{"id":7226,"date":"2018-02-02T13:24:32","date_gmt":"2018-02-02T17:24:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?p=7226"},"modified":"2018-02-02T13:27:11","modified_gmt":"2018-02-02T17:27:11","slug":"stuck-out-of-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?p=7226","title":{"rendered":"Stuck Out of Time"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Photos, snapshots of a minute frame of time, often only a fraction of a second, provide a stark and seemingly frozen glance into the past. Special Collections Research Center’s (SCRC) exhibit through April, From Tintypes to .TIFFs <\/em>displays a variety of these tiny glimpses into the past in a multitude of different formats. Tintypes, cyanotypes, salt paper prints, Polaroid\u2019s, 35mm negatives, and large format silver gelatin blow ups decorate our exhibit cases further studded with examples of photographic equipment from the art form\u2019s beginnings to the modern era. The cameras alone provide quite the draw for students. Many have forms vaguely recognizable today, others, less so \u2013 to the point of seeming more like industrial or scientific equipment than the sleekly portable digital units so common today. The history of photography is itself as storied and complex as any similar scientific development, though often and especially these days, the medium is used far more frivolously.<\/p>\n

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Part of our exhibit. Image taken by Nick Welsh.<\/p><\/div>\n

We take thousands of Snapchats, each disposed of in ten seconds or less, Instagram our meals, and post vacation photos to Facebook for the world to ogle and \u201clike.\u201d Some more cynical critiques of this generation (and technological progress on the whole) decry the instant gratification and immediate disposability of modern photographic culture. \u201cIn my day, film had to be developed! You couldn\u2019t \u2018retake\u2019 photos you didn\u2019t like on the fly, you had to wait!\u201d My strawman critic of modern culture notwithstanding, there does seem to be something lost in today\u2019s explosion of photographic implements \u2013 everything has a camera attached today, most seemingly as an afterthought. Most computers have webcams, all cell phones are armed with sensors that would boggle the minds of 19th<\/sup> century shutterbugs, and now even some fridges have inward facing cameras that can show you whether or not your milk is running low. We\u2019ve been flooded with cameras!<\/p>\n

Despite the ubiquity of what was once an extremely expensive and chemically complicated profession, I\u2019d argue that’s what was important at photography\u2019s birth that remains so today. The \u201chow\u201d of photography is not near as important as the \u201cwhy.\u201d As a historian, the snapshots that are interspersed throughout the display cases outside SCRC provide windows into the past in ways that words, spoken or written, could never convey. They provide us links to all of our senses.<\/p>\n

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Up close picture showing some materials featured in the exhibit. Image taken by Nick Welsh.<\/p><\/div>\n

The soldier standing rigidly for the camera in the 1860s comes across as simultaneously proud of his service, and distinctly afraid of his future. His family, likely paying for the memento, might have used this to show off his nobility in service or remember him in death. Today, we get both. The snapshots of a line of gunships in Vietnam or of astronauts on the moon not only portray the ever grinding wheel of human progress, but tickle other senses of their viewers. The down rush of the helicopters whirring blades kicks hot, red earth into our faces; the cold backdrop of stars behind a lunar explorer crushes us with loneliness, and yet still fills us with wonder. Photos are frozen out of time, encompassing all of the emotion of that moment as well as the visual.<\/p>\n

Even today\u2019s point-shoot-post style of photography holds meaning \u2013 if only for one or two people. So do not disparage those who snap, who Instagram, who shoot and re-shoot selfies, encourage them to continue to connect with others, with their history, and with their world. Because after all, you never know when one of those photos might end up behind display case glass.<\/p>\n

From Tintypes to .TIFFs\u00a0<\/em>will be up from now until April and we will be having a reception on February 19th from 2-4 with light refreshments and a guest speaker, Dr. Vanessa Schulman. We also have comment cards in our exhibit area for any feedback you may have, good or bad. We would love to hear from you! Stay tuned for updates on our reception, events, or future exhibits.<\/p>\n

