The Archives has been given the papers of distinguished
Professor Emerita Estelle Jussim. Included among the papers are notes and
drafts for her numerous publications, correspondence, family photographs,
albums, and a large group of photographic prints that Professor Jussim had
acquired from George Eastman House in preparation for a book on Alvin Langdon
Coburn, left unfinished at the time of her death.
The GEH Coburn prints are all marked on the verso with what
look like accession numbers. How will this help you research them?
Do you keep the Coburn prints?
a.
If not, why not?
b. If yes, why?
Put your decision and reasons in the comments section below. What other questions arise that you would need to investigate as part of this consideration?
One of the first things I would do would be to contact GEH and ask them about the prints. Do they have records of Jussim acquiring them, or know why she did? Do the verso numbers reflect something in their accession or catalog database? Can they confirm any details about the photographs (identify the young man, the ship or its location/event, etc.)? Besides content and contextual information, GEH might also have information about rights. How did Jussim “acquire” them? Did she hold the rights? Do they? Does a third party? Determining the technical processes, physical condition, and preservation needs of the photographs would also be important.
ReplyDeleteThese answers would go a long way in determining my decision about keeping the photographs. I would also do some research into Coburn, and into Jussim’s manuscript about him. We at least have the contextual information that these photographs were related to that project, so perhaps more of their content and context would be easily revealed with that research. I would probably not keep the photographs if it was determined that they are owned by GEH or some other party, or if we could not identify any additional information about them. If we could add some more in-depth information beyond the situation of their accession and had some idea of their copyright situation I would then be more inclined to keep them.
If you have the accession numbers of the photographs, you should be able to contact the George Eastman House and ask them what information they have on those specific prints, as Blake mentioned. Contacting the Eastman House would be a first step in determining if there’s a problem with your having the photographs.
ReplyDeleteI would think that the George Eastman House would have the first say as to whether they have a problem with us keeping them. However, I think the photographs are significant to Jussim’s project, and removing them completely from her papers impacts what we have left of her work on the Coburn biography. They are part of her drafts, and removing them will erase some of the work she had done towards publishing her Coburn biography. If the Eastman House wants them back, we still have a responsibility to note their intellectual, if not physical, connection to the collection.
I think at the very least we would have to make a note of which photographic prints were found among her papers, their physical location in the collection (if the order appears to have any significance), and where the prints can be located in the George Eastman House Collection. If possible, photocopies might be made and substituted for the actual prints, as long as the Eastman House gives their permission.
Firstly, I would contact the George Eastman House to see if these prints are still missing from their collection and if they know about them or not. By having the accession numbers this should speed the process up. If these prints are still relevant to their collections they might want them back. If not, it might be beneficial to keep them with Jussim's documents and notes on her book.
ReplyDeleteQuestions to ask before proceeding with accepting the donation: Are these materials relevant to the archives current collection? Will we be able to get unrestricted rights to these photographs from the GEH? What's the condition of all these materials? Does the archive have monetary means to absorb this Jussim donation? Do any of the photographs or papers need special attention, like mold removal, repair, preservation measures, etc.?