2009 March 25 Press Release
From George Eastman House : Notes On Photographs
For Immediate Release Media Contact:
Dresden Engle dengle @geh.org
March 25, 2009 (585) 271-3361 ext. 213
George Eastman House creating a wiki for photograph evaluation and identification
The online resource, the first of its kind, provides dialogue and information for collectors, conservators;‘Notes on Photographs’ launches June 2009
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The photo world will soon have a wiki dedicated to understanding the diverse materials and methods of photography, set to launch in June 2009. The wiki, titled Notes On Photographs, is designed for collaborative contribution and use by collectors, curators, archivists, and conservators. It is under development at George Eastman House International Museum of Photography & Film, where staff will 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.
“Notes on Photographs 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, research curator at George Eastman House and also co-director of the Center for the Legacy of Photography, who is overseeing the wiki project.
Notes On Photographs gathers “notes” that enhance communal understanding of the significant artifacts of the history of photography, contributed by multiple institutions and individuals. The searchable database will provide a dynamic and authoritative online resource, deepening understanding of valued photographic prints by adding information, identifying, and characterizing key attributes of the work of specific photographers, recognized as masters of the medium. Among the photographers currently featured on Notes On Photographs are Ansel Adams, Berenice Abbott, Eugene Atget, Alvin Langdon Coburn, Frederick Henry Evan, Lewis Wickes Hine, Gertrude Kasebier, and Alfred Stieglitz.
The wiki, the first of its kind, 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 Hine, one could access and analyze Hine’s signature and his handwritten notes on the back of the image, as well identifying the types of paper he used. Other key attributes identified on the site include Evans’s preference for multiple layer mounts; Coburn’s use of Cristoid films; Kasebier’s manipulation of interpositives; signatures of Edward Weston; and various stamps by Ansel Adams.
Notes on Photographs will include documentation on print materials, chemical processes, cameras, and other imaging devices and materials from the entire history of photography. To establish authority, Notes On Photographs will include protected articles from noted curators, scholars, and gallerists worldwide, and will require registration for users who wish to add and edit content. However, the public will be able to view and access all content.
“George Eastman House recognizes an emerging urgent need for a comprehensive method of recording the characteristics of photographs as physical objects, particularly for conservation but also for collecting,” said Dr. Anthony Bannon, director of George Eastman House. “Features of traditional photographs key to their preservation are being lost in current cataloguing efforts.”
An illuminating reference culled from a rare book, a significant passage transcribed from a unique letter, a hidden inscription revealed and documented in a conservation laboratory -- such are the fragments of knowledge daily noted by those who work to understand rare and fine photographs, including students, historians, collectors, curators, conservators, archivists, and scholars. Although each element is of individual worth, the greater value of these observations goes unrealized if not commonly pooled for the benefit of all.
“With modern information technology the ability to pool information from a variety of different sources that are relevant to the value of the photograph are infinitely better than they were in the past,” Romer said. “You will be able to access the information of the actual object that exists here at Eastman House in our masterworks collection. We will scan important images and their elements and post them online so others can compare and contrast and do research.”
Notes On Photographs will assemble notes contributed by multiple institutions and individuals. Additional features include the ability to add comments on individual pages providing a forum for discussion; and image presentation tools to compare images and to view high-resolution images, the latter in development with the Computer Science Department at the University of Rochester.
To access the wiki, visit www.notesonphotographs.org. In addition to this wiki, Eastman House currently is posting Podcasts about its collections, preservation projects, and exhibitions. These are accessible at eastmanhouse.org, youtube.com, and through iTunes.
About George Eastman House
George Eastman House is the world’s oldest photography museum, founded in 1947 on the estate of Kodak founder George Eastman, the father of popular photography and motion picture film. The museum has unparalleled collections of 400,000 photographs from 9,000 photographers dating from the beginnings of the medium; 20,000 items of cameras technology; 28,000 motion picture titles and 3.5 million publicity stills and posters; and one of the world’s most comprehensive library of photographic books, manuscripts, and journals. In modern archives adjacent to the National Historic Landmark home and gardens, the museum offers world-leading graduate and post-graduate programs in photograph and film preservation, including the world’s first and leading programs in photograph conservation. The 60-year-old Eastman House has long been an authority on care and evaluation of photographic collections, and established more than 30 years ago the world’s first photo conservation programs.