Getty Voices: Be a Photograph Sleuth

How does an expert go about studying an old photograph? Miriam Katz shares her work as a cataloguer

By Miriam Katz

May 06, 2013

Social Sharing

Editor’s Note

Throughout 2013, the Getty community participated in a rotation-curation experiment using the Getty Iris, Twitter, and Facebook. Each week a new staff member took the helm of our social media to chat with you directly and share a passion for a specific topic—from museum education to Renaissance art to web development. Getty Voices concluded in February 2014.

Body Content

Back in college I took some aptitude and vocational tests to determine an ideal career. One of the results was detective. “Ha!” I thought to myself. “That’s totally at odds with my art history major.”

Fast-forward 20-plus years, and I spend as much of my time looking through a magnifying glass as a classic detective does—solving the mysteries of the Getty’s Department of Photographs.

As primary cataloguer for the department, I’m responsible for making sure our database is accurate and complete, a ready reference for people who want to access our collection. My goal is to capture as much information as possible about each photograph and record it in our database. At a minimum, I try to determine the photographer, medium, subject or title, date, and location. Sometimes the process is straightforward, and sometimes it is a bit more challenging. Sometimes a photograph is signed, titled, and dated, but frequently it is not.

Photo depicting a woman examining the back of a large printed photograph.

A careful reveal of the backside of an uncatalogued photograph

I follow leads in dozens of directions. I learn something new every day. One day I might be researching Broadway shows of the ’20s, hoping to recognize an actress, and the next day I might be looking through churches in Florence to identify a particular tomb. Recently I’ve been learning about Britain’s royal family in preparation for an exhibition about Queen Victoria we will be presenting in 2014.

The Getty’s photography collection spans the history of the medium, from Talbot’s photogenic drawings of the 1830s to large digital works made by living artists. We have an amazing number of 19th- and early 20th-century photographs by little-known photographers. I channel my inner sleuth to consult fashion books, the history of automobiles, architectural studies, and more obscure literature to pinpoint the fashion, cars, and buildings that will help me date an image.

Two images; on the left, a black and white photo from a magazine of a seated woman in a long dress; on the right,  a black and white family portrait

Using fashion history books to help date portraits from the collection

The photographs themselves can be mysteries. “Photograph” is a broad term. The Getty’s collection includes daguerreotypes, salted paper prints, calotypes, albumen silver prints, platinum prints, gelatin silver prints, collotypes, carbon prints, carbro prints, chromogenic prints, inkjet prints, and more. 10 years ago I would have divided photographs into two categories: black and white or color. Now I examine each print to determine the chemical processes used to create the image. Like a detective, I look for clues. How thin is the paper? How large is the print? How glossy is it? Has the image deteriorated? Through a magnifying glass, can I see the paper fibers? Can I see individual drops of ink? When I’m not certain what I’m looking at, the photograph conservators in my department will examine it with a microscope or other tools.

Photo of a woman looking through a magnifying glass at a printed image.

Miriam looks through her handy magnifying glass and light to try to determine the photographic process of this image.

A friend recently thanked me for inspiring him to pursue a museum career. He said that I always made my work sound fun and exciting. I hope that I can convey that enthusiasm to you also.

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