spectators Malevolent Neutrality
A ticket - from £18 upwards - provides access to all 6 lectures. If you would like to attend individual events but not the whole series, please email info@stills.org and we can make arrangements for this.
Details and booking: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/photographic-monsters-tickets-743390189067
The curator, academic and writer David Mellor (he added 'Alan' to avoid confusion with the politician of the same name) has died aged 75 years at his home in Machynlleth, Wales. He was awarded the Royal Photographic Society's J Dudley Johnston (2005) and Education (2015) awards.
Mellor studied art at Sussex University from 1967 under Quentin Bell. During this time Asa Briggs, then Vice-Chancellor of the University, received the archive of Mass-Observation from Tom Harrisson. Mellor published and curated exhibitions about the substantial collection of pre-war photographs of working-class life contained in the archive. He stayed at Sussex until his retirement in 2018. In the words of Maurice Howard he was one of the country’s leading scholars in the fields of twentieth century painting, film and photography.' Mellor had an extensive list of publications to his name and curated significant exhibitions on Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud, and on Robin Denny, Cecil Beaton and Bill Brandt. He curated major exhibitions at the Barbican and Tate, most memorably Paradise Lost: The New Romantic Imagination in Britain (1987) and The Sixties (1993), at Brighton Museum and Art Gallery.
Mellor was also a director of Brighton's Photoworks and the Brighton Photo Biennial, and Edinburgh's cooperative Photography Workshop from 1996 to 2011.
As Howard notes 'As a teacher, generations of students testify to his unique insights into British culture. David was teaching the inter-relations of media long before the subject became an academic discipline at the University and was sensitive to art and the environment from the beginning of his career'.
With thanks to Paul Hill (seen on the right, in the picture left) who notes: 'So sad to get the news of the the death of photo historian and teacher. David Mellor (left). We worked together quite a few times - up here in Derbyshire at The Photographers Place workshop in the 70s, Salford ‘80, and latterly talking about The Real Britain project at the 2014 Brighton Biennial. Great scholar and lovely guy….'
See:
The latest issue of The Classic has been published to coincide with Paris Photo. As usual it includes a range of features and news, including previews of Paris Photo, a feature on the George Hoyningen-Huene Estate archives, photography of French cinema, an interview with Hans P Kraus and Behind the Scenes - Curating and Designing Exhibitions. It is available to donwload for free or printed copies can be picked up at various venues.
A new photography creative hub is set to open in Edinburgh, just a stone’s throw from Princes Street. 6 William Street will unite renowned charity Studies in Photography and new artist-run gallery and bookshop AGITATE under one roof. The new venture will provide a go-to hotspot for lens-based artists and photo-curious passers-by, offering an expansive programme of events, exhibitions, and workshops.
The new venue will open officially on Saturday 28 October with a launch event for its first show forty one point five - a celebratory melting pot of contributors’ work from 40 years of Studies in Photography and the first 1.5 years of AGITATE. The launch night will also feature exclusive discounts on a variety of photo wares including a limited run of new AGITATE merchandise and an exciting opportunity to snap up back-issues of the journal from as far back as 1987.
Alexander Hamilton, Chair of Studies in Photography said: “The Scottish Society for History of Photography is opening in its 40th Year a new home for Scottish and International Photography in the heart of Edinburgh. The Society, known as Studies in Photography is delighted to be going into partnership with Agitate over 6 William Street - a home for photography. Finally, after a long history of events, journals, and creative conversations, we are opening a new centre for events and exhibitions, and to house our archive. It will also be a place to find copies of our books and our amazing journal, which features the very best in historical and contemporary photography. In partnership with Agitate, we aim to create Scotland’s premier photographic bookshop. I am particularly grateful to all our sponsors and supporters, who through their generous financial support, our making this dream possible. I look forward to welcoming you all to 6 William Street.”
With more and more creatives using cameras (and cameras increasingly being in everybody’s pockets), plus thousands of photography graduates come out of colleges and universities each year, the demand for image-making and image consumption has never been higher. Yet it can be difficult to feel inspired, to play with pictures, and to find a space to think more critically about the images we are taking. AGITATE’s mission since opening in early 2022 is to make it easier for anyone excited about making pictures to share them, find community, and to provide a viable platform for artists to make income from their work.
