[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

photographs



We recently established our archives and are just now organizing the
materials we have inhouse.  Most of our photographs illustrate some
aspect of our institution.  Many of the requests we are already getting
are for photographs.

I first try to consider the materials' original order and if photographs
came with materials that interrelate, then the photographs will be
catalogued as part of those materials.

Much of the photographic material we received from our public relations
department files was kept in various ways. Some were filed by topic.
Some were maintained in scrapbooks that covered certain time periods.
Still others were just stuffed away in boxes or drawers.

First, I am ordering the materials by subject/department when they have
already been filed that way.  Then I am attempting to place them in
chronological order when approximate dates can be determined.  Once this
has been accomplished, I will have several series of photographs in
chronological order.  I'm also pulling duplicates and filing them
together under the more appropriate location.  For cataloguing purposes
(our catalog is on a searchable database), I plan to note the more
important historical figures in the photographs, but will not "catalog"
each photo.

I like to think of how the researcher would like to use them.  If we
don't really know what a researcher is looking for, and by giving them
the larger file to pour through, they can discover just the right item.
I'd rather not do their thinking for them.

Leslie Wagner
Archivist
Methodist Hospitals of Dallas

A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List!

To subscribe or unsubscribe, send e-mail to listserv@listserv.muohio.edu
      In body of message:  SUB ARCHIVES firstname lastname
                    *or*:  UNSUB ARCHIVES
To post a message, send e-mail to archives@listserv.muohio.edu

Or to do *anything* (and enjoy doing it!), use the web interface at
     http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/archives.html

Problems?  Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <rschmidt@lib.muohio.edu>