Blogs

In this talk Caroline Bressey will be reflecting on the research she is currently undertaking which is supported by a Paul Mellon Centre Fellowship.The work is drawing on new and previous research with photographic archives, to reflect upon the surfacing of the lives of ordinary people. Photographic archives have enabled her to find a way to develop Black and other bodies ‘of colour’ in archives of working people, often in institutions such as asylums and prisons. Although such institutional records do usually record histories of the poor and excluded in forms not of their choosing, they do retain a diversity of English life.

Ordinary Lives: Photographic Encounters with Black Victorians
Caroline Bressey
Research Lunch, in person  - 26 June 2026, 1:00 – 2:00 pm
Paul Mellon Centre
Free but Book tickets

Two years ago I began cataloguing photographs in the Nottingham Central Library Local Studies Archive. So far I have catalogued over 70 boxes of lantern slides most of which were 'photographer not known', but last week was rather exciting, a box of 44 slides of which 39 were signed S.Bourne. The box was labelled 'High Pavement'. Samuel Bourne was involved with the High Pavement Chapel in Nottingham.

I have a problem now. Are these slides a new discovery or are they slides made from known photographs? Were they available for sale or were they personal holiday snaps used for a slide show at the chapel?

There are some images of Arthog in Wales and one of Exeter Cathedral. Other views include Cannes, Promenade des Anglais Nice and Mentone in France and also Ullswater.

I would be most grateful for any help, advice or pointers to discover more about these slides.

NB. Please do not ask to see the slides. I am a volunteer, I work one morning a week and have no budget. This project is in its very early stages and the library staff are already very busy.

The Burton at Bideford is seeking a socially-engaged photographer to work on a project with a group of women with complex needs. The project will use Historic England’s Janette Rosing Collection as a starting point.

We are excited to commission a socially-engaged photographer based in the South West to facilitate workshops with a group of women with complex needs. The aim of the workshops is to introduce the Janette Rosing Photographic Collection to participants, and use it as a starting point to explore themes of collecting, the landscape, the pastoral vs the sublime and rural histories. Through a series of practical photography workshops and photo walks, the group will develop new skills and creative engagement with landscapes documented in the collection. With the artist’s guidance, the group will learn how to improve their own photographs, through considerations in lighting and composition.

The appointed photographer will deliver 10 creative workshops, which will result in an exhibition at The Burton in 2026. The workshops will take place at The Burton, and will be supported by staff from The Burton’s Learning and Engagement Team and the charity Brave Spaces.

The Brief

The photographer will:

• plan and deliver 10 photography workshops.
  teach photography skills, and encourage experimentation. Participants will be using the cameras on their phones, but there’s an opportunity for experimenting with analogue photography methods if this fits the brief
• encourage the group to work on a theme, so that individuals end up with a body of work at the end of the 10 sessions.
• collaborate with the group to agree the best output for the final work.

Budget

Artist fee: £2,000
Artist travel and access budget: £500

Read more: https://www.burtonartgallery.co.uk/open-call-socially-engaged-photographer-2/

Image: Clovelly Harbour, Devon, c1885. Historic England Archive. 

Rackline Storage Systems has published a blog about how it implemented a new storage solution in a new museum storage area, to support the safe preservation of the Fox Talbot  Museum’s collection. 

The team at the Fox Talbot museum was looking to maximise their back of house museum storage. With a huge collection of photographic inventory, storage was needed to both house its existing collection, and the Fenton Photographic Collection which was being transferred from the BFI. To achieve this the collection store needed to be renovated and fitted out with a selection of high density shelving.  The biggest challenge was the diverse collection that it was to contain.

Read the full blog here: https://www.rackline.com/fox-talbot-photography-museum-storage-shelving/

This significant collection of historic photography offers a substantial visual record of Aotearoa New Zealand during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, a period of profound transformation for the peoples of this land. Assembled over several decades by Roger Ward (1945–2023)*, whose deep affection for Aotearoa New Zealand shaped much of his life and collecting, this unique photographic collection reflects a sustained engagement with the country’s history and culture. It was brought together with dedication, discernment and considerable expertise.

