karyn j blog 6; William F Boyd Photo Album

The William F. Boyd Photo Album is a collection of 43 images taken by one of Seattle’s earliest and most important photographers. This collection depicts views of Seattle and the Puget Sound Area. The images capture the aftermath and devastation of the Seattle Fire on 6 June 1889, as well as notable events, such as President Harrison’s visit in 1891, and popular sights and scenery from the area and the other parts of the state.

Collection Principles

The about the database page for this collection does not give the reasons for the digitization of this collection. Nor does it explain why only 43 of the 104 “vintage photographic prints” were chosen and used in this collection. It does, however, tell us that “the information for the William F. Boyd Collection was researched and prepared by the UW Libraries Special Collection staff in 1998.” The original physical collection can be found in the University of Washington Libraries Manuscripts, Special Collections, University Archives Division as the William F. Boyd Album Collection no. 34. This collection uses CONTENTdm Digital Asset Management format.

Object Characteristics

The images are listed alphabetically based on the title. Each thumbnail has a title, date/approximate date, and place the picture captures. When you click on the thumbnail, it takes you to an enlarged image which is at 100% with the metadata beneath it. You may also view the photograph at 25%, 50%, or 75% (there are no other options). There are also options to fit, rotate, clip the image, or hide/show the thumbnail. Because the photographs could not be directly scanned, the images were scanned from recopied 35mm color transparencies and are viewed as JPEGs.

Metadata

The metadata for this collection is helpful. The metadata for the images uses these descriptors: title, photographer, date, notes, subjects, location depicted, collection, order number, ordering information, repository collection, object type, digital reproduction information. The subjects for each image are determined using both LC subject headings and the LC Thesaurus for Graphic Materials (you can also search using both of these subject terms). There is no mention of copyright information (perhaps because it is in the public domain). However, the metadata does a good job of telling who took the picture, when and where it was taken, what is depicted, and where the physical piece can be found.

Intended Audience

The intended audience for this collection is the casual browser or researcher interested in Washington around the turn of the century. It is not directed towards scholarly researchers. Overall, this site is okay. While browsing the collection, there is no easy way to return to the collection homepage without pressing the back button. I also think it would be beneficial to the user if information concerning how and why the collection came about was included.