Symposium Abstract
Throughout the twentieth century, photography was fundamentally a paper-based medium, and photographic papers have played a crucial role in shaping the medium’s history and practice. However, little research has been done on how the material, technical, and visual properties of these papers impacted the work of photographers. This lack of scholarly attention stems partly from the difficulty of accessing and analyzing the physical characteristics of historical photographic papers.
To address this gap, the Lens Media Lab at Yale University’s Institute for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage has undertaken an extensive project to document and characterize its collection of over 7,500 dated and identified silver gelatin papers manufactured between 1890 and 2010. This dataset includes detailed measurements of surface roughness, gloss, base color, and other key material properties to delineate the wide variety of papers used by both professional and amateur photographers during the twentieth century. This rich trove of data will be made publicly accessible through Paperbase, a new web-based research platform developed by the Lens Media Lab.
By providing access to this unique dataset through Paperbase, the Lens Media Lab seeks to catalyze new approaches to characterizing the material practices of twentieth-century photographers. Moreover, Paperbase will enable researchers to chart the evolution of paper-based photographic technologies, such as the introduction of optical brightening agents and resin coatings, and to better understand how the language used to describe photographic papers, including widespread terms like “white” and “glossy,” changed over time.
“From Darkroom to Data” will serve as the public launch of the Paperbase platform and a broader set of resources developed by the Lens Media Lab that offer new insight into the manufacture and materiality of photographic papers. The symposium will feature presentations by conservators from the Center for Creative Photography, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art who have utilized Paperbase and the Lens Media Lab’s paper collection in their research. These talks will highlight how a deeper understanding of the material qualities of photographic papers can open up new avenues for analyzing the practices and techniques of specific photographers.
The symposium is intended for scholars, conservators, and collectors who specialize in the history of photography as well as those interested in the digital humanities, data visualization, and innovative approaches to collections-based research.
Support
The Lens Media Lab is funded through a gift from the John Pritzker Family Fund.
DARKROOM TO DATA and our work with the Center for Creative Photography is supported by Google’s Artists + Machine Intelligence Research Awards.
The Lens Media Lab is part of the Institute for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage, one of seven research institutes on Yale’s West Campus.