The collection comprises more than 1,500 original photographs documenting communities, landscapes and the built environment at formative moments in the country’s history. Distinguished by its depth, coherence and quality, the collection includes original prints, stereoviews and cartes-de-visite rather than later reproductions. Many works were created by prominent professional photographers working in Aotearoa during the colonial era, including: The Burton Brothers (New Zealand), Josiah Martin (New Zealand), and brothers James and George Valentine (Scotland). Together, these images reflect the development of photography as both a documentary practice and a commercial enterprise, while also recording the sweeping social, cultural and environmental changes taking place across the country.

A notable strength of the collection lies in its breadth of subject matter. Expansive landscapes, townscapes and architectural views are complemented by portraits and ethnographic studies, including photographs of Māori individuals and groups, marae and carving traditions. These images provide insight into how Aotearoa was visually represented and circulated in the nineteenth century, both locally and internationally.

We recognise the importance of honouring the mana, tikanga and cultural significance embodied in images of Māori people and places, and we are committed to approaching their presentation with respect and responsibility.

The collection will be presented as an online-only timed auction running 24.04.26—10.05.26, with selected highlights available for public viewing at Webb’s Mount Eden Gallery, exhibited alongside the Material Culture Live Auction catalogue.

Roger Ward, who was born in Otago in 1945 and died in 2023, began forming his remarkable collection of photographs following his retirement from a highly successful career in book marketing, a profession that made him an international figure in publishing and bookselling. Despite living much of his life overseas, he remained closely connected to Aotearoa New Zealand and returned frequently for extended periods, eventually purchasing a property near Mārahau, Nelson, where he spent his final years. His enduring affection for Aotearoa New Zealand, together with a sustained engagement with its history and culture, is expressed through this distinctive photographic collection, assembled with care, discernment and deep knowledge of the medium.

An Important Collection of Historic New Zealand Photography Part I | He Kohinga o ngā Whakaahua ō-Mua o Aotearoa Kohinga 1 (#188AD)
Webbs auctions, New Zeland
24 April-10 May 2026, online
Details: https://auctions.webbs.co.nz/auctions/catalog/id/946?

Image: James Valentine, Pool of Bathers, Whakarewarewa

The V&A Museum has launched a new monthly blog focused on the RPS Collection project which aims to 'offer insight into our approach, share discoveries from the project, and explore how the museum’s stewardship of the collection will foster creative connections and inspire new narratives.' The first, written by Dr Erika Lederman, gives an overview of the project and where it is at as part of a five-year cataloguing and digitisation programme. The RPS project now has 16 staff working on it from across departments in the Museum, plus 38 volunteers and 2 MA students. 

Erike concludes: 'The increased visibility of the collection has already resulted in increased loans and displays and some innovative research, which we will feature in future posts. We are looking forward to sharing stories, revealing exciting discoveries, and presenting new narratives as the project develops.'

Read the full blog here: https://www.vam.ac.uk/blog/projects/introducing-the-royal-photographic-society-rps-project

Among the lots in Flints forthcoming auction of Photographs, Optical Toys and Science on 12 May is a group of three lots of correspondence between John Spiller and William Crookes. Elsewhere is a mix of photographs and lantern slides including a quarter-plate ambrotype of St Lukes Church, Chelsea.

Photographs, Optical Toys and Science
12 May 2026
Live, but bidding online

See: https://www.flintsauctions.com/auction/search/?st=crookes&sto=0&au=110&sf=%5B%5D&w=False&pn=1

Image: William Crookes and John Spiller, c1855

The summary below is not an exhaustive list I am sure, and several of the events will have their own programmes of talks and exhibitions that will add another layer to the week.

Download the document (with clickable links) here:  PL Week.pdf

In her extensive work bridging photography and archival research, Dr Julia Winckler has witnessed the power of photography to connect people, to inspire a sense of validation, of feeling seen and valued and heard. That their story matters. That they matter. In this lecture, sharing examples from her own practice, Dr. Winckler will explore the creative mechanisms involved in making memory visible through photography. Through encounters, conversations, and the physical retracing of journeys, new work is made on location, creating a dialogue across time between new images and originals.

Julia Winckler is a photographer, writer, curator and Principal Lecturer at the University of Brighton's School of Art and Media, where she teaches on MA Photography and MA Fine Art and supervises PhD research. 

