How do archives function as repositories of knowledge?
Archives show us the past and educate us on the history through visual evidence.
Société Jersiaise
The Société Jersiaise was founded in January 28, 1873. They have now been collecting photography for 140 years, holding history with context helping present generations gain knowledge of Jersey. Photography arrived in Jersey in 1840.
Thomas Sutton was a pioneer who developed new camera equipment and photographer equipment. In 1859 he developed the panoramic camera with a wide-angle lens and in 1861 he developed the first single lens reflex camera. In 1861 Sutton took and developed the worlds first colour photo of a Tartan ribbon with James Clerk Maxwell who directed him to take three photographs of the ribbon through different coloured filters for each . He also worked on the development of dry photographic plates.
Henry Mullins was the first photographer to come to Jersey in 1848 and after his death he had a collection of 20,000 negatives which was given to La Société in 2006.
He first started working in London but then moved to jersey in July 1848 to set up a studio which was initially a partnership but the year after he was working alone and continued to do so for 26 years.
For a short period in the 1860s he also worked in London but based on his photographic archives at La Société Jersiaise, he found more people in Jersey prepared to pay to have their portrait taken by him.
William Collie took images of French Migrant Workers which some were early forms of staging photography as he had his friends dress up to create images. In the archive he currently hold 157 photographs.
He also was one of the pioneers of the photographic processes which help lead to paper prints invented by William Fox Talbot.
From looking at the photos from the past we learn of the physical developments from the past such as the difference between our buildings, roads and land. We also learn the difference in society and the way of life, such as jobs and dress sense. As a family we have many old photos kept in physical photo albums but also albums on phones and social media platforms such as Facebook which also show the difference between looks and society from 10 years ago. Also we have archives of text messages which are kept on our phones and tell us a little about our personalities, because if someone was to read them they would have enough to be able to judge you as a person.
Edwin Dale
Edwin Dale was a photographer who took pictures of jersey in the early 20th century (between 1910 and 1920), specifically landscapes. He focused on Harbour scenes and steamships, churches, houses, country lanes and coastal views, sport and the railway. He also took some portraits of working people. He travelled around the island on his motorbike to take his photos.
His photos are part of the Photographic Archive at La Société Jersiaise and private collectors. He photographed events such as the Royal Visit of 1911. In 1914 around 40 of his images were published as a series of postcards.
Edwin Dale’s work helps us learn about the past of Jersey such as building developments and lifestyle changes.
Examples Of His Work:
From studying Edwin Dales work we can gain knowledge of the past and how Jersey has changed with new technology and inventions. Like in ‘A penny farthing bicycle’ (shown above) an old traditional bicycle is pictured showing the difference between modern bicycles. Also, the other two images show a difference in the landscape, for example the harbour has now changed completely as in the photo it is used as the main harbour for big boats but now is used mainly by fishermen. Furthermore, in recent years the land around La Colette has been expanded with landfill.
Image Analysis
Key Themes– Edwin Dale’s work is inspired by every day life and taking images best showing the everyday life that would have been in the early 1900s, 100 years ago.
Context– A picture of a man standing on top of a traditional Vraic Cart pulled by a white horse on a field. A man in the background holding a pitchfork and a line of horses in the back. It is taken from eye level with the cart in the centre of the image. The title ‘Vraic Cart’ educates the audience because before knowing the title I did not know what was gong on, but the title tells us it is a cart using Vraic to fertilise the soil. It also implies that this is the main focus of the image and is maybe why he took it, to solely educate the future society.
Formal Elements– The image is in black and white which makes the image have a high tonal range and creates a large contrast between the shadows and highlights. The image is taken outside meaning Dale replied on the natural lighting. At first the image looks a bit dark in nature but then if you look closer there is a shadow on the ground meaning it was a sunny day which changes the mood of the image as it is just an average day and Dale is probably out on a capturing the natural everyday working people. The image follows the rule of thirds as he has positioned the line of houses in the top third of the image and has kept his main subject (the horse varic cart) in the centre.
Conclusion
Referring back to the essay question (How do archives function as repositories of knowledge?) I think that it is obvious that we can learn a huge amount from archives of any sort, specifically photographic archives as they can help us visualise and see things like how they did in the past. For example they are a good way to see how they lived in the past and how technology has changed, showing the difference between the past and the present. They can also show the difference between the lives of different class, gender, race and religion and how they lived together as a community but also the difference with those groups to the present day.
To develop my own work forwards I would like to adapt a similar style to Edwin Dale by taking images in the style of photojournalism. for example I could go to town where it is busy and take images capturing the lifestyle of people and them in their routines going to work, shopping or socialising.