Dating a Demolition Photograph: Archive Conflict and Catalogue Deadline
You are writing a catalogue entry for a 1930s gelatin silver photograph of a demolition site in a New Zealand city. Archive A dates the image to 1931; Archive B says 1934. The negative in your collection is a later print made in the 1970s from an original negative. The photographer's daybook has an entry reading 'demolition, Queen St, Wednesday' with no year. A newspaper caption from 1932 shows a similar scene but with a different hoarding. The catalogue goes to print in three days; the exhibition opens in ten days. The designer wants a definite date for the wall label. The photographer's estate says the daybook entry refers to a different job. Your institution's style guide allows 'c.' and date ranges but prefers single dates where possible. The image is central to the exhibition's argument about urban change.
1. How would you resolve the date as far as the evidence allows?
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I would separate the date of the scene from the date of the print. The print is a 1970s object; the image content is 1930s. For the scene, I would weigh the sources rather than count them. Archive A and Archive B may both be repeating earlier catalogue entries, so their dates are not independent evidence. The daybook is closer to the photographer but ambiguous: 'Wednesday' without a year is weak unless other entries around it can be dated by internal sequence. The 1932 newspaper caption is useful because it shows a similar but not identical scene, which suggests the photograph may be from a related demolition phase. I would check the hoarding lettering, the building on the left, and the street width against rate books, council demolition permits, and other dated photographs. If those converge on 1931 or 1934, I would use that date with a note. If they do not, I would use 'c. 1931–34' and explain the conflict in the catalogue entry. I would not choose a single date just because the designer wants one.
2. How should the catalogue and label present the uncertainty?
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The label can be concise without being false. For example: 'Demolition, Queen Street, c. 1931–34. Gelatin silver print, printed 1970s.' The catalogue entry should explain the evidence: the two archive dates, the daybook ambiguity, the 1932 newspaper comparison, and the reason for the range. It should distinguish 'date of image' from 'date of print', because visitors often assume a photograph is contemporary with its subject. The entry should also say what would resolve the question, such as a dated demolition permit or a negative sleeve. This is not indecision; it is accurate cataloguing. The exhibition's argument about urban change does not depend on a single year, and the range can be used to discuss how cities were transformed across the early 1930s. The designer can set the label in the same style as others, with 'c.' and the range. If the exhibition text needs a single date for a timeline, the catalogue should footnote the uncertainty rather than suppress it.
3. What claims should you avoid making in the entry?
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Avoid claiming that the photograph depicts a specific building's demolition unless you can identify it from a dated source. Avoid saying the daybook entry 'proves' the date; it does not. Avoid treating the 1970s print as the original object or implying that the photographer printed it in the 1930s. Avoid using the 1932 newspaper caption as direct evidence for this image, because it shows a different hoarding. Avoid a confident single date that the evidence cannot support. Also avoid over-reading the image as a statement about modernity unless you can tie that reading to period commentary. The safest entry states what is known, what is inferred, and what is unknown. That is more useful to future researchers than a false certainty, and it protects the institution if another archive produces a contradictory document after publication.