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Hello all,

Reading the articles I have been struck by the universality of the 
'snapshot' experience, how we all know the rules of picture-taking and 
viewing. First we know that although the picture captures a real moment, 
it is also a projection of an idealized life. Secondly, we know that 
much is hidden - hence the sadness that Barthes refers to and which I 
would argue goes beyond the realization that the subject may be dead.

Chambers refers to the feminine character of snapshot taking and album 
making, and points out that despite this female perspective there are no 
pictures of housework. Taking this one step further, there are also no 
pictures of screaming infants, two-year-olds having a tantrum, sullen 
teen-agers screaming "I hate you!". There are no pictures of sick-beds 
or funerals. The family album or photo collection presents a world 
without pain. Since most of us have personal experience with the 
phenomenon of family albums, we instinctively do not buy into this, and 
realize that the mythology created is unrealistic and to some extent, 
banal. Could the family album be seen as the visual equivalent of the 
Christmas letter?

In an archival context, we find the pictures complemented and completed 
by other elements in a fonds: a file of condolence cards, doctor's 
bills, diaries recording private anguish, letters containing an 
outpouring of emotion. And they are certainly useful, as Catherine 
points out, for identification purposes.

Martha asks the fundamental question: "is everyday photographic 
experience transferrable to art?" I'd argue that it is and that the 
artist has the same mandate as the archivist. The historic photograph on 
its own is nearly meaningless, and thus it requires either 
transformation (by an artist) or contextualization (by an archivist) to 
make it 'real'. It's function during the lifetime of its subjects, and 
perhaps for a generation after, is to follow a path that has been 
tacitly approved by its viewing public. After that, it's fair game for us!

Thanks, Catherine, Martha et al. for making this happen.

Sylvia







----- Original Message ----
From: Alison Nordstrom <anordstrom at geh.org>
To: Personal_archives at mailman.yale.edu
Sent: Tuesday, October 28, 2008 9:40:51 AM
Subject: [Personal_archives] (re-sent) first thoughts of the morning

I’m curious about who’s lurking here. I suspect we have archivists, 
curators and students who may do any number of things in the future. 
Strikes me that we might have very different notions and working 
definitions of “family photograph.” Can we share?

I tend to say various things like “a photograph used in the family as a 
metaphor for that family, an ideological device that defines family, a 
statement both internally directed and externally directed that 
manifests an ideal, a record of a family.”

How do these past uses cling to a photograph ( or group of photographs) 
as it/they moves away from original use?