Making Memory Visible Through Photography
Dr Julie Winckler
7 May 2026
Brighton and online
Details and registration: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/whats-on/making-memory

Image: Julie Winckler

A friend showed me a photo said to be from Mesopotamia - does anyone recognise the monogram? 

This interdisciplinary Franco-British initiative brings together academics, curators and other photography specialists from across Europe and the US to discuss the challenges and advantages of exhibiting photographic publications. With the printed page a key site of photographic circulation, curators and researchers of photographic history often face the question of how to integrate publications into an exhibition. Coinciding with Photo London 2026, this event brings together museum professionals and specialist researchers to identify, discuss and propose solutions to these shared challenges.

The day, which will include talks and roundtable discussions, will build upon conversations begun at the National Archives (France) during Paris Photo 2025. It will consider how the histories of photographic magazines and press archives are being recorded, collected, and displayed in a contemporary context, and the complexities of navigating this mass material. How do we use press photography to tell compelling and complex histories? What constitutes an ethical curatorial approach when working with photo-magazine and photojournalism archives? What are the practical implications and creative solutions for exhibiting bound publications?

Speakers include Professor Niclas Östlind (University of Gothenburg) and Philippe Garner (independent auction specialist), alongside curatorial staff from Munich Stadtmuseum (Germany), National Portrait Gallery (UK), Palais Galliera (France), RIBA (UK) and the V&A.

This event is co-organised by Tom Allbeson (Cardiff University), Alice Morin (Université Paris III - Sorbonne Nouvelle) and Marie-Eve Bouillon (National Archives, Paris), with Martin Barnes (V&A) and Sarah French (V&A). 

London's Autograph ABP has received £499,995 from the government's Creative Foundations Fund (CFF). The Fund has allocated £96 million to 74 arts and cultural venues to help theatres, performing arts venues, galleries and grassroots music venues address urgent infrastructure needs.

The government announced today that 130 cultural venues, museums and libraries are set to benefit from a £127.8 million funding boost, helping to ensure that everyone can access arts and culture in the places they call home. Those organisations receiving funding today mark the first projects receiving cash from the government’s Arts Everywhere Fund. As the cost of living continues to affect families across Britain, funding for these venues will help provide welcoming, affordable spaces for communities to visit, come together and celebrate what makes their local area special.

Autograph's director Professor Mark Sealy told BPH: 'Autograph’s project will replace two failing, business-critical elements at its Rivington Place building – the leaking roof membrane and deteriorating sanitaryware – to safeguard its galleries, collection, studios and tenant spaces. A new insulated Sarnafil roof and fully upgraded accessible bathroom facilities will improve our environmental performance, reduce maintenance needs, and protect both the building and Autograph’s photography collection from risk of damage.

These essential works respond directly to the needs of all our building users, ensuring the organisation can continue delivering high-quality cultural programmes for its diverse audiences and communities.'

Earlier this year, the Culture Secretary committed up to £1.5 billion to the cultural sector over this parliament, with the Arts Everywhere Fund aiming to save more than 1,000 cherished arts venues, museums, libraries and heritage buildings across England. Today’s £127.8 million which is administered and delivered by Arts Council England on behalf of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport is made up of three funds:

• the Creative Foundations Fund (CFF) has allocated £96 million to 74 arts and cultural venues; 
• the Museum Estate and Development Fund (MEND) has allocated a share of £25.5 million to support 28 museums to undertake vital infrastructure works; and
• the Libraries Improvement Fund (LIF) has allocated a share of £6.3 million to 28 library services to help upgrade buildings and technology to better meet the needs of the community. 

Autograph ABP is the only UK organisation directly involved in photography awarded a grant out of the three funds. 

See: https://autograph.org.uk/

Image: Autograph ABP's building in Rivington Place, London. © Michael Pritchard.

Widely considered one of the doyennes of late twentieth-century British photography, Dorothy Bohm was born Dorothea Israelit in Germany in 1924. Sent to the safety of England in 1939, she attended school in Sussex and studied photography in Manchester before setting up her own portrait studio there. In the late 1940s, inspired by a visit to the artists’ colony of Ascona in the Ticino, Switzerland, she started working outside the studio, capturing moments in ordinary lives with profound humanity and an instinctive eye for composition. Her first exhibition was held at the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA), London, in 1969, where she met Roland Penrose, who memorably commented that ‘her camera does not only see, it also feels.’ In the early 1970s Dorothy was involved with the founding of The Photographers’ Gallery in London, where alongside founder Sue Davies, she helped introduce a British public to the great names of contemporary photography, as well as to nurture the careers of younger photographers.

