Finding Photographs at Wilson Special Collections Library: Types of Images

This section will help you to identify different types of images that you may encounter in our collections.

Finding Aids are the way that archives manage and present information to the public. All of the archival materials in Wilson Library are described in a finding aid. When looking at a finding aid for photographs there are a few special things to keep in mind. While most of our finding aids are simply described as Box 1 or Box 2; photographic finding aids use a range of box descriptions such as Black & White Box Film Box, Print Box, and other specialized boxes. These specialized boxes are specially designed to preserve certain types of photographs. Why does this matter? When you are making your request for materials it is very important that you request the exact type of box you want to see. Print Box 1 will have an entirely different set of items from Black and White Film Box 1. 

Example from the Mary Claire Engstrom Photographic Collection, showing three different box types (black and white film, color film, and print) all numbered Box 01.

We here at Wilson Library strongly encourage using prints instead of negatives whenever possible.

• Prints can possess more information for researchers
  • Prints are the working copies that photographers would have used, and they tend to possess more contextual information (including notes from the photographer) than negatives would
  • Because of the additional contextual information, they are generally better described within our finding aids
• Prints are also generally easier to use as they don't require specialized equipment 
• From a conservation viewpoint, negatives are very fragile and we want to make sure they last as long as possible
  • Less use means less of a possibility of something going wrong
• Negatives are increasingly seeing restrictions on use that can make the research process take longer
• If you really want to see what the negatives look like, we recommend looking for a contact sheet
  • A contact sheet is a working copy of the negatives and, like a print, tends to have much more annotation
  • This helps save wear and tear on the negatives and gets you to the things you want to see