The digitization of photographic albums at the Victoria and Albert Museum and other London-based cultural institutions

Daphne Yuen

doi:10.32920/ryerson.14646678

Abstract

This thesis investigates current digitization approaches to photographic albums by surveying the practices at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, England alongside three other London-based institutions: the British Museum, British Library, and National Portrait Gallery. It highlights the value in researching and recording these documentation methods as an integral yet often overlooked part of museums’ institutional history. For contextual background for the survey, a brief history of photographic albums and their inherent conservation issues is presented along with albums’ digitization guidelines and a discussion of how digitization influences our relationship to the original object. The types of digitization methods employed at each institution is then examined to understand how curatorial and technical factors influence the digitization process and to observe the trends across the four institutions. A case study was performed at the Victoria and Albert Museum of a photographic album being digitized and is included in the appendices.

Highlights

Late nineteenth and early twentieth-century photographic albums have secured a place in museum collections due to increasing interest by historians in these objects’ potential and role as cultural artifacts
In order to investigate current approaches to the digitization of photographic albums, the Victoria and Albert Museum is surveyed alongside the British Museum, the British Library, and the National Portrait Gallery
The survey conducted at the Victoria and Albert Museum alongside the British Museum, the British Library, and the National Portrait Gallery reveals some of the intricacies involved in the approach to digitization of photographic albums including institutional factors

Summary

Introduction

Late nineteenth and early twentieth-century photographic albums have secured a place in museum collections due to increasing interest by historians in these objects’ potential and role as cultural artifacts Their artifactual status is informed by the original social context in which the album was constructed and is accentuated through its institutionalization. In order to investigate current approaches to the digitization of photographic albums, the Victoria and Albert Museum is surveyed alongside the British Museum, the British Library, and the National Portrait Gallery These four institutions have been selected because their collections. ‘Chapter Three: Digitization of Photographic Albums at the Victoria and Albert Museum, the British Museum, British Library, and National Portrait Gallery’ will present an assessment of the collected data from the survey of the four London-based institutions in order to determine differences and similarities in practices.

Literature Survey

Conclusion

Star TIFF

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