Christina Webber, Director of AGITATE said: “We are over the moon to be working with Studies in Photography on this exciting new venture and very grateful for the opportunity. Our mission with AGITATE is to make it easier for fans of photography at any level to buy, sell, show, and discover work, and to provide a welcoming platform for everyone to participate in conversations around image-making. You don’t have to be a ‘full time artist’ - if there even is such a thing - simply someone with a curiosity for pictures. We look at hundreds of images every day, and it’s my sincere hope that 6 William Street will provide a bridge between making images and sharing them, starting a wider conversation about our relationship with the images we consume. With Studies in Photography’s 40-year history and expertise, alongside our ambition and incredible community, we’re excited to see this become a catalyst for conversation and discovery.”
The photography industry is ever-changing. 6 William Street will bridge the old and the new, creating space for learning from a diversity of approaches, techniques, perspectives and interpretations. Alongside book launches, pin-ups, artist talks, reading groups and film clubs, a dynamic programme of workshops (both in-person and online) will complement partnership working with local higher education organisations, whilst the gallery will provide a space for exhibition hire, curated shows, and all manner of other events. Whether you’re a darkroom fanatic, a digital die-hard, an alt-process nerd, or love taking photos on your phone… this is definitely somewhere to check out.
More details about the exhibition, events, education and publishing programmes will be announced at the launch. Join the Studies in Photography and AGITATE mailing lists, and follow both organisations on social media to stay in the loop!
6 William Street will open to the public officially on Saturday 28 October from 1800. Over the winter months, the gallery and bookshop will then be open weekly from Tuesday –
Sunday from 12:00 – 18:00 at 6 William Street, Edinburgh, EH3 7NH.
AGITATE is a new hub for photography in Edinburgh (est. 2022) celebrating pictures in all their forms and supporting those who make them. AGITATE is artist-run and driven by community, with a desire to change the landscape of photography in Scotland by making it easier for lens-based artists to show and sell their work. The shop stocks a range of photo wares including books, zines, prints and film; acts as a drop-off point for local enterprise Rocket Film Lab, hosts a regular programme of events, and provides affordable exhibition and event hire for image-makers at all levels. AGITATE is operated by Filtr Collective, a limited company run by Christina Webber and Jaime Molina.
Lower image credit: Laura Prieto
On 2 November 2023, The Family Museum will be speaking in Budapest at the conference ‘Talks on everyday imagery – the analogue and digital realm of the vernacular’. The event has been organised by the newly formed Eidolon Centre for Everyday Photography and will be hosted at Moholy-Nagy University of Design. The Eidolon Centre has been established in the Hungarian capital to research, study and showcase vernacular photography drawn from various sources.
During the conference, international academics, curators and critics (Geoffrey Batchen, Lukas Birk, The Family Museum, Judit Gellér, Nathan Jurgenson, Sándor Kardos, Annebella Pollen, Joachim Schmid, Michal Simunek, Miklós Tamási and Joanna Zylinska) will come together to offer their views and approaches to this niche of our visual culture.
About The Family Museum
Co-founded in 2017 by Nigel Martin Shephard and Rachael Moloney, The Family Museum is an archival project rooted in Nigel’s collection of original British amateur family photographs and photo albums. Dating from the 1860s to the noughties, the archive has been amassed by Nigel over 30 years and currently comprises around 40,000 family photographs and 600 photo albums. Through sharing more than a century and a half of found images depicting everyday life and experiences, the mission of The Family Museum is to explore our understanding of ‘family’ as expressed through vernacular photography, and the opportunities the archive offers for research and discussion around the history and practice of amateur photography.
Image: 'Joyce, Elsie, Mother', 1920s. Photograph by Mary Pacey
The Library of Congress is now accepting applications for the 2024-2025 National Stereoscopic Association Research Fellowship. Please share the announcement with any colleagues or students that might be interested.
H.C. White Co., On the beach, Avalon Bay, Catalina Island, California, U.S.A. 1906. https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2002699051/
National Stereoscopic Association Research Fellowship
The National Stereoscopic Association Research Fellowship is made possible by a gift from the National Stereoscopic Association (NSA) to support research within the Prints & Photographs Division holdings of stereoscopic photography and the unparalleled photographic history collections at the Library of Congress—including over 15 million photographs, rare publications, manuscript materials, historic newspapers, and extensive subscription database access.
