Welcome to another archive diary entry. For those of you who have an interest in archiving photography, I hope to give you an insight into some of the work we are doing behind the scenes. Neil has a lot of images online that have been taken at exhibitions and from books but there seems to be a few that really continue to spark interesting conversation.

So this month we had an intern work with the team to gain some experience as a creative assistant and find our which images were popular. Internships are always a great way for someone to explore a collection and learn what areas of the creative industry they want to pursue in the future. Some of the training included the value of archive recording and why quality documentation is important. Our intern worked on a mini project reviewing the digital content online that related to Neil’s work. An area of archive and collection management that is often overlooked is the extensive research that is required.  Although the photos are over 40 years old their stories continue to develop as they literally become cultural and historical records. This really highlights the role that time plays on the value of photography and why it is important to keep exploring a photo.

One of the things that I learned while overseeing the internship project, is that you never know what element of the archive will have an impact on someone. Our intern was not familiar with this period of photography before starting but they left the project with new interest and desire to learn more about Black British history. 

The journey continues.

Until next time.