Art & culture
How to read a museum record for a photobooth portrait
Creation dates, accession numbers and print media answer different questions.
Museum records can appear dry beside a lively portrait, but their fields preserve useful distinctions. Compare the records for Walker Evans’s small 1929 print and Ruth O’Leary’s Flinders Street, 2017: both involve a booth, yet the collected objects have different specifications.
Three dates to keep apart
Evans’s Met record gives 1929 for the photograph and 1996 in its accession context. NGV records O’Leary’s work as 2017 with acquisition in 2025. A date of acquisition tells you when an institution obtained an object; it does not date the depicted session.
Evidence: Collection record · Collection record
Medium describes the object
The records identify gelatin silver and digital type C respectively. Copy the medium as recorded when making a research note. Do not infer the complete capture process from a final print description alone, and do not describe a digital simulation as a chemical print because the border looks old.
Evidence: Collection record · Collection record
A compact research card
Write down institution, title, maker, creation date, medium, dimensions, accession number and record link. Add the date you consulted the page. Keep your own interpretation in a separate paragraph. That card makes it possible to return to the evidence after a caption or a search result has changed.
Sources & further reading
Sources for the specific facts and product descriptions above. Our worked examples, interpretations and practical suggestions are original editorial guidance.