In the mid-1980s Dorothy abandoned black and white photography for colour, infusing her images with texture and spatial ambiguity to convey humanity in increasingly abstract and allusive forms. Dorothy Bohm died in March 2023 at the age of nearly 99. She had continued to take photographs until her early nineties.

Farley House and Gallery commented: 'We are delighted to exhibit About Women at the Lee Miller Gallery, a show that features a significant number of delightful images taken in Sussex in the 1960s and 1970s. This important exhibition includes both black and white, and colour photographs. Taken across the world over many decades with women as their subject, they capture moments in ordinary lives with profound humanity and an instinctive eye for composition. When asked, Dorothy stated: “I think of women as the most natural subjects for me.” The exhibition title is taken from her book About Women, which was first published 2015 and is still in print. Dorothy’s images of women are always intensely empathetic and, at times, reveal an astute, implicitly critical, awareness of the male gaze.'

Dorothy Bohm - About Women
Farleys House & Gallery, Chiddingly, East Sussex, BN8 6HW.
Open: Thursday, Friday, Sunday & selected Saturdays, April-October 1000- 1630
See: https://www.farleyshouseandgallery.co.uk/

Image: Dorothy Bohm, Goodwood. © Estate of Dorothy Bohm. 

A couple of lots in the forthcoming Flints Auction on 29 April caught BPH's eye. First up is a Thornton-Pickard Type C aerial camera c.1915. The camera is part of a whole outfit used by the Royal Flying Corps. It is estimated at £4000-6000. Alongside this is a TP Hythe Type III camera gun, and a collection of documents relating to 2/Lt. Frederick Charles Victor Laws a significant figure in the early development of aerial photography and aircraft-mounted cameras.

Elsewhere is a glass rummer engraved to H H Leithead form H H Bright, R Miller and F B Burdon, Hartlepool 1857. Opposite is an engraving of a collapible wet-plate camera. It is estimated at £100-200. The lot was previously offered in a ceramic auction in 2024. Leithead was a member of the Liverpool Photographic Society in 1858.  

A Kodak Wide Angle Camera, c1940, with Carl Zeiss Jena Protar f/18 85mm lens, black, serial no. 307509, body, G, lens, VG, some light internal haze, complete with three DDS, is of the type used by Bill Brandt for his distorted nudes. A copy of his Bill Brandt: Nudes 1945-1980, is also included. Estimate £700-1000. 

Fine Photographica
Wednesday 29th of April 2026 at 10:00 BST Lots: 1 to 543
See: https://www.flintsauctions.com/auction/details/fcam18-fine-photographica/?au=107

What is a photographic society or club? What defines an amateur? How do photographic clubs and societies foster community, educate, and serve as social networking bodies?  Assessing amateur photographic communities as a phenomenon is more urgent than ever because many of these minor groups were poorly documented at the time, and the majority of their collections have been broken up, dispersed, or lost. These amateur groups show the unrestricted flow of photographic knowledge, often through exhibition, unimpeded by geography or language, and made possible by the efficacy of print communities. Some amateur societies and clubs were founded for specific specialisms, concerns, and aesthetic preferences in a variety of locations, while others evolved from learned societies and earlier forms of education.

The earlier trend of forming clubs and societies for scientific and associational activity reflected broader developments in national and global trade economies. The variety of local photographic clubs and societies, as well as the benefits they provided, served as a vector for new ideas, new values, and new kinds of social alignment, as part of a larger surge in new forms of national, regional, and local identity inspired variously by, for instance, learned societies, Victorian arts and crafts organisations, or medieval guild influences.

Yet, much of this associational world can be traced back to British culture in ways that have not previously been considered. However, these networks and influences cannot be contained within ideas of ‘national traditions’. To recover these voluntary associations and practices requires more to be done to map and research the impact of transnational networks on British amateur communities, and a shared history, not only with Euro-North American networks, but also with global south countries like South America, Asia, and Africa, especially in the postwar years following rapid decolonialisation. It would seem timely to examine the culture of sharing ideas through the rich written world of photographic publishing; the work of foreign correspondents; the circulation of lantern sets and prints; and the mobility of photographers and artisans through transnational exchanges and rigorous theoretical and historical reflection. This will allow us to rethink the role of British culture in the development of amateur clubs and societies, and their wider historical relationships across national boundaries.

