Different institutions have different approaches to naming
photographs and sometimes within the same institution there are different
approaches to naming photographs.
At Washington and Lee University Special Collections and
Archives there are two photograph collections that have been partially
digitized: The Michael Miley Collection and the Steele Burrow 2012 Mock Convention Photograph
Collection. The naming conventions
for the Michael Miley tend to be “good” whereas the naming conventions for the
other collection tend to be “bad”.
Here is a digitized print from the Michael Miley Collection
that was created from a glass plate negative. It is of a young woman and in the print you can the back of
the plate where her name, Laura Bush, has been inscribed. The last part of the inscription is
illegible.
The title on the record for the above image is: Portrait of
Laura Bush (photograph). It is a
good example of a constructed title (CCO 1.2.2.2.2) since it refers to the
function of the work (i.e. portrait),
the subject, and what medium.
On the other hand, the Steele Burrow 2012 Mock Convention
Photograph Collection tends to
have terrible naming conventions.
For instance, the image below is simply titled “Mock Con.” Mock Con has long history at Washington
and Lee University with the first one held in 1908. Every four years a
convention is held during the early stages of the Presidential Primary
simulating a presidential nominating convention. If the current President is a Democrat then Mock Con will be
Republican one. Alternatively, if the current President is a Republican then
Mock Con will be a Democratic one. In 2012 it was the Republican Mock Convention.
However, the image clearly needs a more descriptive title
than that. Given the context of
the collection and the metadata in the record it is a safe bet to presume the
photograph was taken in February 2012 at 2012 Republican Mock Convention held
at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia. But why are the people waving flags and
wearing cowboy hats? The flags are Texan flags, which indicates that this is
the Texas Delegation at the Republican Mock Convention. Thus, a better (although lengthy)
collective title would be: Texas Delegation, 2012 Republication Mock
Convention, Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Virginia. The preferred title for the above
photograph would be: Texas Delegation Members Waving Texas State Flags.
For the title I
wanted to construct one that was descriptive as possible given that the title,
Mock Con, given by the photographer was too vague. In the event there is more
than one photograph of the Texas Delegation resulting in a Texas Delegation
series I thought it would be best to have a collective title for the Texas
Delegation photograph as well as a preferred title. The CCO rules I looked at
to make these titles are 1.2.2.1 (Preferred Title), 1.2.2.2.2 (Constructed
Title), 1.2.2.2.3 (Descriptive Title), and 1.2.2.2.6 (Collective Title).
Since the records for both photographs are not easily downloadable I have included the links for them:
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