Practical Archival Skills Training: Victorian Visual Culture

Records of copyright registration and trade marks at The National Archives offer a unique insight into Victorian visual and print culture in Britain. They include records of the registration of paintings, drawings, advertising and photographs with the Stationers’ Company between 1862 and 1912 (and books and music from 1842) and trade marks registered with the UK Patent Office between 1876 and 1938.

Through hands-on sessions with original documents, this in-person workshop at The National Archives' site in Kew will provide students with the skills they need to conduct research with these visually striking and underused collections. The records provide opportunities for a variety of research areas including visual and print culture, art history, business history and legal history.

Sessions will include:

• Visual culture and intellectual property: in this session, students will be given an introduction to the intellectual property landscape in the nineteenth century and explore the impact of key legislation on the development of visual and print culture in Britain.

• Paintings and drawings registered for copyright protection: this session will focus on copyright registration records for paintings, drawings and advertising between 1862 and 1912 and students will complete practical exercises guided by our experts to learn how to use original registry systems to find uncatalogued records.

• Photographs registered for copyright protection: in this session, students will learn about photographs registered for copyright protection between 1862 and 1912 and explore ways to engage creatively with catalogue data to gain a deeper understanding of photographic industries of the period.

• Trade mark records: in this session, students will learn how to find records of the registration of trade marks between 1876 and 1938 in The National Archives collections, with guidance on how to use finding aids held at the British Library .

• A research journey through the records: this session will explore an example of a research journey bringing together multiple record types to explore a topic and tell a story.

At the end of the course, students will have all the skills they need to locate and understand nineteenth and early twentieth century records of visual culture in The National Archives’ collection and will be able to apply this knowledge to their own areas of research.

This event is aimed at current taught postgraduate and PhD students, but other researchers are welcome. Tea and coffee at registration is provided.

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