Fellowships will be awarded annually to be used to cover travel to and from Washington, D.C., accommodations, and other research expenses to assist fellows in their ongoing scholarly research and writing projects on stereoscopic photography, or more broadly within the field of photographic history to the extent that research is connected in some manner to the Library's holdings on the format.
Eligibility and Guidelines
Graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, independent scholars, creators, and other researchers with a need for Fellowship support are encouraged to apply. Individuals who are not U.S. residents but who otherwise meet the above qualifications may apply and be considered for a Fellowship, contingent upon visa eligibility.
In the interest of increasing awareness and extending documentation of Library of Congress collections, Fellows are required to make use of the Library's collections, be in residence at the Library during the award period, and share information derived from their research through publication in Stereo World, a public lecture, presentation at the following National Stereoscopic Association Convention, or other event, either during their residency or within six months of completing their research at the Library. Each Fellow must also notify the selection committee if their work results in formal publication and provide hard-copy or online access to the work.
To Apply
Information about applying for the fellowship is available at this link: https://www.loc.gov/rr/print/national_stereoscopic.html
Completed applications are due on March 1st, 2024. The Fellowship must be completed between September 1st, 2024 and August 31st, 2025.
Questions should be addressed to:
Micah Messenheimer
Curator of Photography
Prints and Photographs Division
Library of Congress
Email: stereofellow@loc.gov
Phone: (202) 707-0591
National Galleries of Scotland has announced the appointment of Anne Lyden as its new Director-General. Bringing a wealth of experience, most recently as Interim Co-Director of Collection and Research, Lyden will be the first female Director-General of the National Galleries of Scotland in its history. Current Director-General, Sir John Leighton, will step down on 31 December 2023 following a 17-year tenure and Lyden will take up the role on 1 January 2024. BPH reported on Lyden's appointment as Photography Curator back in 2013
The National Galleries of Scotland is home to Scotland’s superb art collection, with three galleries in Edinburgh. At the National, Modern and Portrait galleries visitors can discover treasures from Botticelli to Titian, the very best modern art, famous faces and contemporary portraits of pop culture icons, and the largest collection of Scottish art in the world. As well as conserving and researching the national collection, the National Galleries of Scotland is committed to reaching the widest possible audience through an active programme, including partnerships across Scotland, the UK and abroad, as well as online. As Director-General, Lyden will work with the National Galleries of Scotland Board of Trustees, Leadership Team, colleagues across the organisation, and a great many donors and stakeholders to make art work for everyone.
Born in West Dunbartonshire, Anne Lyden grew up in Clydebank and studied History of Art at the University of Glasgow, and Museum Studies at the University of Leicester. She held various curatorial positions at the J.Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, where she worked for 18 years (1995-2013) latterly in the role of Associate Curator before joining the National Galleries of Scotland. As International Photography Curator (2013-2019) and then Chief Curator, Photography (2019-2022), Lyden curated numerous exhibitions including Coming Clean: Graham Macindoe (2017), A Perfect Chemistry: Photographs by Hill & Adamson (2017), and ARTIST ROOMS—Self Evidence: Photographs by Woodman, Arbus and Mapplethorpe (2019). In 2022, she became Interim Co-Director of Collection and Research where she led a directorate, overseeing the public programme across three sites and building on several research initiatives to widen accessibility and representation within the collection. Author of numerous publications, Lyden has written widely on the subject of photography and art.
The process of recruiting the new Director-General began earlier this year and was led by the Chair of the National Galleries of Scotland Board of Trustees, Benny Higgins, and a committee of Trustees.
Benny Higgins, Chair of National Galleries of Scotland Board of Trustees, said: “I am thrilled that we have appointed Anne Lyden as our new Director-General. Anne brings a strong understanding of the national collection and our talented people, together with extensive international experience.
Over the past few months, we embarked on a rigorous search to find our next Director-General, resulting in us speaking to many people across the UK and internationally. Following a thorough recruitment process, we know we have the right person to lead the National Galleries of Scotland into the future.
