Many academic libraries have foolishly gotten rid of their picture files simply because they take up space they wish to use for other purposes or they assume that “everything is on the internet” which we all know is untrue.  Because the people doing the dumping do not really know what they are throwing away, often times rare and unique material that can have real monetary value – if the art historical is being ignored – is sent to be pulped. To be fair, clippings –especially mounted ones that take up so much space – no longer interest me. They generally exist in other formats within the library and are not unique. Photographs that some people think are mere illustrations of an object or building are by known photographers like Charles Sheeler, Clarence, Kennedy, Dora Mar, and Brassai.  

 

Even if the photographs are not by known photographers, the collection of the works themselves have great didactic value. At a college within driving distance of DC, I was alerted by a soon-to-retire professor of the imminent dumping of their photo archive. He wanted me to come take it all before a studio professor trashed it so the room could be turned into additional studio space.  I explained that while I couldn’t take it all, I would come down and cherry pick the archive for unique images. I also knew it contained an American Colonial portrait collection that was unique, assembled and annotated  by a scholar in the 1930s.  I telephoned the chair of the department on Wednesday to say I would be there on Friday morning to go through the archive. I specifically said how important the portrait collection was and how useful it would be to scholars.  I was assured by the chair that it would be there for me to retrieve. On Friday morning when I arrived, not only had the American portrait collection (and all the American section) been tossed in a dumpster by the studio professor,  the dumpster had been emptied. All rather vindictive to me and a total surprise to the chair who had told specifically told the studio person of my intentions. I managed to salvage eight boxes of photos from a loading dock containing useful or unique material for the NGA Library.

 

My advice would be to discard any image clipped or cut from another source but to keep any photographic image until someone with knowledge of photo history can review them.  You might contact a photo dealer to see if any of the images have a cash value, rather than simply tossing them. The university gallery may wish to go through them too. Finally, offer them up to students who may appreciate them more than you would think.

 

There is also an assumption that slide libraries are obsolete. Certainly, any image made from a reproduction or book can be digitized from the original source with a resulting better image. The same artwork is probably commercially available from vendors like Scholars Resource or Davis Art Images and may also be found in Artstor. Many slide collections contain unique material taken by professors that is still useful – and your institution may also hold the copyright (so useful when scholars need an image for an article). Again, weed the collection of any image made from a reproduction, but retain anything unique. This will make the slide collection considerably smaller yet keep some analog images accessible. We have many rare slide collections at the NGA – like the Führerauftrag Monumentalmalerei (Führer’s Order for Monumental Painting) documenting immovable art in the Third Reich, and a unique collection of manuscript illuminations. Collections like these could have easily been tossed at many institutions by someone who didn’t take the time to understand what they were.

 

The Visual Resources Division of ARLIS/NA has many people who have gone through this process  - either with forethought and planning, or have been forced to simply trash their image archives without regard for their scholarly importance by overzealous administrators. I am sure you will benefit from their experience. At the past several conferences, image librarians have held sessions devoted to making these collections accessible and relevant in a digital age.

 

Gregory Most

 

 

Dear ARLISers,

I am curious as to whether any academic libraries still maintain a “picture file” (image file, clippings file, etc.) and index?

Newish librarian here – who has recently discovered ours and it’s taking up space with images that can (for the most part) be found elsewhere.

Kind regards,

Mary Wahl

 

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Mary Wahl

Digital Services Librarian

Art, Anthropology and American Indian Studies Librarian

California State University, Northridge

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