Another interesting book on death portraits is "Secure the Shadow" by Jack
Ruby MIT Press, c1995, although I am not sure it will help with the
exhibition you are planning.


>From: Jim Lyons <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: Museum discussion list <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: Interpreting photographs
>Date: Sun, 1 Oct 2000 17:31:58 -0700
>
> >    Hello all.   Does anyone have any theoretical or methodological
> >suggestions  as to analyzing or interpreting photographs?  I am working
> >with a collection of 34,000  glass plate negatives, all of which came
>from
> >one photography studio (three  photographers) that operated from 1862 to
> >1968 in Leavenworth, Kansas.  The  vast majority of the photos are studio
> >portraits and I would like to develop an  exhibit focusing on "the
>family"
> >as seen through these portraits.  The  project is somewhat overwhelming
> >and I am not quite sure how to approach  it.  So far, I am utilizing
> >methods/theories of material culture but  am wondering what approaches
> >other museum professionals,  historians, and culturists have used.     I
> >am currently reading Severa's Dressed for the  Photographer to gain some
> >ideas.  I am also searching  for books/articles regarding the history of
> >photographic portraits and  photographic interpretation--any suggestions?
> >Or does anyone know of  similar projects?   I will greatly appreciate any
> >input, suggestions, or  advice.   Thank you, Rebecca J. Phipps
>
>=================
>
>Sept 30, 2000
>
>Rebecca,
>
>Perhaps the book Cheryl Maslin is thinking of is ""Sleeping Beauty -
>Memorial Photography in America", 1990.  Unfortunately it's rather pricy -
>ranging from $115 to $400 on www.bookfinder.com.  The subject is about what
>collector's call "post-mortem" photos - those taken after a person dies.
>They were commonly done in the last century since, in many cases, they were
>the only photo taken in the person's lifetime (I know - poor choice of
>word).  You very likely have some in your collection.  But if I read your
>message correctly, I don't think this is what you are looking for.
>(However, one or two post-mortems might fit in your display very nicely -
>at least in the 19th century portion - as they were a common family momento
>back then, and, when tastefully done, there was nothing morbid about them.)
>
>"Wisconsin Death Trip" is a curious book.  The author intermingles some
>wonderful photos of "typical" Wisconsin views, occupations and machinery,
>with portraits of average and not-so-average people of the 1885 to 1900
>period.  Included are probably hundreds of small newspaper news items and
>fillers of the same years.  All-in-all, I imagine it gives a pretty good
>look at life back then.
>
>I'm not quite sure what you mean by "material culture", but when you say "I
>would like to develop an exhibit focusing on "the family" as seen through
>these portraits", I read that as an exhibit that makes the people of long
>ago come alive in the eyes of today's museum visitor.  As a photo collector
>and historian, that's precisely what I look for in photos I buy.  In fact,
>I have a few daguerreotype portraits from my collection online at
>http://www.jimlyons.com./photoid.html.  These are just the start of what I
>want to put online as time allows, but even these may give you some ideas.
>I particularily call your attention to the girl I call "pensive lady", and
>suggest you look at the enlargements of the girl.  This dag was taken about
>1851 or '52, just about 150 years ago, but to me, simply because of her
>expression, she's as alive as anyone today. All the other people in that
>dag series, even the old grandma who was born before the Revolutionary War,
>are just people from long ago.
>
>For interpretation of the photos, I only know of one book: "Photoanalysis"
>(one word), by Dr. Robert U. Akeret.  It's available on Bookfinder for
>under $10.  It's a book on reading the body language of the people in the
>photos, and it's quite illuminating.  Your collection probably has numerous
>photos in which the feeling of the subject at the moment are apparent.  For
>example, in my collection I have a cabinet photo of a father with his two
>young sons.  The youngest - about five years old - is obviously afraid of
>the camera and is backing away from it.  His cigar-smoking father, smiling,
>is gently preventing the boy from turning and running.  Another family
>photo of a century ago shows a girl of about twelve laying her head on her
>younger brother's shoulder.  Another photo taken at the same time shows the
>same girl laying her head on her sitting father's shoulder.  In both cases
>her face is very soft and loving, and precisely what you might see today
>(unlike the stiff carefully posed portraits that probably over 90% are).
>
>For the history of portrait photos, what you want are the books written for
>photo collectors.  There are all kinds of them out there, and any decent
>library will have several. Especially look for the daguerreotypes of
>Southworth & Hawes, who are considered to be the Rembrandts of the dag era.
>Online, dial up the Daguerreian Society at http://www.daguerre.org/ and
>look at the portraits they have to view and follow some of the links.
>
>The daguerreian era was gone by the time your photographers started out in
>1862, but unfortunately I don't know of any later organizations such as the
>Dag Society we can turn to online.  But looking at the earlier photos -
>which collector's invariably refer to as "images" - you will see how some
>people are stiff and cardboard-like, while others will be animated and
>alive.  If you look an enough photos, very likely some ideas will come to
>you about how you'd like to display them.  (One idea I want to put on my
>web site eventually: a set of photos where each succeeding photo is a
>generation earlier than the last, and could well be the other's parent.
>Thus one girl of 25 could well be the mother of the last girl of 25 and the
>grandmother of the last girl of 25.  You can actually have photos going
>back to the current 25 year-old's great-great-great-great grandmother.
>Obviously you could have all sorts of variations on the same theme.)
>
>I've got to confess I envy you having the opportunity to put together such
>an exhibit.  To a collector like me it's the stuff from which dreams are
>made.
>
>-Jim
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>-Jim Lyons
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>[log in to unmask]
>http://www.jimlyons.com
>
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