Anne’s strong personal values and leadership style, coupled with her knowledge of art, will see us deliver on our strategic commitments and I am looking forward to working with her.”
Anne Lyden, Director-General designate of the National Galleries of Scotland, said: “I am looking forward to this incredible opportunity to lead the National Galleries of Scotland in the next chapter of its impressive history.
It is my great privilege to continue the excellent work led by Sir John and colleagues over the years, most recently the success of the new Scottish galleries at the National. I am eager to continue my work with Trustees, colleagues, community partners, audiences, artists, and supporters in realising our plans for the future including The Art Works, our new collections facility in North Edinburgh. Having worked with the national collection and a wide range of colleagues over the last ten years, I am delighted to continue this experience of making art accessible to everyone.”
Sir John Leighton, outgoing Director-General of the National Galleries of Scotland, said: “Anne Lyden is a highly talented curator and leader with a strong commitment to inclusion and diversity. She has a compelling vision of the benefits that access to great art can achieve in these volatile times and is the right person to drive forward the National Galleries’ commitment to bringing world-class art to the widest possible audience.”
What: Exhibition of Anna May Wong Lobby Cards from the Dwight M. Cleveland Collection
When: March 1 – 10, 2024
Where: San Diego Chinese Historical Museum
This excellent, well-illustrated monograph examines in detail the career of Francois (a.k.a. Philibert) Perraud, a French daguerreotypist who travelled through Italy and Greece in the 1840s, leaving behind a still-to-be-uncovered wealth of material which still occasionally surfaces. His best known images of Greek monuments now reside with the J. P. Getty Museum, Los Angeles, but this fine monograph reveals the scope of his career and marks him out as a genuine pioneer. The original research of exceptional interest is by the author, Roberto Caccialanza. There is an excellent 15-page English abstract, though the text is in Italian. Publisher: photography:k | series (ISBN 979-12-21422-05-4).
The J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles is holding two photography exhibitions in Spring 2024. Owing to the fragility and light sensitivity neither will be travelling to Europe.
A Persistent Pioneer: Hippolyte Bayard
April 9–July 7, 2024
Hippolyte Bayard—Parisian bureaucrat by day and persistent inventor and artist after hours—is one of the lesser-known pioneers of photography. This exhibition presents an extraordinarily rare opportunity to view some of Bayard’s highly fragile photographs dating from the 1840s—the first decade of the new medium—and to explore his early processes, subjects, and strategies to achieve recognition. It highlights Getty’s treasured Bayard album, one of the first photographic albums ever created.
Nineteenth-Century Photography Now
April 9–July 7, 2024
Given the ubiquity of photography in our lives, the small, sepia-toned images made in the 19th century may appear remote and unconnected to the present. Yet many of the conventions established when photographic technology was new and cutting-edge are still in use and relevant today. This exhibition provides fresh perspectives on Getty’s collection of 19th-century photography via the work of contemporary artists who respond directly to its historical themes and subject matter.
See: https://www.getty.edu/visit/exhibitions/future.html
Image: Hippolyte Bayard, Self-Portrait in the Garden, 1845-49, salted paper print, J. Paul Getty Museum, 84.XO.968.20
Bodleian Visiting Fellowships in Special Collections are awarded to promote research based on archival, manuscript, and printed books collections of the Bodleian Libraries. Approximately 25 awards are made each year to researchers external to the University of Oxford whose projects require use of these collections. Scholarship pursued within the fellowship research projects generates publications and may also be formally and informally disseminated through talks and presentations.
Of particular interest to BPH readers is the Sloan Fellowship in Photography. This fellowship encourages researchers to come to Oxford and use Bodleian Libraries collections to advance their research in the history of photography and photographic books. The fellowship is offered in association with Trinity College, Oxford.
Previous Sloan recipients were:
- Donna Brett, Associate Professor, University of Sydney. Topic: Modernist Photobooks, Propaganda and the Everyday
- Elizabeth Watkins, Visiting Research Fellow, University of Leeds. Topic: Tutankhamun: Colourisation and the Photographic Archive
- Tomáš Dvořák, Assistant Professor, Academy of Performing Arts In Prague. Topic: Czech Edition of William Henry Fox Talbot’s Pencil of Nature
Details: https://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/csb/fellowships/bodleian-visiting-fellowships
This year’s AHFAP conference will take place on the 2-3 of November at the iconic Barbican in East London. The keynote will be given by Catherine Croft, director of The Twentieth Century Society and editor of the C20 magazine. Prior to joining The Twentieth Century Society, she worked for English Heritage as a buildings inspector. She is also the author of a book on Concrete Architecture and regularly writes about contemporary as well as historic buildings.
