Kramer_Steven.pdf (2.73 MB)
Download fileRobert C. Kraut's Japan : cataloguing and contextualizing post World War Two photographic albums of Japan and the South Pacific
thesis
posted on 2021-06-08, 14:46 authored by Steven KramerThis applied thesis examines three albums created by US Army Air Force personnel Robert C. Kraut from 1945-46. The albums were donated by Toronto based artist Max Dean to the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO), and serve as a case study for the process of cataloguing and contextualizing albums for future researchers and museum staff.
This paper includes a literature survey examining care and handling, social and historical evolutions, and cataloguing practices related to both photographic albums and scrapbooks. An historical analysis of the photographic album as a medium, vernacular photography and the donation process of the albums into the AGO's collection follows. A detailed analysis of the narrative, material orientation, annotation, layout and materiality qualities for each album is included. A cataloguing methodology that both accounts for the albums’ unique layouts and holds to the established conventions for cataloguing albums at the AGO is discussed and described in detail.