Tag: visual sources

  • How people saw: looking at photographs in history

    How people saw: looking at photographs in history

    By Jess Hope “To the complaint, ‘There are no people in these photographs,’ I respond, ‘There are always two people: the photographer and the viewer.” – Ansel Adams How do historians approach photographs as sources? Those of us who study the mid-19th century to the present can access a wealth of moments ‘captured’ on film,…

  • Royal Palace or Hellish Temple? Using Architectural Style as a Source

    Royal Palace or Hellish Temple? Using Architectural Style as a Source

    By Atlanta R. Neudorf  //  arn26@cam.ac.uk When one pictures the historian undertaking their archival research, it is common to conjure up an image of the scholar poring over sources of the written word: newspapers, letters, pamphlets, or book manuscripts. Few would imagine this dusty figure staring at a building.

  • What’s in a map?

    What’s in a map?

    By Zoe Farrell  | @zoeffarrell At first glance, a map is a simple entity. It is a tool through which towns and cities can be organised so that people can gain knowledge of places, roads, waterways and significant buildings. However, maps are often in fact complex objects of state building, propaganda and identity formation. J.…