I am involved in a study of Chinese immigrant merchants in an area
around Chico, California. A majority of the
prints have photographer information stamped on the back of the
photographs and the signatures of white merchants
who "vouch" for them. These, of course, are part of the documentation
needed to assist Chinese merchants in
their quest to not be deported under the Chinese Exclusion Act and,
later, the Geary Act. I have had both sides scanned
at more than 300 dpi so we can capture the nuances of the signatures and
readily identify the photographers and their
stamps.
Bill Jones
CSU, Chico
________________________________
From: Archives & Archivists
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Paul Schlotthauer
Sent: Monday, February 28, 2005 9:40 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Digitizing the backs of photographs
I am involved in a grant-funded digitization project and
disagree with several colleagues who believe the backs of photographs
should be scanned because they contain important metadata, such as
dates, accession numbers, and subjects. We all agree this information
is important and must be captured, but, in my opinion, that's the
purpose of the metadata fields in the software we're using. The writing
on the backs was done at some point for administrative and informational
purposes, as is often the case in archival collections, but in itself it
has no particular historical significance, nor was it intended to be
part of the images themselves. Therefore, as long as the information is
recorded in the database and is searchable, I can see no reason for
digitizing it. To me, this is a different case than, say, historical
postcards, where you probably would scan both sides because postcards
are intentionally two-sided (if that makes any sense) and the writing on
the back has an intended connection with the image beyond the functions
of metadata.
Those of us who share my view are primarily archivists, whereas
my dissenting colleagues are artists. I suspect they are more concerned
with the entire physical object and believe that we would somehow be
violating its integrity by not digitizing everything. But for me, it's
the image that is the focus here, and recording the metadata in the
proper database fields is sufficient. I can't remember coming across
collections of digitized images that included the backs, and scanning
them seems to me a waste of time, effort, and space. I'd greatly
appreciate it if those of you who are involved with digitization would
weigh in with your opinions. Obviously I have strong views of my own on
this, but I want to be fair and make sure there's not an issue here that
I just don't get. Thanks.
Paul
Paul Schlotthauer
Librarian and Archivist
Assistant Professor
Pratt Institute Libraries
200 Willoughby Avenue
Brooklyn, New York 11205
718-636-3686
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