Follow Special Collections Research Center on Social Media at our\u00a0Facebook<\/a>,\u00a0Instagram<\/a>, and\u00a0Twitter<\/a>\u00a0accounts. To search the collections\u00a0held at Special Collections Research Center, go to our\u00a0website<\/a>\u00a0and browse the finding aids by subject or title. You may also e-mail\u00a0us at\u00a0speccoll@gmu.edu<\/a>\u00a0or call 703-993-2220 if you would like to\u00a0schedule an appointment, request materials, or if you have questions. Appointments are not necessary to request and view collections.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Photos, snapshots of a minute frame of time, often only a fraction of a second, provide a stark and seemingly frozen glance into the past. Special Collections Research Center’s (SCRC) exhibit through April, From Tintypes to .TIFFs displays a variety of these tiny glimpses into the past in a multitude of different formats. Tintypes, cyanotypes, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7229,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,272,198,5],"tags":[437,436,111,312,211,97,421,57,573,572,574],"class_list":["post-7226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exhibits","category-gmu-fairfax-campus","category-photography-collections","category-scrc-interest","tag-19th-century","tag-20th-century","tag-exhibit","tag-exhibition","tag-george-mason-university","tag-gmu","tag-history","tag-photography","tag-polaroid","tag-scrc","tag-tiff"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/nick2.jpg?fit=1080%2C607&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8Ep5i-1Sy","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5515,"url":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?p=5515","url_meta":{"origin":7226,"position":0},"title":"War Photography in “From Tintypes to .TIFFs” Exhibit","author":"admin","date":"March 20, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"In addition to its timeline of photographic processes, the Special Collection Research Center (SCRC)\u2019s \u201cFrom Tintypes to .TIFFs: Life through the Lens\u201d exhibit explores particularly interesting photographic collections in our holdings. Photographs from one of the collections highlighted, the Military Assistance Group, Vietnam (MACV) Team 58 collection by 1st Lieutenant\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Digitization"","block_context":{"text":"Digitization","link":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?cat=558"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/C0196B01P39_004.png?fit=1200%2C927&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/C0196B01P39_004.png?fit=1200%2C927&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/C0196B01P39_004.png?fit=1200%2C927&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/C0196B01P39_004.png?fit=1200%2C927&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/C0196B01P39_004.png?fit=1200%2C927&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7313,"url":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?p=7313","url_meta":{"origin":7226,"position":1},"title":"Historic Cameras in “From Tintypes to TIFFs”","author":"admin","date":"April 26, 2018","format":"image","excerpt":"\u201cFrom Tintypes to TIFFs: Life Through the Lens\u201d has gotten excellent feedback from Fenwick Library patrons, and the favorite part of the exhibit for many seems to be the historic cameras that are on display throughout the timeline of photographic processes. In an era when most people simply use the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "exhibits"","block_context":{"text":"exhibits","link":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?cat=22"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/file.jpeg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/file.jpeg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/file.jpeg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/file.jpeg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/file.jpeg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8229,"url":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?p=8229","url_meta":{"origin":7226,"position":2},"title":"Before and Beyond 1968: Exhibit Reception","author":"admin","date":"January 23, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"SCRC is hosting an exhibit discussion and reception for\u00a0Before + Beyond 1968: Three Civil Rights Movements in America\u00a0on Thursday Jan. 31, 2019. It will run from\u00a03:30 - 5:00 and will take place in the Seminar Room in\u00a0 SCRC, 2400 Fenwick. The featured speaker is Dr. Spencer Crew, George Mason University\u00a0Robinson\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "exhibits"","block_context":{"text":"exhibits","link":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?cat=22"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/CivilRightsExhibitRECEPTION2019.HP_.400.png?fit=400%2C240&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9089,"url":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?p=9089","url_meta":{"origin":7226,"position":3},"title":"Marchives Madness","author":"admin","date":"March 2, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 It is that time of year and SCRC is having another Marchives Madness contest. Our current exhibition is called \u201cShowing Us Our Own Face\u201d: Performing Arts and the Human Experience. All of the items have been digitized to replicate the physical exhibit as shown. To view all the items\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "exhibits"","block_context":{"text":"exhibits","link":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?cat=22"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/MARCHIVESMadnessWatchParty.Insta_.jpg?fit=1080%2C1080&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/MARCHIVESMadnessWatchParty.Insta_.jpg?fit=1080%2C1080&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/MARCHIVESMadnessWatchParty.Insta_.jpg?fit=1080%2C1080&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/MARCHIVESMadnessWatchParty.Insta_.jpg?fit=1080%2C1080&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/MARCHIVESMadnessWatchParty.Insta_.jpg?fit=1080%2C1080&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7108,"url":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?p=7108","url_meta":{"origin":7226,"position":4},"title":"Intern With SCRC in Spring 2018!","author":"Amanda Menjivar","date":"December 4, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Special Collections Research Center is offering three internships for the Spring 2018 semester in Digitization, Exhibits, and Transcription for GMU and non-GMU students alike. 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