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How to Produce a Photo Archive
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How to Produce a Photo Archive
Location: Northumberland
Since photography emerged over 150 years ago, it has fascinated people all over the world. Many groups are now actively involved in creating collections of photographs that record community life, both past and present. If you’re thinking about creating such a record, where do you start and what are the practicalities involved in producing a photo archive?
Anyone can build an archive following a few simple guidelines. It does not have to be an expensive activity, although it can be very time consuming, so if you’re thinking of doing one, make sure you enlist the help of plenty of volunteers! Planning the archive is essential, as you’ll need to consider how you will gain access to other people’s photos, where the images will be stored and how the records should be categorised and manipulated.
Before you begin, think about what sort of database you will use to store the images. There are off-the-shelf software packages designed for storing and recording images automatically. They range from basic image viewers to more complex library archiving systems such as CATALIST. Some, like COMM@net allow you to store the images on an online database and produce a CD-ROM of your images, though at extra cost.
The other route is to use a ‘proper’ database to record and store images and image information. Again, there are many solutions available if you need a ‘relational’ database (it means you need to decide what information to collect, how it will be searched and presented). Microsoft Access provides a powerful solution, but is not cheap unless you have Office Professional already installed on your PC. Other commercial databases come much more reasonably priced, for example FileMaker Pro. There are also some ‘free’ databases available, if you have the time to customise them to suit your needs. Most will allow you to write ‘forms’ you can use to search your images by date, keyword, image quality etc.
When you are ready to begin gathering images, the best way to gain access to as many photos as possible is to hold an open day. Showing old images can reveal unsuspected details about family and village history. Many archive projects started with a 'bring a box of old photos' day, and resulted in large archives being collected. That's just what happened at the LHI Allen Valleys Archive project. At the venue, ensure you have enough equipment for scanning and plenty of volunteers to help with taking down the records for each image and completing paperwork.
An important point to consider is the issue of copyright before scanning in pictures. A simple consent form will need to be filled in by the person bringing the photograph. This form must make clear how the photo will be used in future, whether distributed on CD, the internet, book format or the group’s own PC based archives. Other pitfalls to be aware of are using pictures from press sources, aerial films, postcards and Frith collections as these are all protected by copyright. If unsure, it may be useful to take extra advice from a Patent and Copyright office. If a professional photo is brought in and it appears to be over 60 years old, you may be able to use it, but you must ensure that you make every effort to track down the photographic studio that took the original photo and obtain their consent.
Once you have collected the images, it’s a matter of recording the details, ensuring you have a completed consent form for each, scanning the image, saving them in a digital format (Jpeg is the most common format for website use, TIF files are better for print use), and making the database accessible to the community.
Libraries, museums and visitor centres are often good places to hold PC-based archives, and an online archive will be accessible wherever you can get an Internet connection. Of course, if you are one of the LHI projects, you can get funding, free advice and support to do a really professional job of your archive.
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