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Re: QUERY:photograph collection cataloging



The Center for Popular Music doesn't have a -huge- photographic
collection, but we have something in place that we also want to get some
feedback on, and want to share with the larger archival community in
case we have something someone could find useful.

We are trying to make our older, rarer, and unique photographs
accessible online eventually.  This consists of scanning each photo at
high resolution (600 ppi), saving it as a condensed TIFF file, and
creating a smaller copy jpeg file (80 ppi) for use in the database.

We have created an InMagic database of photographic images.  Each image
is described, and includes the following fields:

        Identification number (according to location)
        Accession number
        Format (including negative, prints, photo postcards, slides,
tintypes,               trade cards, etc.)
        Title
        Collective title (if the photo is part of a series)
        Creator (if known)
        Dimensions (of the image itself)
        Presentation (mounting and its dimensions)
        Description (of the content itself)
        Place (if known)
        Publisher (most often name of studio)
        Date (span dates in brackets if unknown)
        Notes (sources for any bracketed info)
        Location (especially for manuscript coll. images)
        Subject (LOC; always includes the instruments)
        Digital file (jpeg image connector)
        Source

Eventually this database will be online with our other InMagic databases
(sheet music, songbooks, trade catalogs, etc.).


We have four different designations for our photographs.

Photos that come in with specific manuscript collections get to stay
with those collections (in their own box, of course).  Right now these
photos are not identified, labeled, or preservation copied; they are
accessible only by broad subject categories within the finding aids.
But our long term plan is to eventually include them, or select portions
thereof, in our image databases.

Our second group of photos happen to be publicity photos of musicians
and musical groups.  They were originally intended to have a wide
dispersal through publication, press kits, etc, and most often are posed
or studio shots.  These photos, glossy b&w's, mostly on rc paper, are
low on our list of preservation or access because they are not unique
and, for now anyway, have little use.

Our third group of photos are generated by the Center.  We ourselves
take images at academic or musical functions, or social functions
centered around a musical personality; or we have the university photo
services take the pictures.  (The images that we produce we retain the
negatives and contact sheets for; images taken by the university photo
services we only retain contact sheets for.)  These are high priority on
our list for making accessible.  These are currently being scanned and
entered on the InMagic databases and, because there are no copyright
issues, we can put them on the web.

We choose some representative images from each roll, print them or have
the negatives scanned directly (at photo services; 300 ppi), and enter
information about the image on our InMagic records.

We create a small, low-resolution jpeg copy of the image, store it among
our DbText folders, and link it to the record so that a researcher can
preview the image.

Included among images that we have generated are the photographic copies
we have made of photos loaned to us, or preservation copies (of
fragile/precious images) we have made for researchers.  (While these
will be described on InMagic, they won't have representative images
unless there are no copyright issues.)

Finally, we have a large group of vintage photos that we have been
slowly accumulating (mostly through e-bay auctions, but also through
other purchases and donations) that we know must be preserved and made
accessible as soon as possible. As old as these are, there are no
copyright issues.  We house them in acid-free envelopes, in boxes, and
put them away.  High-resolution digital copies are our researchers'
primary access to them.  Small jpegs are used in the InMagic records for
previews.

Our identification system is a bit complicated, but we assign an id
number based loosely on format / location.  If anyone is interested in
our approach, please feel free to contact me.

David Jellema
Center for Popular Music
Middle Tennessee State University
Murfreesboro, TN 37132
615 898-2449

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