David Spivak-Focus Magazine
15-Jan-2008, 22:41
Source: The Photograph Collector/Focus Magazine
The photo world will soon have a wiki dedicated to understanding the diverse materials and methods of photography. Designed for use by collectors, curators, archivists and conservators, the wiki is under development at GeorgeEastman House International Museum of Photography & Film, which will create and maintain the globally accessible online resource addressing photograph appreciation and identification. The creation of the wiki has been made possible via a $323,000 grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, a federal agency.
This wiki, the first of its kind, will include documentation on cameras, print materials, chemical processes and other imaging devices and materials from the entire history of photography. In addition to serving as a repository for documentation, the wiki will facilitate a classification scheme for imaging materials to be used by collectors and historians. It will address aesthetic, scholarly, and forensic questions of detail, type, condition, age, process and other elements of photograph appreciation and identification. For example, if researching a photograph by Lewis Hine, one could access and analyze, via this online wiki, Hine’s signature and his handwritten notes on the back of the image, in addition to locating keys to identifying the types of paper he used. The information will be freely distributed as a searchable database, providing a dynamic and authoritative online resource.
“George Eastman House recognizes an emerging urgent need for a comprehensive method of recording the characteristics of photographs as physical objects, particularly for conservation,” said Dr. Anthony Bannon, director of George Eastman House. “Features of traditional photographs that are key to their preservation are being lost in current cataloguing efforts.”
“The wiki aims at describing the photograph as object, not just as image, and identifying the significant aspects of its individual character, such as how it’s mounted, how it’s inscribed, signed, stamped — providing a better understanding, examination and knowledge of the photograph,” said Grant Romer, director of Eastman House’s Advanced Residency Program, who is overseeing the wiki project. The project was begun in 2006 by Luisa Casella, who at the time was an Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Fellow of the Eastman House’s Advanced Residency Program in Photograph Conservation and is now a Fellow at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
The new wiki model will take up to two years to develop. Whereas most wikis allow all users to contribute and edit content, the Eastman House wiki will be “closed,” featuring ongoing contributions from noted curators, scholars and gallerists coordinated through an established staff at Eastman House.
In addition to this wiki, Eastman House is currently posting podcasts about its collections, preservation projects and exhibitions at http://podcast.eastmanhouse.org. These are accessible at eastmanhouse.org, youtube.com and through iTunes. For further information about Eastman House, visit www.eastmanhouse.org. Sam Ellis Prints is an on-line eBay store handling photographers such as Andre de Dienes, George Barris, Ken Sax and more. To view vintage prints and limited editions print for sale, visit http://stores.ebay.com/samellisprintsonline. For further information, contact Sam Ellis Prints at samellisprints@yahoo.com or 1005 West Lakeview Drive, Palmdale, CA 90212.
The photo world will soon have a wiki dedicated to understanding the diverse materials and methods of photography. Designed for use by collectors, curators, archivists and conservators, the wiki is under development at GeorgeEastman House International Museum of Photography & Film, which will create and maintain the globally accessible online resource addressing photograph appreciation and identification. The creation of the wiki has been made possible via a $323,000 grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, a federal agency.
This wiki, the first of its kind, will include documentation on cameras, print materials, chemical processes and other imaging devices and materials from the entire history of photography. In addition to serving as a repository for documentation, the wiki will facilitate a classification scheme for imaging materials to be used by collectors and historians. It will address aesthetic, scholarly, and forensic questions of detail, type, condition, age, process and other elements of photograph appreciation and identification. For example, if researching a photograph by Lewis Hine, one could access and analyze, via this online wiki, Hine’s signature and his handwritten notes on the back of the image, in addition to locating keys to identifying the types of paper he used. The information will be freely distributed as a searchable database, providing a dynamic and authoritative online resource.
“George Eastman House recognizes an emerging urgent need for a comprehensive method of recording the characteristics of photographs as physical objects, particularly for conservation,” said Dr. Anthony Bannon, director of George Eastman House. “Features of traditional photographs that are key to their preservation are being lost in current cataloguing efforts.”
“The wiki aims at describing the photograph as object, not just as image, and identifying the significant aspects of its individual character, such as how it’s mounted, how it’s inscribed, signed, stamped — providing a better understanding, examination and knowledge of the photograph,” said Grant Romer, director of Eastman House’s Advanced Residency Program, who is overseeing the wiki project. The project was begun in 2006 by Luisa Casella, who at the time was an Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Fellow of the Eastman House’s Advanced Residency Program in Photograph Conservation and is now a Fellow at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
The new wiki model will take up to two years to develop. Whereas most wikis allow all users to contribute and edit content, the Eastman House wiki will be “closed,” featuring ongoing contributions from noted curators, scholars and gallerists coordinated through an established staff at Eastman House.
In addition to this wiki, Eastman House is currently posting podcasts about its collections, preservation projects and exhibitions at http://podcast.eastmanhouse.org. These are accessible at eastmanhouse.org, youtube.com and through iTunes. For further information about Eastman House, visit www.eastmanhouse.org. Sam Ellis Prints is an on-line eBay store handling photographers such as Andre de Dienes, George Barris, Ken Sax and more. To view vintage prints and limited editions print for sale, visit http://stores.ebay.com/samellisprintsonline. For further information, contact Sam Ellis Prints at samellisprints@yahoo.com or 1005 West Lakeview Drive, Palmdale, CA 90212.