Photographic Collections: Definitions, Descriptions, Access

Thank goodness for social networking sites.  Today I found a link to Ryerson University's Ryerson Image Center and their hosting of a Toronto Photographic Convention about photographic collections.  The title:  Photographic Collections: Definitions, Descriptions, Access.  Wow.  Here's the link to it's description:

http://ryersongallery.ca/events-archive-2/

To top this off, the Image Center is providing video of each of the 3 days events.  Here's day two's link:

https://ryecast.ryerson.ca/48/watch/1658.aspx

And yes I tried to download a copy of the 8 hour video but it's protected.  Speakers include photoconservators Paul Messier and Anne Cartier-Bresson.  Wow again.

I can't wait to sit back and watch it.  The highlight--at least in my eyes--discussions on a vocabulary that would precisely describe photographic objects.  I'll keep you posted.

A video capture of Paul Messier and his discussion "Black & White".

Paul Messier for instance discusses the moment of his realization that he didn't have the criteria or knowledge to tell if a silver gelatin photograph was made before or after 1940 and the resulting obsessive collecting of B&W papers and their classification, vocabulary and descriptions that make their sorting meaningful.