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Doctoral Placement – Royal Photographic Society Archive
Reference: MAY20236684
Expiry date: 2023-06-23 22:59:00.000
Location: Cromwell Road
Salary: £0 Per Annum
Benefits: V&A staff pass – 25% off gift shop, access to exhibtions and other museums. A bespoke training package designed for the placement student cohort.
Duration:3-6 Months
Attachments: VADoctoralPlacementSchemeApplicationGuidelines202324(2).pdf
RoyalPhotographicSocietyArchive-VADoctoralPlacementScheme202324.pdf

The Royal Photographic Society collection contains an estimated 270,000 photographs; 10,000 items of technology, including cameras; a library of some 27,000 books and journals; and around 5,000 other archival items. It charts the invention and development of this multifaceted medium over the last two centuries. With the completion of the Photography Centre, the V&A’s next priority in photography is to unlock the international significance and vast potential of the RPS collection through an ambitious and well-planned and managed workflow of digitisation and conservation concentrating mainly on the objects in the RPS collection.

This placement is separate to the wider project but runs parallel to it. It focusses on the RPS archive, a rich and relatively untapped research resource which includes minute books, correspondence, press cuttings, reports and other documents recording the history and activities of the Society from its foundation in 1853. Current research surrounding the archive relates to the early history of the RPS, the development of colour techniques, and women photographing architecture.

The primary focus of the placement will be to catalogue the RPS archive using an existing inventory to create a hierarchical archival catalogue, and to identify key items for future digitisation. The placement also allows time at the end of the cataloguing process for the student to undertake focused research based on an aspect of the archive. Areas of research could include, but are not limited to, Roger Fenton’s Crimean War letters; letters between photographer Alfred Stieglitz and the RPS first curator John Dudley Johnston; letters and ephemera relating to photographer and collector Alvin Langdon Coburn; archive material relating to activist photographer Joan Wakelin; and the history and activities of the Society in the 20th century. Placement candidates will expect to acquire the following skills and knowledge from this placement.

• Archival cataloguing and arrangement.

• Public engagement: blog writing and public talks.

• Enhanced oral presentation skills

PLEASE MAKE SURE TO CAREFULLY READ THE INSTRUCTIONS IN THE ATTACHMENTS FOR HOW TO APPLY