Last summer a group of HBCU students from around the country worked with materials from the renowned Johnson Publishing Company archive in a hands-on conservation workshop with Getty photograph conservator and WUDPAC alumna Ronel Namde. From the October 12, 2023 article by Cassia Davis for the Getty's website:
Last summer a group of students from historically Black colleges and universities around the country headed to Chicago for a hands-on conservation workshop with materials from the Johnson Publishing Company archive. During the five-day workshop, they got an introduction to the field of conservation, learning some of the techniques and philosophies of conserving historically relevant materials. The workshop, which aimed to raise awareness about the field of conservation, was an inspiring experience for many students. The students, who are majoring in everything from fashion to environmental science, had a chance to clean, repair tears, and remove staples and tape from photographic materials in the original Johnson Publishing Company archive. This experience, many said, will impact how they approach their future careers.
The workshop began with an introduction to photography conservation, before breaking down the intricacies of the work with practical demonstrations. Participants viewed Johnson Publishing Company archive materials, created documentation for the archive, rehoused slides, and cleaned and repaired photographs. Here’s what participants had to say about the experience.
Qiana Thornton
Qiana Thornton, a biochemistry major at Chicago State University, said before attending the workshop “I knew chemicals were used to develop photography, but I didn’t realize how much chemistry was a part of it.”
Thornton’s advisor recommended the workshop as a way to explore science in a field they may not have previously considered.
“I just wanted to come and put my hands on something at first, and to help it exist.” Thornton said. “To have this experience, it made the average person’s photos more important, more necessary. A photo’s not just something that’s nice to look at, but it’s necessary for the people after you to remember who they are, and where they’re going, and why you are doing things.”
One of the photos in the archive that resonated with Thornton was of Mahalia Jackson singing at a podium for a crowd of protesters during a Civil Rights march to free Angela Davis.
“She’s representing people that had to march and to fight.” Thornton said, “Because that picture exists, it keeps that feeling alive.”
Tyler Walker
Tyler Walker, who majored in business management and environmental science at Hampton University and is now starting his own portrait photography business, said he could find many similarities between conserving the environment, and conserving photography.
“If you don’t treat the land well, how could you learn from it? And if you don’t treat these photographs of this history well, what can you learn from it?” Walker said.
Walker said that while working with the archive he gained a deeper understanding of the historical importance of positive Black representation in magazines like Jet and Ebony.
“I’m moving through this world that people before me have fought so hard to try and allow me to have,” Walker said. “Conservation, preservation. I know both practically entail just a greater appreciation of what was…You want to hold that positive aesthetic and representation and you want people to recognize it, moving forward like ‘This was here before you were here.’”
To read the full article and hear more from workshop participants about their experience working with the Johnson Archive, visit the Getty's website.
