Photographic collections provide a special view of the past. They are a record of people, places, events, and architecture at a specific point in time. Since the invention of the daguerreotype in 1839, photographs have provided a kind of time machine that allows modern viewers to hold history in their hands.
Your historic photograph collection can provide insights into the dress, landscapes, architectural styles, transportation, interior decorating, marriage customs, and even social attitudes of past times. Therefore, the care of photograph collections is extremely important.
All museum items must be marked with their Object ID number. This provides an immediate link between the item and its documentation. However, because marking is one of the most invasive procedures in the registration process, the method of marking must be selected with care. The rule for marking any item is reversibility. If the numbering method cannot easily be reversed, don't do it.
The recommended method for marking photographs is to use a pencil. Mark the item on the reverse side behind a non-image area at the lower margin. Modern resin-coated photographic papers may resist standard pencil markings. Try a #1 pencil or an all graphite pencil. If the photograph cannot be marked directly, place the photo in an archival quality sleeve, and place the identification number on the sleeve.
The Photos screen in PastPerfect has specialized fields for entering the information you need to catalog a photograph. These include Place, Date, Photographer, Print Size, Negative Number, and Film Size. To begin cataloging a photograph, click the Photos button from the Collections section on the Main Menu. If the catalog already contains data, the catalog record that was last viewed will display. If this is the first photograph entered, the screen will display blank data fields.