The other speakers are:
Jonathon Vines & Eugenio Falcioni: Endangered Archive Programme
Supporting the work of the Endangered Archive Programme run by the British Library (EAP) in Lesotho and other countries: rewards, lessons and challenges from delivering digitisation workshops around the world.
Børre Høstland: New Museum. New location. New possibilities.
This presentation will focus on the newly opened National Museum of Norway and the motorized easel we have developed to enable us to work more accurately and create new possibilities of digitising artworks.
Tony Richards: Watermark Imaging - Why didn't I think of this before?
This talk will focus on a simplified method of watermark imaging.
David Rowan: Photographing Japanese Scrolls at Birmingham Museums Trust
How we photographed multiple 15m long Japanese Scrolls at the Birmingham Museums Trust during Covid and while the museum was closed.
George Eksts: Reverses
Between 2007 and 2021 I photographed nearly 200,000 works on paper. This is the story of their 'verso' sides, where accidental marks, damage, fragments of unfinished sketches, notes etc. were found.
Kevin Percival & Laura Humphreys: Memory Bank: Documenting Blythe House
Memory Bank aims to capture and record the current state of Blythe House, the home of the Science Museum, British Museum and V&A's archives.
Brittany Brighouse and Eelco Roelsma: From Home Scanner to DigiLab
Digitising the National Collection for Dutch Architecture and Urban Planning
Andrew Tunnard: Large Object Photography at the National Collections Centre
The SMG's National Collections Centre is currently undertaking a project photographing nearly 200 large objects, from the extra-large through fire engines and submarines, down to vans and cars.
Jason Candlin: AI - Jobs for Robots or People?
A discussion paper looking at a number of areas where AI is having an effect on workload for scientific, technical and commercial photographers.
The conference is open to non-members. Details: https://ahfap.org.uk/ahfap-conference-2023
Digital artist in residence Marie Smith presents work from their six month residency at the Horniman Museum and Gardens. Extraction: In conversation with Anna Atkins is Marie’s visual response to their residency which saw them research and explore two elements – people and worming. Marie utilised worming as a tool to aerate and find new paths of inquiry on the Horniman’s Nature Trail, and in its Gardens and collections.
The online exhibition responds to the Horniman’s collection of cyanotypes of botanical specimens made by pioneering Victorian scientist and photographer Anna Atkins, and is inspired by photographs of the Horniman Nature Trail and Gardens, alongside leaves and flowers collected from the Nature Trail. During their visit to the Horniman archive, Marie spent three hours ‘in conversation’ with the Horniman’s historic copy of Atkins’ book Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions, made as cyanotype plates in 1848, one of four volumes of Atkins’ important books in the Horniman collection.
Noting that the word ‘extraction’ kept coming to mind, Marie took this as a prompt to reflect on Atkins’ legacy – not just as a botanist and photographer but as someone who married into a family that owned plantations and slaves in Jamaica - as well as the history of photography, and its past and present detriment to the environment.
Cyanotypes of photos from the Nature Trail, alongside leaves and flowers collected there, are overlaid with a transcript of this conversation, addressing Marie’s thoughts and questions on Atkins’ legacy and work.
The exhibition is hosted online at horniman.ac.uk, with an accompanying video of Marie’s process of making cyanotypes, using plant or food-based developers instead of chemicals, filmed in the Horniman Gardens.
Marie Smith says: ‘During my visit to the Horniman archive, I recorded my thoughts as I looked through Anna Atkins’ books on British Algae. This prompted a myriad of personal and theoretical thoughts that explored her working methodology, the life of the algae, the aesthetics of the cyanotypes as well as her explorations as a female artist in the 19th century. The word ‘extraction’ kept appearing and repeating itself in my mind. I took this as a way of commenting on Atkins’ legacy as well as reflecting on the history of photography which continues to have a detrimental effect on the environment.’
