What is the role of an archive?

An archival institution such as Jersey Archive are legally constituted entities responsible for identifying, managing and preserving the integrity of an institution’s official records of long-term value.

This means they can be responsible for preserving old documents such as maps, constitutional laws, photos and letters. Keeping them in an immaculate condition so that they can still be recognizable for centuries after being taken in.

When we visited the Jersey Archive, we looked at documents and war memorabilia, this included; letters from the king pleading for people not to get the death sentence, World war identification cards and letters sent from islanders to loved ones and family members off island. After doing some of my research prior to my visit, I found out that they currently hold 300,000 images and documents.

Within the family history collection, the archive holds books, family trees, indexes of baptisms, marriages, burials and censuses. This outlines the extensive amount of files that the archive has on different family history. Having archival material available to the public, allows us to gain a better understanding of that set period of time and explore the past and our family history. Another aspect of Jersey’s archive is the extensive archival material they hold on the German Occupation, WWII. Within this aspect of the archive, they hold, letters from the Bailiff, German Register Cards, German ID cards and items from the Law Officer’s department.

During our visit to the archives, we visited one of the holding rooms where we saw loads of old documents and images. When you first walk in there is a pocket of air blowing downwards and out, I learnt that this is in place to prevent any bugs from entering the vaulted rooms, which could eat the valuable paper documents and spread larvae, and ruin priceless objects.

The Jersey Archive allows family members to look at their jersey ancestors and the life they may have lived. With their birth, marriage, death and divorce records, you can really find a lot of information on ancestors and the heritage you may not have known a lot about.

The Jersey Archive is the islands national repository holding records on all aspects of Jerseys History. The archive has a large array of different purposes for example researchers could use the archives resources to trace back family history, the old stories of their streets of their house to their home itself, and even more interestingly discover more about the German Occupation of Jersey during the Second World War. In 2017 the archive team launched thousands of images from the Jersey Evening Post photographic archive and are not to be seen online for the public. Occupation Registration Cards, will and testaments and transcriptions of early baptism, marriage and burial registers can all be accessed on the online catalogues. The Archive says that the security and security of these records and documents are their number one priority. Since the Public Records (Jersey) Law was passed in 2002 the Jersey Archive has been the official repository for all archival records produced by public institutions. The Jersey Archive continues to the grow and develops its records accepting records from businesses, clubs, societies and individuals. When new documents are brought into the archive they are carefully packed in acid free materials and stores in the correct environmental conditions. As long side collecting and preserving records and documents the Archive is committed and dedicated to making archives available to all members of the local public and the world wide community. Jersey Archive, as the official repository for the Island documentary heritage, can offer guidance, information and documents that relate to all aspects of the Island’s History. For example, Family History, family history is one of the most popular subjects for research from the public and allows members to go on a journey to their past with ancestry history information available. Jersey’s Heritage online includes descriptions of over 200,000 documents that are held at the Jersey Archive.

• House history
• contracts
• Island maps
• Criminal records for family historians
• Military records for family historians
• Conservations
• Preservations and storage of documents
• German occupation
• Bunkruptcy records
• Historic building research

JERSEY WAR TUNNELS EDITS AND FINAL SELECTION PROCESS

Initially, I downloaded all my images on to the computer and opened into Lightproof Classic and began the selection process. Firstly, i determined whether to keep each image or not by flagging the imagine or not and then leading on to making ratings out of five on each imagine. With 1 being to lowest rating up to 5 being the best. This helped slim and refine my images even more. Finally the final process was selecting different shades of colours on top star rated images in order to further decrease my final selection. This is the best process as it enables be to quickly cleans out old and unusable images and refines to only the out of that particular selection.

The Jersey War Tunnels are based in Jersey Channel Islands and were built for WWII (the second World War) in order to protect people from air-raids but later turned into an Emergency hospital for there injured, based underground. It was created through forced labour, 5,000 slaves being forced to build a 1,000 meter long and 50 meters deep tunnel which made a large area which protected the injured as well as German Soldiers during world war two. The tunnels are now one of the biggest tourists attractions in Jersey which allows the public to explore the tunnels with the personal stories to go along with it. When attending the tour myself we were told that the tunnels were never actually completed and have gained the name ‘ The Unfinished Tunnels’ which are all on display.

During my trip to the War Tunnels, as a group I explored different rooms, all which had different stories and events to them which we were allowed to photograph and allowed me to gain more understanding of the war. I used a Canon camera which allowed me to take in focus images of the facilities at the war tunnels. One of the rooms which I took interest in was the room which showed daily life. Daily life was shown to be difficult for the islanders in the war, mostly towards the end of the war because of the shortages of food which led every islander to become desperate. No one had any clue as too when the war would end, leading islanders to be in dark places mentally. The tour included a visual representation as to how small the daily rations actually were.

