Archival Studies

Inspired by my own career’s archive of photography being acquired by the photography collection of the University of St Andrews, I recently decided to further my knowledge of archives and to undertake some professional studies, and this past week I graduated from the University of Dundee with a Post-Graduate Diploma in Archives and Records Management, and somehow I even squeezed in a ‘With Distinction’.

Perhaps the most enjoyable module I undertook during the course was in connection with Metadata, and the importance of that within a photography archive, after all ,information is gold!, and we need to know where the photos were taken, what they show, when, who, where, etc. And most of all, as we all build huge born-digital archives of images these days, we need to be able to search and retrieve images quickly, as well as have the files contain all the requisite author credit information and contact details. It makes life easier when your archive and digital database works smoothly.

In recent years I’ve been helping fellow photographers, advising them on the preparation of their photography archives, helping them get them into an organised state where they can be attractive for acquisition by institutions. After all, institutions only have so much shelf space, and if they’re offered two archives, one organised, one not, which one do you think they’ll go for?

There’s also much to think about in the structuring of an archive, if it doesn’t already have a natural structure as it came together. How best to collate, or organise your negatives and contact sheets, how to house everything? Should it all be catalogued, and if so, in what way?

And then once your collection or archive is organised, and in great shape, what then? How do you find a home for it? And are you going to donate it or sell it?

All perfectly legitimate questions, and issues I’ve dealt with in relation to my own photography archive and those of others, and in my recent studies at Dundee Uni.

Some of it may sound like a chore, but it’s important to look after the work we all strived so hard to make, and to not leave the organisation of it and striving to find a home for it to our families, after all, no-one knows your photography work better than you.

There are also multiple upsides to sorting through your archive, preparing it, organising and hopefully finding a home for it. Unexpected upsides also, which will go on to inspire you to do more new photography work. I’ll chat about this in a further post.

If you think I can help share advice and guidance then I do offer a paid-for service dealing with all these issues. Just drop me a note, and let’s chat archives, let’s chat about your photo archive.