Researchers tackle how institutions reclaim control of historical photo archives
A new study examines strategies for museums and libraries to decolonize their photographic collections—reclaiming narratives from colonial-era documentation. For cultural institutions and policymakers, the work highlights the business and ethical case for repatriating archives and empowering communities to tell their own stories.
Originaltitel: Decolonizing photographic archives
Almost 100 years ago, in October 1928, Virginia Woolf was invited to give a lecture at two women’s Cambridge student societies about women and fiction. In preparation for her speech, Woolf visited the Round Reading Room of the British Museum. The impressive Reading Room opened in 1857 and could accommodate 302 readers at 38 tables all radiating from a central catalogue desk (Hillier, 2018). Readers needed to apply in advance and wait to receive permission to visit the library.