Analysation of shoot/ edit plan

I was informed before hand that the tunnels are very dark which led me to turning up the ISO to a high setting on my camera. My overall camera setting was on manual focus which allowed me to adjust the camera settings easily, as well as allow me to have range of different depth of fields. When in the tunnels I wanted to use the flash on my camera in some of the especially dark places and I thought that the overall image would benefit from the setting, as well as different angles. I found that these camera settings worked for me as I got my desired aesthetic.

Process of Elimination

Planning my Editing Process

For my editing process, I plan to use Adobe Lightroom Classic which will allow me to make simple edits to little things I need. I am quite happy with my original images due to having knowledge on what sort of settings to have my camera on because of the dark surroundings. Therefore, I do not feel as if I need dramatic edits except small things such as contrast, highlights, cropping images, brightness etc.

Editing Process

Best Edited Images

Technical Analysis X3- My overall camera setting was on manual focus which allowed me to adjust the camera settings easily, as well as allow me to have range of different depth of fields. When in the tunnels I wanted to use the flash on my camera in some of the especially dark places and I thought that the overall image would benefit from the setting, as well as different angles. I found that these camera settings worked for me as I got my desired aesthetic.

Visual Analysis X3- Visually these images have been taken from a straight on angle which allows for the whole image to be seen, as well as the fact that the images have been taken without a depth of field.

Comparing Edited and Unedited Images

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For my artists references I will comparing two completely different photographers that focused on the same area of photography- portraits. I chose one from the Societe Jersiaise Photo-Archive called Francis Foot and one contemporary from the Archisle Contemporary Programme called Yury Toroptso

Francis Foot

About: Francis Foot was born in 1885 and was the son of Francois Foot who lived from 1847-1918 and Louisa Hunt who lived from 1843-1934. Francois, Francis’ father was a China and Glass dealer who was located in Dumaresq Street, during this tie period this particular area was one of the most wealthy area in St Helier. Francis started working life as a gas fitter which soon led to an interest in photography and the earlier phonographs/gramophone records, soon to figure out that this could lead to a career where money was able to be earnt to make a living. Therefore the family took on a second shop in Pitt Street, this is where Francis worked as an eager photographer, along side his parents who sold gramophones, records and more, whilst still concentrating on their other shop, however when Francis’ father died Francis put his focus of on the business in Pitt street. Just before The First World War Francis married a lady called Margaret Vernon, in which they had four children called George, Stanley, Dora and Reg. Some of Francis’ photographs were turned into postcards, although many of his images feature portraits of his family. Soon enough the shop in Pitt Street became dominantly more important, where Francis was still selling records in the 1950s and 1960s when they were mad from vinyl. It was Stanley’s son John who gave the collection of the glass plates and other photographic material, which had been gathering dust since his grandfather’s death, to La Societe Jersiaise in 1996. Its online photographic archive contains 322 images of subjects as diverse as Battles of Flowers, St Helier Harbour, shipwrecks, fetes and coastal and country views.

Yury Toroptso

About: Yury Toroptsov was born in 1974 in a rural community near Vladivostok, Yury Toroptsov left his native Russia in 1998 to begin his studies at the New School for Social Research in New York as a Muskie Fellow, after having won a prestigious scholarship. With his Far-Eastern origins, American travels and the current residence in Europe, Yury Toroptsov keeps at the centre of his work; people and their identity and the permanence of the myths. Memories, metamorphosis (in an insect or amphibian) the process of transformation from an immature form to an adult form in two or more distinct stages.), profane (of a person or their behaviour) not respectful of religious practice; irreverent) and sacred (connected with God or a god or dedicated to a religious purpose and so deserving veneration) are the recurring themes in photographs. Toroptsov’s photographs have been featured in numerous personal and group shows including at the Maison Europeenne de la Photographie, Paris Photo, Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature in Paris. Cureently he is still now continuing his hard work in Paris.

There are too many photos in this shoot to display then as a photo sheet. So instead I have shown my selection process of images I will go forwards with and edit.

The War Tunnels:

During the Occupation of Jersey, slave labours were used to build Jersey’s underground hospital. The Occupation ended before the tunnels could be fully completed. Now the tunnels are used a museum to attract tourists. While many of the exhibits are recreation of the original uses for the rooms, many simply inform about the Occupation as a whole.

Shoot:

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Image One:

Visual:

This image shows a display of several copies of The Jersey Evening Post from during the occupation. In the center of the image a news paper with the headline, ‘The Channel Islands Free Again,’ can be seen. This is the main focus of the image. Behind the display, the bottom half of an archive image is seen. This image shows an man in German uniform talking with a local shopkeeper.

Technical:

To take this image, I used an aperture of F/4, a shutter speed of 1/10 seconds and an ISO of 1600. A large ISO was required to compensate for the low lighting within the tunnels.

During editing, I mage the image black and white. This was to replicate the photos from the 1940s.

Image Two:

Visual:

This image shows a gun mounted to the wall as part of a display.

to capture this image, I used an aperture of F/4.2, a shutter speed of 1/100 seconds and an ISO of 1600.

