Mounted photographs as sources for local history

A study towards establishing photograph analysis within and archives

Abstract

It is essential to include contextual information in finding aids in order that users can make full use of photographs as archival sources. In particular, verbal explanations do not usually accompany older photographs. That is because in commercial photography the photographer and the client were always separate parties, with the photographer in control of technique and product. Thus information about the client constitutes an element of contextual information. Many mounted photographs collected as regional historical sources have often lost their contexts years earlier. This paper explains how it is possible to date undated photographs in historical and archival collections from the range of characteristics inherent in their mounts.

We should make such fundamental information available in archive institutions and museums and improve its accuracy. Photograph analysis in historical and archival studies is increasingly needed for establishing a shared infrastructure for their activities.