The two online collections I am analyzing are the photo archives of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and the African American Photographs Assembled for 1900 Paris Exhibition (via the Library of Congress). You can visit USHMM here and the African American Photographs here.
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
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| USHMM's catalog |
The USHMM provides a lengthy collection-level description, but oddly enough doesn't seem to provide much information about the photos
themselves. This is probably because the entire site is devoted to educating
people about the holocaust and honoring those who died; they might assume
that individuals looking at their photographs already understand what happened. In
the collection-level description, it is pointed out that only a fraction of
their materials are actually online. This information about scope and extent is helpful, but the same text is copied and pasted onto a few different screens and becomes a nuisance. I started skipping over all the general descriptive texts because I assumed it would simply be saying the same thing over and over again. Near the bottom of the main page, there is some valuable information about which departments to contact (including links) for different types of queries. All this information is essential to at least one type of user, but the way in which it is presented is a bit overwhelming; a toolbar or additional links may be more helpful than a seemingly never-ending list.
Once I started to look for photographs, I noticed that there wasn't any kind of "browse" option; patrons are required to submit some kind of search to view the catalog. Fortunately, there is a list of subject areas the collection covers that the user can transform into search terms. The search I performed was for historical photos; the term I entered was "Germany." There was no advanced search option. (Many of these are usability issues, but they reflect on the overall experience.)
The
USHMM had a very interesting collection of photographs. My first impression was
that these records were quite unique in that most of them included a biography
of the family or individual photographed. 
Although the photo is basically a portrait of one man, the description delineates his entire
family history. These personal histories are interesting, but they can become
very confusing. The purpose of including these histories can be linked to USHMM’s purpose: they are
a “living memorial” and work to “promote human dignity,” which may be accomplished
by humanizing the victims of the holocaust (http://www.ushmm.org/museum/about/).
Some other notable aspects of these descriptions are in regard to the subject classifications and keywords. As Diane Neal found, one of the most preferred methods of image retrieval (in photojournalism) is by the specific events occurring in the photograph; and as Mahard instructs, subject headings should "provide name headings for individual buildings, people, [and] events" (Week 7). The USHMM does a great job of identifying people and events in these photos.
In addition to identifying predominant subjects, subject headings should also take note of unusual subjects.
I'll point out a few of the keywords in this record: "Automobiles" is accurate, but may be misleading as this is not an actual working car. "Stuffed Animals" is an interesting addition; but you never know when someone might be researching stuffed animals in the 1930s! Looking through some other records' subject classifications, I found a few that were a little out of control (i.e. "DISPLACED PERSONS/RETURN TO LIFE -- DP Camps/Postwar Communities -- Germany -- Ainring"). I didn't notice any subjects or keywords that were inaccurate, and although some seemed random or unnecessary, they could be invaluable to researchers.
Something I love about this site is the "Recognize Someone?" button at the top of each page of the catalog. Natanson stresses the importance of collaboration, and this is a perfect example. If users recognize an individual in a photograph, they can click the link and are then taken to an online form. They submit the form, including their contact information and a brief explanation of the individual they recognize, and are supposedly contacted by USHMM shortly thereafter.
Although there are many great things about USHMM's collection, there are some inconsistencies. For example, the title of photographs in the list view was often a bit longer (and more of a description) than in the record itself.
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| The photograph and title as they appear in the results list |
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| The photo and title as they appear in the item record |
The item record includes a few sentences further explaining context. It's possible the list view included the extra sentence as an attention-grabber; additionally, it's probably safe to assume that there aren't many existing pictures of prisoners in this state of shaven heads but still in possession of their own clothes and luggage.
The last major thing I noticed about this collection was that there were some inconsistencies with "Unknowns." Notice the following picture. The item record suggests an unknown date and unknown locale, but below there are subjects and keywords for Woebbelin. I did some quick searches on Google and found out that the three names under Subject Classification all refer to the same place. I also found out that this camp was only in operation for a short time, so the date of this picture could probably be narrowed down to 1944 or 1945. If it is to be assumed that these graves are being buried after liberation, the date would be sometime after May of 1945.
Overall, I think USHMM's photo collection is casualty of MPLP. There is such an abundance of records and a very high demand for them. It's great that there is access to so many photographs, but the information for each photo is incomplete. As Foster helps us understand, MPLP results in (and requires) the minimum description necessary (116). As a result of MPLP, the collection lacks good digitized photos--users cannot enlarge or zoom in on most of them (although they can request copies to be mailed or emailed). Natanson recommends that information is linked, and fortunately USHMM links subjects and keywords; however, there is no information about photographic processes or technologies used.
