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A ‘collection of broken dreams’? Making the Paul Mellon Centre's photo archive accessible in 2019 and beyond

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 January 2020

Thomas Scutt  and
Sarah Victoria Turner
Thomas Scutt
Affiliation:
Digital Manager Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art 16 Bedford Square London, WC1B 3JAUK Email: tscutt@paul-mellon-centre.ac.uk
Sarah Victoria Turner
Affiliation:
Deputy Director for Research Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art 16 Bedford Square London, WC1B 3JAUK Email: svturner@paul-mellon-centre.ac.uk
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Abstract

This article focuses on the research that the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art has conducted with users in the process of digitising its photo archive. Converting this resource from photographs mounted on card to digital assets appears, at first glance, a relatively straightforward digitisation project. However, the questions, challenges and issues raised by this project have prompted us to not only focus on the ‘how’ (the process of this conversion), but also the ‘why’. As the project has progressed, these questions about why we are digitising our photo archive and what benefit/s this will have to users and its impact on the field of British art history in the future have grown more voluble.

Type
Research Article
Information
Art Libraries Journal , Volume 45 , Special Issue 1: Photo Archives , January 2020 , pp. 12 - 18
Copyright
© ARLIS, 2020

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References

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