Every Photo is a Story

Researching Photographs--Video Series and Exercises

Prints and Photographs Division

"Blue Garden." Photo by Frances Benjamin Johnston, Summer 1914

"Every Photo is a Story" is a five part video series in which reference librarian Kristi Finefield and architecture and landscape historian Sam Watters discuss the ways to uncover the story in a photograph.

The photographs in question are hand-colored lantern slides created by Frances Benjamin Johnston in the early 20th century showing historic gardens and homes.

Viewers will learn the many ways to research and understand photographs. "Try It Yourself" exercises accompany each part, giving viewers a chance to apply skills learned during the video.

Part 1: Start to Read a Photograph

In Part 1: Start to Read a Photograph, viewers learn about how to read photographs and develop their visual literacy skills.

Watch the video
Try It Yourself Exercise

Part 2: Get to Know the Photographer

In Part 2: Get to Know the Photographer, viewers learn about researching the photographer's life and career, and the research benefits of knowing more about the person behind the camera.

Watch the video
Try It Yourself Exercise

Part 3: Consider How the Photos Were Made

In Part 3: Consider How the Photos Were Made, viewers learn about influences on the photographic object itself, including camera and film technology, manipulations made after the fact, and audience expectations.

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Try It Yourself Exercise

Part 4: Explore the Photographer's Era

In Part 4: Explore the Photographer's Era, viewers learn about researching the era in which a photograph was made in order to discover events and movements that may have influenced the creation and composition of the photograph. Viewers also learn to consider photographs as works of art, and to learn about conventions for composition and visual communication.

Watch the video
Try It Yourself Exercise

Part 5: Interpret Stories You Discover

In Part 5: Interpret Stories You Discover, viewers will learn stories behind the photographs of the Blue Garden discussed throughout the series. All of the tools and tips from Parts 1 through 4 come into play in this final part of the "Every Photo is a Story" series.

Watch the video
Try It Yourself Exercise

Additional Resources:

Researcher's Toolbox: Resources that provide information and methods for exploring image history, processes, content, and meaning.

Helena Zinkham, "Reading and Researching Photographs," in Photographs: Archival Care and Management, ed. Mary Lynn Ritzenthaler and Diane Vogt-O'Connor. (Chicago: Society of American Archivists, 2006), 59-77. (PDF file)

Collection and Subject/Format Overviews: Summaries of collections in the Prints and Photographs Division as well as overviews of the Division's holdings in particular subject areas, such as Native Americans, women's history, photographic print processes, etc.

Online Reference Sources for Cataloging Visual Materials: Selected list of sources that can help you discover information about the creators, subjects, and geographical locations that commonly occur with still pictures. The list also cites tools for recognizing and translating foreign languages; for converting measurements and dates; for identifying formats and types of visual materials; and for dating images.

Prints and Photographs Online Catalog (PPOC): The Prints and Photographs Online Catalog (PPOC) contains catalog records and digital images representing a rich cross-section of still pictures held by the Prints & Photographs Division and, in some cases, other units of the Library of Congress. The collections of the Prints & Photographs Division include photographs, fine and popular prints and drawings, posters, and architectural and engineering drawings. While international in scope, the collections are particularly rich in materials produced in, or documenting the history of, the United States and the lives, interests and achievements of the American people.

Ask a Prints & Photographs Librarian: Contact Prints & Photographs Reference staff for assistance with our holdings of photographs, prints, posters, drawings, and architectural records, including those found in the Prints & Photographs Online Catalog (PPOC)

Picture This - Library of Congress Prints & Photos: The Picture This blog invites you to share our love of pictures and the stories they can tell. You'll see special images that caught our eye and also learn about entire collections as we explore the vast holdings of the Prints and Photographs Division at the Library of Congress--more than 14.5 million photos, posters, cartoons, architectural designs, and historical and fine art prints.

Library of Congress for Teachers: This page provides tools and materials for using the Library's unique collections of primary source documents in the classroom. These teacher-created materials include lesson plans, document analysis tools, online and offline activities, timelines, presentations and professional development resources.

Using Primary Sources: Includes resources to find, cite and analyze primary sources, which are original documents and objects which were created at the time under study. They are different from secondary sources, accounts or interpretations of events created by someone without firsthand experience.