To See or Not To See: Description of Photographic Collections

In order to describe two different photographic collections, I set out to analyze the contrasting and similar characteristics between two cultural institutions.  I chose the Peabody Essex Museum, here in the Salem, Massachusetts, and the Shetland Museum and Archives of Scotland, both are museums from different countries but share similar goals by providing thought-provoking, informational resources and displays of human culture in conjunction with the sharing of the English language—which is needed for this comparison.  Both institutions were found with a simple Google search; the later needed some digging.  I chose the PEM because of my familiarity with the museum and its collection of photographs—boasting over a million artifacts overall.  According to the museum’s website, “the photographic collection is an assortment of 19th-century Asian, Native American, maritime and early American photographs, it also includes modern and contemporary art and represents hundreds of different techniques, from paper negative to digital” (http://www.pem.org/collections/12-photography). 

The Peabody’s collection began with the acquisition in 1840 of Vincent Chevalier's Daguerreotype of Pont Neuf in Paris, made in 1839 (http://www.pem.org/collections/12-photography).   There is also a disclaimer of the Museum’s holding of over 200 Matthew Brady Civil War photographs as well.  However, I was a little upset when I searched for available images through the museum’s collection on the website because the results were very limited.  The collections webpage lists twelve distinctly different topics—collection level descriptions—such as African Art, Native American Art, etc., and each specific topic features thirty related images that can be viewed along with the accompanied data.  I can surmise that the collections department is naturally backlogged; nevertheless, are there only 360 images available for online view?  Furthermore, of the 360 images, only thirty are of actual photographic prints, which are available, the rest are digital images of artifacts summarizing the various collections.  It would be safe to assume that interested researchers can view more of the photographic collections via walk-in and/or appointment to the museum’s library or repository.

I therefore did a finding aid “search” on the museum’s website and was directed to all of the museum’s holdings that have presently undergone processing through the Phillip’s Library, part of the Peabody Essex Museum.  A specific search for photographic prints narrowed the list.  Each record contains necessary elements set in box inventories to assist researchers; such boxes contained various volumes, provenance, copyright material, etc.  Nevertheless, no further access to online photographic print viewing was available.      

The Shetland Museum was chosen due to my curiosity of what an overseas institution would look like and what it would have to offer; and furthermore, to explore their methods in online displays and content material.  My goal here is look for commonalities and differences between an American museum and a foreign counterpart, and my initial guess would be that they would be far more common than expected. 

The Shetland Museum Photographic Archive claims over 60,000 images depicting Shetland life.  This was interesting considering the geographic isolation of the Shetland Islands, which is off the northern coast of Scotland.  The museum also invites the public to submit personal photos depicting Shetland life as well.  Overall, I anticipated discovering unique depictions of life on these islands while analyzing the photographic data.      

Looking at the (available) photographic collection from the Peabody Essex first, I found this particular daguerreotype unique because it is both painted and in stereo.

Peabody Essex Museum

I think this photograph is a wise choice to display on the collection’s website, particularly because I personally have not seen a stereo daguerreotype, nor one that has been colored to this extent.   Nevertheless, this photo, as well as all of the online photographs, contains an information icon on the lower right side for the viewer to click.  This provides a small window of data about the image.  In the case of the daguerreotype, most of the basic elements for description are given, including the accession number, as seen here.

Peabody Essex Museum

However, in this next photograph, which is an albumen print that is also hand colored, less information is provided.  The image has a title, which at best provides a limited description—the assumption of a Japanese woman in the year 1880 is at toilette refreshing.  We are provided with the name of a creator, the type of print, and the name of the collection the print came from.  The descriptive elements provided may or may not be adequate, that would depend on the level of interest and research needed.  A noteworthy observation, both the Peabody and Shetland fail to list the print dimensions.

The Shetland Archive Museum provides the online visitor with far more images than the Peabody Essex.  In addition, considering that this museum is a repository for Shetland archives, the printed images are all provided with different levels of description, minus any dimensions.

In fact, the Shetland Museum provides more information for the visitor than the descriptive entries from the Peabody Essex.  The Shetland Museum images similarly feature titles, creators, dates, and cataloging numbers.  Separating from the Peabody, the Shetland Museum also provides, but not always, a detailed description of the image captured, usually with additional dates and names.  What I found unique was the subject heading listings each photograph was provided with, which enables easier searching.

 Curiously, most print data also listed a parish.  Initially, I thought each photograph must be situated to a close proximity of a parish, or church.  However, I realized it is the actual setting of the photograph’s depiction.  According to Wikipedia, a parish, “by extension…refers not only to the territorial unit but to the people of its community or congregation as well as to church property within it” (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parishes).

Three levels, or online finding aids, enhance searching for print images in the Shetland Archive Museum: subjects, advanced, and index searches.  The subject search serves as a great browser, the online visitor can narrow searches done by photographer, parish, or subject, and each heading is filled with many options.  When a photograph, or whole print collection, is found, each description record features a “related item” link for the online visitor.  I typed in a search for “sheep”—It is Scotland—and came up with 797 items, of which, the majority, not all, did display sheep. 

Overall, examining the photographic print collections from both institutions helped me understand the difference in dynamics between them; particularly distinctive is the intended audience the websites were developed for.  The Peabody Essex is a large museum with a substantial budget, and the holdings are diverse in every way.  The theme of the overall collection centers around centuries of maritime trade and commerce, with particular focus on the China trade and whaling.  Though the Peabody Essex is a research institute, the physicality of the place is huge, which brings a large number of visitors with diverse backgrounds. The Shetland Museum appears more centrally located and more focused on the life-style of the habitants on the islands.  It does share a common maritime theme with oceanic trade commerce.  However, by looking at the accessible prints, the Shetland Museum has a distinct archival look over the Peabody with a more substantial photographic print collection.  A noteworthy observation, both the Peabody and Shetland fail to list the print dimensions with the print collections, and the Shetland’s collection of over 67054 Items appears to trump the undisclosed number held at the Peabody Essex.   

Works Cited

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parishes
http://photos.shetland-museum.org.uk/index.php?a=collections&s=gallery
http://www.pem.org/collections/12-photography
http://www.pem.org
http://www.shetlandmuseumandarchives.org.uk