Unpacking the Photographic Collection of a Natal Midlands Farming Family: Ways of Working with Photographs

Abstract

This paper is a reflection on ways of working with a collection of family photographs through different forms of “unpacking,” including the literal process of removing the photographs from their places of storage, an analysis of the physical components of the photographs, and a process of digitisation. Through these ways of working with the collection, it becomes possible to point toward some insights into a particular social context—the Natal Midlands, during the period of the Union of South Africa—while also raising practical and ethical questions about the use of family photographs as research material.