Technical:

During editing I, again made this image black and white. I also added a dark vignette around the edge of the to draw attention to the gun in the center.

Image Three:

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Visual:

This image shows a flyer informing people about the importance of caring for evacuees. The flyer shows an image of a mother with three children stood next to a destroyed building, perhaps their former home.

Technical:

To take this image, I used an aperture of F/4, a shutter speed of 1/20 seconds and an ISO of 1600.

I wanted to keep this image in colour to show off the blue used as part of the flyer.

Francis Foot was born in 1885 as a only child to this parents,Francois Foot (1847-1918) and Louisa Hunt (1843-1934). His father was a china and Glass dealer in Dumaresq Street, at a time when the area was one of the more affluent in St Helier. Francis’ first job was as a gas fitter, but he soon became fascinated by photography and the early phonographs and gramophone records and realised that he could earn a living from them.

The family took on a second shop in Pitt Street, where Francis worked as a photographer, while his father and mother sold gramophones, records and other wares in Dumaresq Street. After his father’s death, Francis took over the business in Pitt Street. He married Margaret Vernon shortly before the First World War and the couple had four children, George (1914- ), Stanley (1915- ), Dora (1917- ) and Reg (1920- ).

The Foot family in their car ….

Michelle Sank was born in Cape Town, South Africa. She left there in 1978 and has been living and working in England since 1987. Her work encompasses issues about social and cultural diversity and the challenges within.

The particular project of hers which features Jersey is called ‘Insula’, she srrived April 2013 to start her six month residency with Archisle. In the archive it lacked late twentieth century imagery so she set out to fill that space by capturing photos. She said she found it challenging as Jersey had a peculair British- Norman cultural identity and she needed to include that as well as Jersey’s uniqueness. ‘Insula’ is Latin, it simply means island in English, the projects main aim was to create a narrative for our island but a more modern story to provide evidende of what Jersey was like in the twentieth century.

Analysis

This image taken by Francis Foot features his wife and two children in a Jersey wood, possibly St Catherine’s. Both Margaret and George are taking direct eye contact with the camera, both expressing minimal emotion which creates an eerie look. Whereas young Dora is in candid and is blurred, this could be because she is young and doesn’t understand the concept of taking a photo or Foot may have purposely wanted this effect as again it creates a sinister feel as her head is dis-morphed and she almost looks like a ghost. All photos of Francis are in black and white because he had no assess to colour in his lifespan. This creates a sense of delicacy to the images as they appear to look fragile due to the lack of camera quality and colour. The photo is well exposed with the dark trees at the front alongside the light background, they work in harmony adding different textures. The black clothing the mother is wearing contrasts nicely with the young children, its almost symbolic of the innocence of the children and how the colour white has connotations of purity. A neutral tone is created through the use of back and white which works together with the neutral expressions on their faces. Foot used natural lighting in this image solely daylight from the sun. It looks as though they have been placed in this positioning by Foot because the young boy looks unnaturally smart in the way his hands are put behind his back and how he had perfect posture. Also the way the mother is placed in the middle creates a pyramid shape which suggest her role in the family how she is an authority figure to her children. There is a prominent rule of thirds which is displayed via the three people, the background is the vegetation and the foreground is the main focal point of the photo which is the family.

This image by Michelle Sank in some ways is similar to foots as it features relatives which are both making direct eye with the camera. However in this image the background is equally as important as the two girls as it shows a wide shot of Harve de Pas. The project Sank created of Archisle was all about capturing the people of Jersey in Jersey, whereas Foot was just taking portraits. Both girls have neutral facial expressions, also they both wear very similar outfits and take up the same stance. This image clearly displays culture of it’s time for instance it is in colour, the girls are wearing clothes of a modern trend, the hotel and houses behind look well kept. There is a light tone to the photo and it appears to have been taken with just natural daylight, this could have been challenging to get a good exposure as it was clearly a very bright day judging the squints on their faces and the lack of clouds in the background. The twins stand in the foreground and the hotels and houses are placed in the background but both share focal point.

The Jersey archive is a collection of imagery and documents that have been collected throughout the last few hundred years. This collection mostly consists of documents and is used for research and to keep an accurate depiction of how peoples lives have changed throughout time. The catalogue holds over 200,000 documents within it. A lot of this came from world war 2 during the occupation and liberation periods when documents such as over 31,000 registration cards of people alive during the occupation, including personal details such as name, address and date of birth. Every member of the public is able to access the archive through the use of the internet or by going to the archive itself. Lots of people use it for different things such as research about previous historical events such as the occupation, or to research their own personal family history. This archive is very different from the other archive I have visited, Societe Jeriaise. This is because this archive has a much larger quantity of documents within it, unlike Societe Jeriaise which did have documents, did not have nearly as many and had a lot of photographs and images from individuals depicting things like war and the occupation.