Photographic Record Descriptions
For this assignment I analyzed collections from the New York Public Library and the Frick Digital Image Archive.
I understand that the purpose of this assignment is to analyze how photos are described in online collections, but I wanted to include the path to get to these photographs. We have discussed in class and have read about the importance of good photographic records, but if a person can not find a way to see the photo or the record attached to it, then the value of the record has no meaning.
NYPL:
After visiting the New York Public Library main page, I was easily able to find the digital collections. I just had to run my mouse over the “Research” tab and then I clicked “Digital Galleries” which was a subheading under “Electronic Resources.” The image on the left is a capture of the main page of the library. I wanted to immediately browse the various
collections, but I could not figure out how to from the options given.
The browse section, as featured on the right, does not clearly state where I can browse collections. What exactly does “Arts & Literature” mean? I thought that that would be listed under “subjects”, but as it turns out, by clicking terms like “Cities & Buildings” you are taken to a page with collections that cover that topic. Otherwise, the only way to reach the collections is by selecting “Subjects” and then clicking “Collection Guides” at the top of the page.
Although I originally clicked a link for “Arts & Literature”, I wanted to browse through all the collections available and was able to do so through a drop down
menu.
When scrolling through the various collections, “Changing New York: Photographs by Berenice Abbott, 1935-1938” caught my eye.
However, I did also click into other collections and I found the level of detail, i.e. item level description and format of the finding aid to be uniform.
The main page of the collection is on the left. The Society of American Archivists define a finding aid as, “1. A tool that facilitates discovery of information within a collection of records. [and] 2. A description of records that gives the repository physical and intellectual control over the materials and that assists users to gain access to and understand the materials” (SAA).
Using the above definition and our discussions in class, it is clear to me that the finding aid for this collection is very thorough.
This is even clearer when analyzed with our text book. In our book, the authors suggest that a finding aid should open with a brief description of the collection, just like the one written below the title of the collection in the finding aid above. Then, the finding aid should expand to include more details about the collection (Ritzenthaler et al., 2006). The NYPL provides an account of what is in the collection, where they acquired the photographs, and also included background information on the author. I have cut off the remainder of the background information for the purpose of space, but the 6 paragraphs the NYPL provides is an excellent resource for any researcher.
Lastly, our book suggests that the final section of the finding aid should describe each series and provide information on the arrangement (Ritzenthaler et al., 2006). This aspect is the only one that I found lacking in this collection, but it is important to note that other collections at the NYPL did have series. However, there was not a lot of description of the various series, just their titles and dates. In this collection, the NYPL does write, as seen in the last paragraph of the “Collection History”, “Support from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1991-1992 enabled a computerized inventory of the individual prints-titles, dates, sizes, physical characteristics such as various hand-stamps, additional inscriptions, paper weight and types, print quality, and preservation condition. The images also received subject entries at this time. Information extracted from this database describes the particular prints presented in this digital collection.”
Though the above information is helpful to a researcher, it hardly makes looking through the 344 item collection any easier. Since the NYPL went through the trouble of dating each photograph, I would have thought that they would divide the photos into a few series, with each year receiving its own series. However, with some of the photographs, they give the photo a date range, which can make searching by series a challenge. For example, in a photo with a 1936-1938 date, which series would you put it in? My brain says 1936, but as we have discussed in class, what is logical to me, may not be logical to someone else.
The record that the NYPL provides at the item level is a terrific example of how photographic records should be done. There is one change I would make, but I will get in to that later.
Our textbook states that a full description at the item level should include a creator, title, date, access points, reference code, repository, location, note, source and access points (Ritzenthaler et al., 2006). This record has them all, and then some. I particularly like that it states the specific material type as “Photographs” and then also mentions that the medium is a gelatin silver print. Our textbook declares that in order for a record to be useful, it must included the word “photograph” in the description, describe the type of photograph, provide a physical description, name the photographer, and include a statement of rights (Ritzenthaler et al., 2006). The statement of rights is the one place where the NYPL could improve.
It is not until you scroll to the top of the page and select “buy” that you can even determine if you are allowed to make a copy of the object.
The message to the left is what appears when you click “buy.” I find it to be a little vague and wish that the NYPL would include information about copying and use on the main page. After all, if someone did not think to click “Buy” they may be under the impression that they can reprint at will.
Going back to the record itself, I must point out the the NYPL uses Library of Congress subject headings. Dooley says that most records provide at least three subject terms (Dooley, 1995), but our book points out that in order to maximize use of the image, providing up to ten access points is acceptable (Ritzenthaler et al., 2006). Though I personally find ten to be a little over zealous, the NYLP provides six access points for this record, all of which I would find helpful if I was trying to locate an image like this one.
The Frick Digital Image Archive:
If there was one thing I did not enjoy about the Frick collection from the start, it was trying to navigate their webpage to take me to their digital collection. First, it took me a while to find where they had placed the link to the “Photoarchive.” Once I found it I was taken to a new page where I clicked “Digital projects” which was not the correct selection. Then, once I found “Digital Photoarchive” in the sidebar, I taken to another page that then gives you a link to the real Digital Image Archive.
Though the webpage allows you to quite obviously search by keyword on the front page, I wanted to browse collections, in particular, the collection in the left sidebar called, “Images of Artists.” It is the last link in the photo on the left. There were more collections listed below, but I was unable to make a screen capture that could showcase the entire page and still fit on this blog.
I assumed, incorrectly, that I would be able to find out more information on the collection by clicking on the collection link. Instead of bringing me to a finding aid or a collection level record, I was taken to the page on the right. There was just 68 thumbnails that are all in the same collection, but have no other information. I can not even tell you what order the images were in. They were not in order by title, or photographer, or artist or by date, so the logic to their arrangement is anyone’s guess.
I selected the first image in the list to focus on.
Though it is titled “Jean Francois Millet, 1814-1875”, the record has the date listed as undated. This is crazy since you at least can give it a circa date. If you know that it is a picture of the studio, meaning the artist was already painting, you know that he was at least 15 years old, most likely older, but 15 would be a very safe bet. That at least gives you a date range from 1829-1875.
As discussed in class, a description should be focused on what the image is of, and not what the image is about. After all, the “aboutness” of a photograph can be open to interpretation, where as the “of” of the photograph should just provide the facts. This description is good at only stating facts, but it does not mention that the material being described is a photograph, which as I have already mentioned, needs to either be mentioned in the title or the description. At least it is mentioned in the material field.
However, Millet was a French Realist painter, and the record does not indicate if he was the one who took the photograph or if he is just listed because it is his studio. Furthermore, I find it peculiar that this item is in a collection titled “Images of Artists” when the artist is not in fact in the image. This discrepancy could be explained away, perhaps through the scope field at the collection level, but not having a collection level record or a finding aid leaves a few questions.
I hate to say this, but I will confess that a few months ago I would have been convinced that this was a good description. I would not have thought twice about the photo being undated or that the photographer is not explicitly stated. However, through this course I have learned that there is no excuse for leaving key information off a record, especially if you are taking the time to provide an item level description. There is not point in doing it if you are not going to do it right.
References:
Dooley, J.M. "Processing and Cataloging of Archival Photograph Collections". Visual Resources 11:1 (1995)
Ritzenthaler, M.L., Vogt-O’Connor, D., Zinkham, H., Carnell, B., & Peterson, K. (2006).
Photographs: Archival Care and Management. Chicago: Society of American
Archivists.
SAA, Glossary Search: finding aid. Society of American Archivists. 2013. Retrieved
from http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/f/finding-aid
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