The University of Rochester and the George Eastman House have announced a new master's degree program they will jointly offer in Photographic Preservation and Collections Management. The program will be the only one in the U.S. dedicated to the study of the photograph as an object, in terms of the care and handling as well as their cultural and historical context.
Eastman House Director Bruce Barnes says even though there is such an emphasis these days on digital photography, it makes the traditional photograph all the more important when it comes to preservation.
“Because we don't deal with them as much in our day to day life as when we were kids, when everyone passed around the family photos, traditional photographs have become more and more special objects and have become a very important part of the contemporary art world for instance.”
The Eastman House previously had partnered with a Toronto based university for this master's program.
Barnes says there is demand for people with this kind of academic background, noting that graduates have “gone to work at museums and photographic archives around the world, Chile, Europe, a variety of places including people who are at some of the leading museums and archives in the United States as well. "
The new program will start in September of next year.
