Documents of analogue photography

HistoricBits is a growing digital collection of historic photographs. It focuses on images that are often overlooked: commercial photography, amateur photographs, local press images, studio photography, automatic photographs, small-format street and instant portraits, and other forms of everyday photographic practice.

Many of these photographs were not made as art, and not with the intention of documenting history — and yet today they do exactly that.

They were made to preserve memories, to offer services, or to run a business with photography. It is precisely this directness that makes them important sources today.

Historic photographs preserve memories of people, places and ways of life. Yet many of these images still remain unnoticed in private albums, drawers, cellars or photographic estates. Often it is not clear what historical value they may have, or how they can be preserved for the long term.

HistoricBits is dedicated to securing and describing this kind of photographic material. The focus is not only on famous photographs or well-known names. Seemingly ordinary images in particular can contain important information about past ways of life, occupations, places, family histories and social change.

HistoricBits understands itself not only as an archive, but as an open place for research, exchange and collaboration. What is not seen and used can easily fall into oblivion.

Do you own old photographs, negatives, slides, glass plates or photo albums whose historical significance you cannot assess? Have you inherited a photographic estate and are unsure how to deal with it?

This may include private family photographs, images from working life, photographs from a local studio, a club, a company, or the estate of a photographer.

You are welcome to get in touch if you need advice on viewing, identifying, digitising or preserving such material. The originals do not necessarily have to be handed over. Often, an initial joint assessment or a digital preservation copy is already an important first step.

Information, local knowledge, dates and personal memories can also help to place historic images back into context. Cooperation with private individuals, associations, archives and other institutions is also welcome.