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!

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.

Explore

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
WLU_PP_Phoebe_hayslett_alphin - Mattie Clear

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

wooden library cart iwth archives boxes on the top and middle shelve. Background is a disco dance floor
Virginia Archives Month

Follow us on Instagram: @virginia_archivists

Email: archivesmonthva@gmail.com