Susan Harris

This dissertation aims to expand the discourse on the history of commercial photography by focusing on the packaging, branding and advertising of the early British photographic dry plate industry from 1871 to 1929. My research topic came out working as a volunteer at the Victoria & Albert Museum on the Royal Photographic Society Collection. I noticed that the primary concern was naturally enough on the photograph and the preservation of the dry plates which are stored in their original pressed paper box packaging. I was fascinated by the fact that this photographic dry plate and film packaging told a great deal about how the image was taken, how it was to be stored, as well as who manufactured the dry plate. How the labelling on the boxes advertised the product and along with supported advertisements suggests the focus markets at this period. 

The research highlights how vital was the packaging to the marketing of the photographic products such as dry plates, and what impact did this have on society and the consumer culture. Photographic packaging as objects are not photographs and are seen ephemera and placing it in the camp of branding and marketing, but they do hold an important key to an understanding of the commercial side of photographic history which has been overlooked.