Workshop: Picture Archives and the Emergence of Visual History of Education

On Tuesday, August 28, 2018, as part of ISCHE 40 (International Standing Conference for the History of Education) the BBF offers a pre-conference workshop „Picture Archives and the Emergence of Visual History of Education“ on its premises. Registration deadline is Monday, August 6, 2018.

During the ISCHE 40, the BBF and the Nationaal Onderwijsmuseum Dordrecht (Netherlands) organize a pre-conference workshop "Picture Archives and the Emergence of Visual History of Education". The workshop focuses on the diverse image sources and the corresponding picture archives and explores how these may be used for a visual history of education and which specific requirements of educational historians need to be addressed.

One of the characteristic features of modern life is the omnipresence of images – in public life as well as in the private surroundings. At latest with shaping the term "visual history" at the beginning of the nineteen-nineties, historical disciplines are dealing with this ever growing pool of pictorial sources. This is also true for educational history – especially when keeping in mind that the use of images in an educational context is common practice since early modern ages. This concerns the presentation practices, the design of didactic visual media and their use in educational practice as well as the illustrated traces of historical educational practice and historical educational knowledge (e.g. photographs of school buildings or educational scenes).

There are various digital picture archives to address the research questions of many historical disciplines. These databases, though, differ widely in purpose and design – and of course they cannot serve every scientific demand. According to Gerhard Paul there should be at least four layers of information evaluation when analyzing historical images (reality of depiction, genesis, use and impact). Thus, building up a corpus of image sources with sufficient accompanying information can be quite challenging. The pre-conference workshop will focus on how the research community may actively influence the further development and maintenance of digital picture archives. In how far can existing digital archives meet the needs of educational historians and a visual history of education? What do the different archives offer and how are they used? What is their strength and weakness in regard to a comprehensive analysis? Is there a need for different, new solutions? Are there common basic requirements?

The workshop will take place on Tuesday, August 28, 2018, at the BBF, Warschauer Straße 36, 10243 Berlin, 2nd floor, room 136.
Please register by August 6, 2018, with Stefanie Kollmann (E-mail: , Phone: +49 (0)30 293360–37).
There is no admission fee but the number of participants is limited.