Assignment: Read chapters 17, 18 and 19 in the textbook (free pdf version here or purchase hard copy here).
Notes:
As you’ve already read about gelatin silver prints, stamps and tags, you already have a big start on news photos. With that information, you should have no trouble identifying and dating most news photos.
Just a few examples of news and press photos, showing why they are so popularly collected:
1959 original stroboscopic photo of famed M.I.T. engineer and photography pioneer Harold Edgerton. The ultra high speed photo shows Edgerton holding a balloon as a bullet is shot through it. The back has a press release tag from M.I.T.1950 photo of the future queen and her sister Margaret at the Derby horse race, with a papr caption caption and ‘Barratt’s Photo Press’ stamp on the back.1956 Camera Press of London news photo of James Dean at dinner party1920s publicity photo of Greta Garbo from the San Francisco Examiner archivesUnited Artists promotional photo for the 1932 film White Zombie staring Bela Lugosi. This was the first zombie film and is often ranked as Lugosi’s best acting role.Original International News Photos photo of the baseball legends shaking hands before the 1934 season opener. Stamps and paper caption on back.1906 Underwood & Underwood photograph of Mark Twain writing in bed.Original Vogue magazine photograph Arturo Toscanini.Oversized 1933 Associated Press nighttimed photo of New York City skyline shot from the Empire State Building. The image shows the East River, Manhattan and Long Island.The Beatles in concert at the Tower Ballroom on November 10, 1961. From the San Francisco Examiner archives.
Online Course in Photograph Identification and Authentication 