Organization and Cataloguing of the Maxwell Museum's Photographic Collections

照片是非常有用的人类学工具。虽然它的潜力已经被许多学者认识到，但直到最近，人类学机构所持有的大量图像的价值才被强调为其研究潜力。不幸的是，许多藏品都没有得到很好的维护和认可。由于我们最早的文献中的硝酸盐基，使用甚至是危险的。新墨西哥大学的麦克斯韦尔博物馆正在进行一项为期两年的计划，以组织、编目、索引和重新安置他们的摄影材料。这个项目的一个试点项目去年得到了资助。将编制计算机化的目录、视觉参考索引和有组织的储存系统，从而使研究人员能够第一次随时查阅这些重要的藏书。麦克斯韦尔博物馆的摄影收藏记录了一个世纪以来世界各地的文化变迁，以及类似的考古和民族志研究。在许多情况下，主体社会不再作为完整的单位存在；在其他国家，它们已被彻底修改。因此，幸存下来的图像代表了人类学和社会成员的宝贵资源，这些社会成员的传统被相机记录下来。

Photographs are a highly useful anthropological tool. While its potential has been realized by many scholars, only recently has the value of the vast number of images held by anthropological institutions been emphasized for its research potential. Unfortunately, many collections have been badly maintained and are pooly recognized. Because of the nitrate base of our earliest documents, use is even dangerous. The Maxwell Museum of the University of New Mexico is conducting a two year program to organize, catalogue, index, and rehouse their photographic materials. A pilot project for this project was funded last year. A computerized catalogue, a visual reference index and an organized storage system will be developed, thereby permitting researchers ready access to these premier collections for the first time. The Maxwell Museum's photographic collections document a century of culture change around the world and a similar span of archaeological and ethnographic research. In many cases, the subject societies no longer exist as integrted units; in others they have been drastically modified. Thus the surviving imagery represents a valuable resource to both anthropology and the members of societies whose traditions have been recorded by the camera.