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Virginia Archives Month 2025
Lights! Camera! Pose! It’s Virginia Archives Month 2025 In addition to the value of the words found in traditional archival collections, historic images have the special ability to connect people to the past visually. This is particularly true of photographs. While only a second in time, so much information that can be contained in a single photograph. To celebrate the value of photographs, this year’s Virginia Archives Month theme is Oh Snap! : Photography in the Archives .
Whether it’s cackling over hairstyles found in Library of Virginia’s yearbook collections , gapping over the clarity of a Civil War tintype in the VMHC’s CMLS Image collection , or studying costumes in the GMU Federal Theater Project photograph collection , you’re sure to find an archival photo collection that is picture perfect!
Image
Archives Month Flickr Album
In celebration of our 2025 theme Oh Snap: Photography in the Archives the images submitted this year consist of examples of various photographic mediums, artistic styles, and most importantly showcase the the importance photography places in connecting us to the past.
Institutions represented in the album include:
- Shenandoah Valley Public Library
- George C Marshall Foundation
- George Mason University
- Laurel Ridge Community College
- Library of Virginia
- Old Dominion University
- Rockbridge Historical Society
- University of Mary Washington
- Washington and Lee University
- Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
- Virginia Museum of History & Culture
Events
Please stay tuned for events across the state highlighting archival collections!
RESOURCES FOR LEARNING ABOUT & CARING FOR PHOTOGRAPHY
TIMELINES
Harvard's History of Photography Timeline
Harvard’s History of Photography Timeline offers a view into the history of photography through selected photographs in the University’s libraries, museums, and archives. Harvard holds nearly 10 million photographs that have served as primary source documents for teaching and research in the sciences and humanities since the mid-nineteenth century. Include text only version.
History of Photography: George Eastman
PBS, American Experience, centers George Eastman and the creation of the Eastman Kodak Company
Timeline of photography technology
List comprises significant milestones in the development of photography technology.
CARE AND PRESERVATION
Care, Handling, and Storage of Photographs
Library of Congress
Matting and Hinging Works of Art on Paper
Library of Congress
Photo-storage, Display, & Labeling Materials
Rochester Institute of Technology: Image Permanence Institute- This guide includes a description of the standard’s requirements to meet the “photo-safe” designation depending on material type (paper, plastic, adhesive, etc.), as well as an illustration depicting which elements of a photograph are most likely affected by harmful components (reactants) in photo storage, display, and labeling materials, and which tests are necessary to detect each of these reactants.
Guide to Preservation of Digitally-Printed Images
Rochester Institute of Technology: Image Permanence Institute - This guide provides basic information on the storage and preservation of digitally-printed photographs in scholarly and cultural collections.
Preserving Family Photos
Tips for preserving photographs by Mary Lynn Ritzenthaler, chief of the National Archives Conservation Laboratory.
Personal Archiving
Library of Congress Resources: Preserving Your Digital Memories
Caring for Your Photographs
University of Chicago: This tip sheet focuses on the care of film- or emulsion-based photographs with additional resources for the preservation of both emulsion-based and digital content below.
How Do I Care for Photographs?
American Institute for Conservation (AIC)
VIRGINIA ARCHIVES MONTH COMMITTEE 2025
- Meghan Glasbrenner, George Mason University
- John Owens, Laurel Ridge Community College
- Vince Brooks, Library of Virginia
- Mary Ann Mason, Library of Virginia
- Ella Swain, Library of Virginia
- Sarah Appleby, University of Mary Washington
- Steve Bookman, Old Dominion University
- Kristin Alexander, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
- Kathryn Kalunzy, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
- Laura Stoner, Virginia Museum of History & Culture
- Mattie Clear, Washington & Lee University
CONTACT US
Virginia Archives Month
Follow us on Instagram: @virginia_archivists
Email: archivesmonthva@gmail.com