Lunchtime Lecture: Collecting Photographs at the V&A: 1850s to 1970s

The V&A’s first curator of photographs was appointed in 1977 with a remit of collecting photography as an art form. But at the time of his appointment, there were already over three hundred thousand photographs in the Museum. Where had they come from, and what were they for?

This lunchtime lecture will discuss the sources and uses of the photography collection which existed here at the V&A pre-1977, and what the former arrangement of this collection can tell us today. Please join, Ella Ravilious, Curator: Documentation and Digitisation and current PhD student at the Photographic History Research Centre at De Montfort University and the V&A through the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) Collaborative Doctoral Partnership scheme.

Visit our SoundCloud channel to listen to past Lunchtime Lectures: soundcloud.com/vamuseum/sets/v-a-lunchtime-lecture-series