This hybrid one-day event builds on a one-day workshop at Birkbeck in May 2023 and opens a critical conversation about the under-researched origins and evolution of photographic clubs and societies around the world, and outlines new agendas to research, theorise, and interpret the variety of historical amateur circles that brought together technology, science, and art to enable a constituency of dedicated non-professional individuals to learn from one another.

We invite papers for 15 minute presentations that investigate this global network in relation to class, gender, race, and imperial legacies in the global south, including Latin America, Asia, and Africa, as well as the origins of this associational life in Britain’s medieval guilds, freemasonry, arts clubs, and learned societies.

What can mapping clubs and societies tell us about how people experience nationalistic and patriotic sentiment? How did the intensely local desire and sense of local distinctiveness translate to the national or transnational level? What approaches might we use now to analyse the sociability of these networks which emphasise local forms of belonging while connecting practitioners across geographical borders? How long did it take a photographic innovation to circle around the world? What were the well-established and less-travelled routes for exchanging photographic knowledge?

Proposals might explore, but are not limited to:

• The history of learned societies or arts clubs in Britain
• Early photographic clubs and societies in Britain between the 1840s and 1860s
• Links with other types of bodies and emerging disciplines that sponsored photographic sections such as literary and antiquarian, geological, natural history, medical, and archaeological societies, companies
• the rise and fall of national and provincial clubs and societies in Britain, Europe, and North America between the 1870s and 1930s
• The role of periodicals and books in drawing together societies and clubs and consolidating imagined communities
• Amateur circles in schools, universities, workplaces, and colonies, among others
• Localism demonstrated through flourishing local clubs and societies, and local learned journals
• The rise of early clubs in East Asian countries like China and Japan, and in Malaysia, Singapore, Burma, Taiwan, and Vietnam after World War II
• The evolution of clubs in South America, India, and Africa between the 1950s and 1980s
• The relationship between class, gender, race, or imperial legacies and clubs, societies, and associations

 Paper proposals should be submitted as one Word or PDF document to Dr Jason Bate j.bate@bbk.ac.uk by Monday 29 June 2026. The document should include:

• Your full name
• Email address
• Institutional affiliation (when applicable)
• Paper title
• Proposal of no longer than 250 words for presentations of 15 minutes
• Indication of whether you would be presenting in person or online
• Short biographical note (100-150 words)

Event format: The event will take place at Birkbeck, the University of London (UK) in hybrid form, and we will be able to accommodate fifteen presentations. Eight speakers have already confirmed their attendance, including keynote speaker Professor Elizabeth Edwards, Professor Peter Buse, PhD student Sandrine Chene, Dr Sara Dominici, Dr Carolin Görgen, Dr Oh Soon-Hwa, Dr Michael Pritchard, and Dr Alise Tifentale.   

Importantly: Selected speakers will be invited to contribute extended versions of their papers to an edited volume on the same theme.

cfp: Globe-spanning Networks: Mapping Amateur Photographic Clubs and Societies in Local, National, and Transnational Contexts
Thursday 26 November 2026
Birkbeck, University of London, UK & hybrid
Deadline for paper proposals: by Monday 29 June 2026 to Dr Jason Bate j.bate@bbk.ac.uk

Image: Maidstone and Institute Camera Club outing, c.1908, Michael Pritchard collection. 

From the last decades of the nineteenth century onwards, photomechanical images assumed a central role in print production processes. With the development of new typographic techniques, technologies, and ad hoc materials, photography transformed into an ink image, circulating across a wide range of printed media, including newspapers, books, magazines, and postcards. Photomechanical images enabled the mass dissemination of cultural, political, and news events, the public reception of works of art, the transmission of scientific research, as well as the circulation of photography itself as an artistic language. In this way, the ink image became a modern instrument for understanding the world.