The African American Photographs Assembled for 1900 Paris Exhibition
The collection-level description for the African American
Photographs is concise, but contains some valuable information about the collection
itself. On the left-hand side of the web page, there is a menu with information
about the background/scope, popular aspects of the collection, and rights and
restrictions. There is also the option to browse by subjects, formats, or
creators. Users can also browse the entire collection. Once in the catalog, the researcher can choose their preferred view
(i.e. thumbnails, list, slideshow). In each photograph’s record, there are
additional tabs with instructions for obtaining copies and gaining access to
the original.
It seems as though this collection excels where the USHMM did not and vice versa. While USHMM didn't include any information about photographic processes or technology, this collection incorporates as much detail as possible.
In this example, we see that the photo is a gelatin silver print. Additionally, we know it is in an album, and we can get access to black and white copy prints or a microfilm surrogate. The only other noticeably missing information (in regard to the process, technology, or physical characteristics) that might be of use is the size and dimensions of the photo. Another way in which this collection excels over USHMM is the digitization process; all the photos in this collection can be enlarged and they are very easy to view. Additionally, MARC has been incorporated into this catalog and the standard helps with consistency.
Conversely, the African American collection doesn't have the best description of the items themselves.Very few include any names of individuals, and most of the buildings are unidentified. To reiterate the importance of identifying and labeling specific people, buildings, and events (Neal, Mahard), consider the following photo:
This photograph has been given a title by the cataloger (indicated by brackets in the item record): "African American children with a few adults in a pavilion." I don't profess to know much about African American culture in Georgia at the turn of the century, but it seems to me that there is some type of event taking place here and that it should be able to be identified. It could be some kind of youth church or school activity; they seem to be dressed up for something special (as indicated by hats and fans). The title is useless in identifying what is taking place here, and the subject headings don't shed any more light on the matter. While the USHMM provided extensive (if not a bit superfluous) background and contextual information, the African American collection has hardly anything at all!
The subject headings that are included in this collection seem to be much more "standard" than those of USHMM. This is probably due to my relative familiarity with LCSH and the obvious similarities between the subject headings in the photograph collections and their print materials. The following is an example of the subject headings used in the African American Collection. Many of the terms for subjects, and formats (and obviously the collection) were the same in almost every photograph.
Something interesting I observed was that although sometimes a name was known, it wasn't included as part of the title. For example, in the following record, the cataloger-provided title is "Summit Avenue Ensemble, Atlanta, Georgia." It's
possible this is what the group actually called themselves, but there's
no indication of that in the record. Since the names of all the
individuals are known I think they should be incorporated in the title
somehow.
Another interesting practice implemented in this collection was the use of the question mark. Notice in the picture above that Thomas Askew's date of birth has a question mark next to it. The following record uses a question mark by the date. Using circa ("ca." instead of "?") seems more professional to me, but it's possible the standard they were using requires a question mark.
The African American Photographs have also been affected by MPLP. The descriptions lack specificity and many of the items contain all the same subject headings for simplicity's sake. We are reminded by Foster that researchers are either looking for one very specific image or they are going very in-depth and want to see all images. Fortunately, this collection is probably used primarily by in-depth researchers or patrons interested in W. E. B. Du Bois, who collected many of these images for the 1900 exhibition.
Conclusion
While the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Photo Archives collection had amazing identification and descriptions of people, events, and context, the African American Photographs Assembled for 1900 Paris Exhibition collection was better at identifying photographic processes and technology. Both institutions made good use of subject headings, although the USHMM incorporated some rather cumbersome strands of terminology. The USHMM encouraged the community to participate and contribute to their projects, while the African American collection didn't even provide the option.
Both collections have been affected by MPLP in different ways. USHMM has seen a lack of information about photographic processes and the digitization is not very impressive. While the African American collection provides good digitized photographs, there is very little description and almost no identification of individuals or events. These differences in product are a result of differences in purpose. While USHMM's purpose is more history-related and focused on providing a biographical background, the African American collection is more focused on providing quality images and general technical information.
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Works Cited
Foster,
Anne (2006) Minimum standards processing and photograph collections. Archival
Issues 30 (2), 107-118.
Mathes,
Adam. “Scurlock Photographs Cataloging Analysis.” Dec. 2004
Natanson,
B O. "Worth a Billion Words? Library of Congress Pictures Online."
Journal Of American History-Bloomington- 94, no. 1 (2007): 99.
Neal,
D. (2008). News photographers, librarians, tags, and controlled vocabularies:
Balancing the forces. Journal of Library Metadata, 8(3), 199-219
Additional Sources:
Mahard, Martha. LIS 471 class lectures, weeks 5-7.
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