Object analysis: Historical Photographs
Analysis / What I think / Evidence or further questionsIdentification
What time period is it?
What is the location?
What is the main subject?
Composition
What is represented in the photograph?
What is happening?
What are people doing?
Purpose
What does the photograph represent?
What was the purpose of the photograph?
Detail
What inferences can be made from the detail of the photograph?
What features in the photograph have cultural or historical significance?
Function
How well do you think the photograph portrays the culture and history of the time period?
Historical Value
What story does the photograph tell as an historical document?
What questions for further research does the photograph prompt?
What cultural information does the photograph contain?
Procedure: Guidelines for Worksheet Analysis
1. Identify your photograph by inspection
o Is there any written identification such as a title, signature, date, or comment in or on the photographic print?
o Where was the photograph found? What clues, if any, does the source give you?
o Using your knowledge or research information about the art or technology of photography, what do you discern may be the approximate date of the photo? What visual clues does the photograph give about its date (clothing styles, prices)?
2. Identify the contents of the photographic composition by inspection. Consider the people in the photograph:
o What are they doing?
o What are they wearing?
o Where are they?
o How are they interacting?
o Is it a candid or posed composition?
3. Try to discern the purpose for the photograph:
o Was it personal, or to be published?
o Does the photograph illustrate an event, an action, an occupation, a celebration?
4. Analyze the composition. Consider the details of the photograph:
o Divide the composition into several sections and list the objects in each section.
o Classify the objects into types or categories (e.g., work and tools, family members and associated memorabilia).
o Decide which details give historical or cultural meaning to the photograph and describe in words.
5. Interpret/Evaluate the photograph
o What, if any, deductions, inferences, specific information, or generalizations can you make about the subject of the photograph and the photograph as a whole as an historical document?
o What questions for further research does the photograph prompt?
o What cultural information does the photograph contain?