Photographing Hellenism
The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies Photographic Collection 1870s-1960s
By (author) Deborah Harlan
Hardback (Published)
(October 2025)
ISBN: 9781805830825
7.99 x 10.87 inches
Price: $77.00
On back order
This study examines a unique photographic collection spanning the late 19th to mid-20th century, tracing how images of the Hellenic world were created, circulated, archived, and reinterpreted. It explores their materiality, cultural contexts, and evolving meanings, from lantern slides to digital access.
Photographing Hellenism explores a collection of photographs assembled between the late 19th century and the 1960s by the London-based Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies. The collection functioned as a repository of photographs from the Hellenic World in the form of negatives, prints and lantern slides. The collection ceased to function in the mid-20th century, becoming an archive of material objects that was eventually dispersed to a number of institutions in Athens and Rome. Using visualising methodologies, this study looks at the nexus between photographs (both as objects and images), photographic collections, and the archive. It takes into account personal and cultural actions of the photographers, donors, and consumers involved in order to explore the evolving concept of Hellenism reflected in the images. During its active lifetime, the images in the collection were treated as empirical data, embedding telltale signs of how the Hellenic world was conceived. By understanding their object biographies and their socio-historical context, it is possible to demonstrate how the images encapsulate various stages of that evolving conception. In the present, their reception focuses on culturally determined re-interpretations, benefitting from access to photographic archives through digitisation.
Preface & Acknowledgements Abbreviations & Digital Resources Chapter 1: Introduction: Archives and Photographic Collections The SPHS Photographic Collection Chapter 2: Collecting Images The Formation of the SPHS Collection Chapter 3: The Photographic Library Materiality Metadata Categorisation Chapter 4: Focus Ways of Visualising Chapter 5: Travellers and Photography The Travelling Public and the SPHS BSA Study Tours Research Tours Chapter 6: Modernity and Relics of the Past The Exotic and Familiar Contemporary Landscapes Relics of the Past Chapter 7: Documentation Professionalising the Field Shifting Priorities and Phantom Images Changing Focus: Duplication, Manipulation, and Publication Engagement: Secondary Use Chapter 8: Visual Aids in Classical Studies Teaching with Lantern Slides Slide Sets and Illustrated Lectures The Visual Message Chapter 9: Fluctuating Value The Decline The Fall Chapter 10: Reception in the Digital Age Connectivity, Standardisation, and Interoperability Exploring Ways of Viewing Digital Image Collections Chapter 11: Photographing Hellenism References Index,
Preface & Acknowledgements
Abbreviations & Digital Resources
Chapter 1: Introduction: Archives and Photographic Collections
The SPHS Photographic Collection
Chapter 2: Collecting Images
The Formation of the SPHS Collection
Chapter 3: The Photographic Library
Materiality
Metadata
Categorisation
Chapter 4: Focus
Ways of Visualising
Chapter 5: Travellers and Photography
The Travelling Public and the SPHS
BSA Study Tours
Research Tours
Chapter 6: Modernity and Relics of the Past
The Exotic and Familiar
Contemporary Landscapes
Relics of the Past
Chapter 7: Documentation
Professionalising the Field
Shifting Priorities and Phantom Images
Changing Focus: Duplication, Manipulation, and Publication
Engagement: Secondary Use
Chapter 8: Visual Aids in Classical Studies
Teaching with Lantern Slides
Slide Sets and Illustrated Lectures
The Visual Message
Chapter 9: Fluctuating Value
The Decline
The Fall
Chapter 10: Reception in the Digital Age
Connectivity, Standardisation, and Interoperability
Exploring Ways of Viewing Digital Image Collections
Chapter 11: Photographing Hellenism
References
Index
- By (author) Deborah Harlan
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