A digital trail marking Marie’s points of interest on the Nature Trail is available on the Bloomberg Connects app.
A reading list which informed Marie’s research and the outcomes of their residency at the Horniman can also be found online.
Marie’s six-month residency at the Horniman runs concurrently with artist, researcher and designer Adira Thekkuveettil’s digital residence at the Museum of Art and Photography (MAP) in Bangalore, as part of a joint project in partnership with curator and expert in photography Zelda Cheatle.
Adira’s project, Nimbus, plays with ideas of ‘suggestions’ and ‘edits’ as tools of engagement with the MAP collection. Looking closely through Cumulus, the Museum’s Collection Viewing System, Adira looks at details in the entries of artworks and collections beyond the stated information. Drawing connections with other objects and artworks in the Museum’s collection, and proposing playful edits, adding both subjective, as well as objective information, Adira examines what forms ‘enrichment’ can take within a Museum’s collection, and in what ways close viewing can actually open up an archive to scrutiny.
Hear Marie and Adira in conversation with Zelda talking about their respective residencies via this link.
Marie has also been documenting their residency and sharing their experiences on their website.
The just published online Science Museum Journal contains many papers of interest to photographic historians. This is an open issue that is especially strong in demonstrating the power of museum collections in research – the ‘material turn’ about which so much has been written.
A case in point is the mini-collection Revealing Observatory Networks Through Object Stories in which Rebekah Higgitt approaches the study of observatories across the world by gathering nine ‘object biographies’ into three thematic papers in each of which three authors discuss objects illustrating the main theme. Archival objects are also studied here: Lucy Slater delves into the National Railway Museum’s civil defence archive to explore the railway’s response to nuclear threat, and Max Long analyses two data notebooks (A and B) in which pioneer natural history film-maker F Percy Smith recorded his craft. Graeme Gooday et al revisit the ‘Special Loan Collection’ of 1876, suggesting that it should be seen as an exercise in crowd-sourcing loans (mostly returned) rather than the basis of the permanent collections of the Science Museum. And Jo Gane adds a practice-based dimension to her research on the impact of experiments by a group of nineteenth-century Birmingham-based chemists on new photographic silver-plating techniques by reconstructing those techniques herself. The issue also includes obituaries of key contributors to science museum research and practice – Trevor Pinch and John Ward – and three book reviews.
Read it here: https://journal.sciencemuseum.ac.uk/issue/autumn-2023-2/
Image: Daguerreotype portraits of Francis Marrian, by George Shaw c. 1843 (Private collection). From Jo Gane's paper.
I'm delighted to announce that Exhibitions of the Royal Photographic Society 1870-1915 is now back online, thanks to the hard work of our tech team. This website was originally launched in 2008 by Professors Stephen Brown and Roger Taylor, with research by Siobhan Davies, and funding by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, as part of DeMontfort's support of open access research in photographic history.
I hope to soon be able to announce the re-launch of Photographs Exhibited in Britain 1839-1865. Please stay tuned!
Wishing you all happy researching!
The Bromoil Circle of Great Britain was formed in 1931 by Sam Weller FRPS and brought together leading practitioners of the Bromoil process, many of whom were - and are - members of the RPS. The Circle has recently deposited its archive of more than 600 Bromoil prints from former members and contemporary practitioners with the RPS In Bristol. This event celebrates the transfer with a display of examples from the archive, a demonstration of the process and workshop led by Circle President Ken Hill.
The events are free, but places on the workshop and demonstration are limited. The timings for the day are:
10.00am. RPS House opens
10.30am. Display from the Bromoil Circle Archive on view all day in the auditorium (no booking required)
11.00am. Demonstration of the Bromoil process by Ken Hill FRPS. Limited to 40 people
14.00pm. Bromoil workshop with Ken Hill FRPS. Numbers limited to 8 participants.
17.00pm. RPS House closes
The Bromoil Circle of Great Britain continues to operate as a postal portfolio and can reached via its website: https://www.thebromoilcircleofgreatbritain.com/
Details of the event are here: https://events.rps.org/4LrdQ66/4a2N4Lhk0L
Image: Ken Hill FRPS, Welsh Moor, Bromoil print, c.1980s.