Over the past two decades, with seminal publications such as Forme e modelli del rotocalco italiano tra fascismo e guerra (De Berti, Piazzoni 2009) and Arte moltiplicata. L'immagine del ’900 italiano nello specchio dei rotocalchi (Cinelli et al. 2013), the circulation of photographic images—particularly in periodicals and illustrated magazines—has received increasing scholarly attention in Italy. The strongly transdisciplinary approach that has characterised recent conferences such as Periodicals: S.T.E.A.M. AHEAD! (Urbino, 2024), Testi, Immagini, Formati, Strutture. I linguaggi del giornalismo tra Otto e Novecento (Milan, 2025), and Testo e immagine nei periodici illustrati dell’Italia del boom (Milan, 2025) has encouraged new analytical perspectives on illustrated printed sources, although the focus has largely remained on their textual and visual content. Consequently, the material culture of photomechanical images and processes has so far been addressed only in a fragmentary and marginal manner. This differs from the international context, where the topic has been placed more centrally within ongoing research. Among the most significant initiatives in this field are the conferences De/Reconstructing Photomechanical Reproduction. Don’t Press Print (Bristol, 2021) and Photomechanical Prints: History, Technology, Aesthetics and Use (Washington, DC, 2023), as well as the Prague-based research group The Matrix of Photomechanical Reproductions: Histories of Remote Access to Art (2022–2027).

The Urbino study day aims to present a series of contributions situated within a transdisciplinary framework, addressing the use of photography in printed materials—including books, specialised journals, newspapers, illustrated magazines, postcards, etc.—as well as the objects connected to their production, such as clichés, proof prints, working materials and tools, and ephemera. Particular attention will be devoted to the Italian context, while remaining open to international comparison, within a chronological framework encompassing both the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The study day aims to examine and give visibility to objects, processes, and dynamics that have thus far been overlooked by historiography, thereby opening new perspectives for the analysis and study of these materials.

Possible research topics include, but are not limited to:

• The study of technical aspects related to the production of photomechanical images;
• An investigation of the complex network of professionals involved in the processes mediating between the chemical image and the ink image;
• The analysis of the circulation and migration of photographic images in printed materials;
• A comparison between printed materials produced in Italy and in international contexts;
• The use of photomechanical material in artistic practices such as photocollage and photomontage;
• The relationship between the photographic image and textual, graphic, and typographic elements in editorial mise en page projects.

Among the objectives of the study day are:

• Highlight how photomechanical processes emerged in response to specific demands of the publishing industry and to the growing cultural need to illustrate printed products;
• Redefine existing hierarchies within the history of photography and the publishing industry;
• Investigate printed sources as material sites of re-semantisation that shape different contexts of sedimentation, reception, and use of photographic images;
• Shed light on how international models were reworked through Italian case studies;
• Analyse the processes through which the photographic image is transformed across different editorial, graphic, and typographic contexts.

Scholars, curators, museum professionals, and practitioners interested in participating are invited to submit a proposal for a 20-minute presentation by 22 May 2026 to both the following addresses: cristiana.sorrentino@unifi.it and francesca.strobino@labafirenze.com.

Proposals must be submitted in English and should include: an abstract specifying the methodological approach (approximately 3,000 characters / 400 words including spaces), a short biographical note (approximately 1,000 characters / 150 words including spaces), and an exemplifying image. The proposal should be sent as a single PDF file named Surname_Urbino_2026. Notifications of acceptance will be communicated by 30 June 2026.

A peer-reviewed volume collecting the contributions presented during the study day is planned for publication in early 2027 within the series Novecento e oltre, published by Urbino University Press. Participants will therefore be invited to submit a draft version of their paper at the time of the conference itself (1 October 2026).

The study day will take place in person in Urbino and will be conducted entirely in English.

Beyond the Image: Towards a Redefinition of the Photographic Object in Printed Materials in Italy
Dipartimento di Studi Umanistici, Università degli Studi di Urbino Carlo Bo, Italy
1 October 2026
cfp deadline: 22 May 2026
Details by emailing:  cristiana.sorrentino@unifi.it and francesca.strobino@labafirenze.com.

