by Ida Zago | Feb 9, 2018 | Baltimore, Location
Again and again as I worked with ‘my’ six photographs from “The Baltimore Collection” I reflected on what had initially drawn me to them.[1] My approach to picking photographs was entirely subjective and sitter-focused—I went through and made a shortlist of photos...
by Simone Renee Austin | Dec 18, 2017 | Unknown Location
How does one begin to research the personal photographs of someone unknown and from an era that is long past? Vintage portraits of unidentified sitters by unknown photographers present particular research concerns such as the possibility of not knowing the...
by Ethan Barnett | Dec 13, 2017 | Baltimore, Theorizing the archive
To improve user experience listen to this while reading. If you take a glance at this photo, many potential scenarios come to mind. Are they related? Is she his caretaker? Are they neighbors? Does he know that she’s black? Do they love each other? One critique of the...
by Dorothy Fisher | Dec 13, 2017 | 588 North Gay Street, Baltimore, Location, Studios
All of us engaged in this project approached “The Baltimore Collection” from different perspectives and disciplinary backgrounds. Much of our discussions about the collection centered around archival practices as we discussed the process of creating metadata to be...
by Ethan Barnett | Dec 11, 2017 | Baltimore, Theorizing the archive
“We depend on images to give substance, if not meaning, to the fleeting moments of our life. A world without photographic images is almost inconceivable.”- Susan Sontag Many of my memories and the memories people have of me are paired with some sort of...
by Julie McGee | Dec 10, 2017 | About, Baltimore, Location
Curating Hidden Collections & the Black Archive takes as a starting point the necessary but fraught nature of researching vintage portrait photographs of unidentified sitters, objects of familial and personal nature, for their preservation and presentation...