Organised by:

Marta Binazzi (University of Florence; Institute of Art History, Czech Academy of Sciences)
Carlotta Castellani (Università of Urbino Carlo Bo)
Cristiana Sorrentino (University of Florence)
Francesca Strobino (LABA. Libera Accademia di Belle Arti, Florence)

Scientific Committee:

Geoffrey Belknap (National Museums Scotland)
Vincent Fröhlich (University of Marburg)
Mary Ikoniadou (Leeds School of Arts)
Nicoletta Leonardi (Brera Academy)
Irene Piazzoni (University of Milan)
Paolo Rusconi (University of Milan)
Tiziana Serena (University of Florence)
Petra Trnková (Institute of Art History, Czech Academy of Sciences)
Kelley Wilder (Professor Emerita De Montfort University, Leicester)

This fifth Museum Dialogues workshop explores how contemporary and historical photographers’ archives are accommodated both within museums and beyond public institutions. Contributors will share collection building and accessioning practices, examining remit and objectives, public access and the practical concerns involved in the custodianship of photographic archives. The discussion will offer strategies to enhance capacity and bring resources and visibility to photographer archive projects, including through research and public engagement initiatives. We will consider approaches to addressing issues of representation and concerns around equality, diversity and inclusion, as well as barriers to artists from diverse backgrounds and identities when entering the archive.

The workshop will also reflect on what is archived and the challenges of presenting ‘authentic’ photographer histories based on partial or incomplete records, and on opportunities of offering audiences alternative narratives.

Speakers confirmed so far: Weronika Kobylińska, President, Archeology of Photography Foundation, Poland; Hyunjung Son, Curator, Photography Seoul Museum of Art (Photo SeMA), South Korea.

Acquiring and Making Accessible Photographer Archives
Online via Zom, 6 May 2026 at 1300-1600 (BST)
Attendance is free but booking is essential.
Please find Speaker Biographies and Registration HERE

The BT Group Archives (BTGA) and University College London (UCL) are pleased to announce the availability of a fully funded doctoral studentship from 1st October 2026 under the AHRC’s Collaborative Doctoral Partnerships (CDP) scheme. The student will critically investigate, develop and make use of new research methods, based on advances in machine learning and knowledge organisation, for exploring the significant moving image collection at BT Group Archives. This project will be jointly supervised by James Elder and Elspeth Millar (BTGA), and Professor Andrew Flinn and Dr Daniel Wilson, in the Department of Information Studies (DIS) at UCL. The student will be expected to spend time at both BT Group and UCL, as well as becoming part of the wider cohort of CDP-funded students across the UK.

Project Overview

BT Group Archives is engaged in a decade-long effort to digitise eighty years of moving image material held on vulnerable film and videotape formats. ‘Lossless’ digital copies are being created, linked to metadata, and made available. This throws up timely questions in relation to knowledge organisation and access that this PhD project will address in theory and practice.

The collection begins in the 1930s with the work of the GPO Film Unit (part of the UNESCO Memory of the World register) and continues without interruption to the present. The overriding theme of the collection is the transformation of communications and the creation of an ‘Information Society’, as recorded in the archive of this unique organisation, whose development charts key changes in twentieth-century British history. As the Post Office and then British Telecom, this changed from being a Government Department to a nationalised industry and then a private company. The archive therefore records the activities of a very significant organisation: employer of thousands, providing communications services to millions of customers.

Despite the collection being an important historical source, it would be prohibitively labour-intensive to make it available to potential users by cataloguing and organising it manually. Recent developments in audio recognition and computer vision, could potentially help create new catalogue metadata automatically, which could be structured and linked in flexible ways. The student will explore and develop the potential of these new methods, and themselves conduct a substantive piece of research showcasing new insights into the collection and new forms of enquiry more generally.

Outcomes of the doctoral project could include: comprehensive new metadata for the moving image collection; publishable code and documentation and a substantive research paper. The student may also develop workshops and teaching material to widen engagement with this new material, as well as a proof-of-concept – practical and theoretical – for the creation of re-usable methods for BTGA as well as other archives facing similar challenges. Such methods should aim to aid discoverability while addressing the complex challenges facing the uses of ‘AI’ in the sector as a whole. The written component of the thesis will be adjusted to reflect these other forms of output.

Moving the Frame: New Computational Practices for the Description and Organisation of the BT Film Collection
AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Partnership (CDP) Studentship
Closes: 24 April 2026
Details: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/arts-humanities/news/ahrc-collaborative-doctoral-partnership-cdp-studentship-0