Introduction
The Access to Records Project is a landmark two-year initiative by the Société Jersiaise Photographic Archive (SJPA) that aims to make Jersey’s vast photographic heritage more accessible, understandable, and relevant to the island’s communities and beyond. Supported by the Jersey Community Foundation (using funds from the Channel Islands Lottery), this project addresses long-standing cataloguing backlogs, improves the quality of descriptions, and opens up collections to wider public engagement. The project was carried out under the leadership of Orlando Echeverri Benedetti, who served as project cataloguer.
Project Aims and Rationale
At its core, this project was designed to:
- Enhance Descriptive Standards: Improve and standardise collection-level descriptions so that researchers, educators, and the general public can better understand what the archive holds.
- Increase Online Accessibility: Ensure that these descriptions are not locked away but freely available through the SJPA’s online catalogue.
- Encourage Community Engagement: Raise awareness of Jersey’s photographic collections and demonstrate how they can support learning, research, and cultural identity.
These aims respond to a simple but pressing question: How can an archive remain relevant if its contents are not discoverable or understandable by the very people it is meant to serve?
Project Leadership
Under the guidance of project cataloguer Orlando Echeverri Benedetti, the research, documentation, and structural organisation of the collections were undertaken according to:
- Established Archival Standards: Following ISAD(G) and ISAAR(CPF) international guidelines.
- Proven Methodologies: Drawing on the Manual of Archival Description (Procter & Cook).
- Consistency with Institutional Policies: Aligning with the Société Jersiaise’s collections management practices.
Key Activities and Achievements
1. In-Depth Descriptions for Priority Collections
A major strand involved producing detailed, standardised descriptions for 20 historically significant collections, including:
- Photographers such as:
Francis George de Faye, Philip Morel Laurens, Albert Smith, Ernest Baudoux, Henry Mullins, Percival Dunham, Philip Godfray, Stuart Abraham, Emile F. Guiton, Joan Stevens, Maurice Richardson - Material from institutions:
The Island Sun newspaper, Jersey Post Staff Archive - Occupation imagery:
Hans Egon Pelz
What this involved:
- Designing a clear, consistent descriptive framework
- Manually entering information into the SJPA’s collections management system
- Investigating the biographies of creators and collectors
- Compiling administrative histories that explain how each collection came under the Société’s custodianship
Why it matters:
This ensures that users can trace not only the content but also the context and provenance — key to understanding and interpreting any archival record.
2. Tackling Backlogs: 431 Additional Accessions
Alongside the flagship collections, a further 431 accessions acquired between 1996 and 2020 were reviewed and described — a period during which significant descriptive work had fallen behind.
Challenges faced:
Data was often fragmentary or inconsistently recorded, and crucial fields (dates, titles, creators, keywords) were missing or incorrectly located.
How this was resolved:
Data was extracted, amended, and reorganised to meet best practice standards, with targeted research undertaken to fill major gaps. Fully revised descriptions were uploaded to Adlib, making them visible online.
Impact:
Approximately 600 new catalogue entries were created, meaning that over 90% of the SJPA’s holdings now benefit from improved descriptions and online discoverability.
3. Updating Accessions for Accuracy
Although the original project scope did not require modifying the accessions themselves, the team also completed missing fields (title, dates, extent) and ensured all changes were mirrored in the descriptions. This guarantees long-term intellectual control, compliance with international standards, and consistent records that future staff or researchers can trust.
Making the Catalogue Truly Accessible
Good cataloguing is meaningless if people can’t use it. To support all users, practical resources were developed:
- Written User Guides: Step-by-step instructions on how to access and search the online catalogue.
- Video Tutorial: Available via the Société’s website and YouTube channel, explaining how to interpret collection records and request further information.
These tools help both experienced researchers and casual users with varying levels of digital confidence to engage meaningfully with the archive.
Quality Control and Collaboration
Throughout the two years, work was closely coordinated with the SJPA Archivist to ensure:
- Peer Review: Descriptive work was checked for accuracy and consistency.
- Clear Reference Codes: The hierarchical structure followed the principle of provenance — crucial for tracing relationships between records.
- Transparent Progress: Regular reports and feedback loops kept the project on track and aligned with the institution’s wider mission.
Beyond Description: Adding Interpretation
The project did not stop at making records available — it also aimed to show how the collections connect to broader stories and ideas. A series of short online essays were produced, each situating parts of the holdings in larger historical or intellectual contexts. Examples include:
- Joseph Sinel and the Pineal Gland: Exploring Sinel’s early 20th-century experiments connecting ideas of biology, clairvoyance, and anomalous cognition.
- The Polymath’s Journey: Tracing Arthur Mourant’s work from local geology and cyanotype photography to pioneering research on blood groups.
- Cardomania: A Matter of Identity: Examining how the 19th-century boom in cartes de visite transformed personal identity and mass portraiture.
- The Philosophical Toy: Looking at Victorian stereoscopy, using stereographs from the Mourant Collection to show how these devices shaped perceptions of space, spectacle, and travel.
These essays enrich the catalogue with interpretive layers, helping educators, students, and the public to see the collections not just as images but as windows into bigger cultural and scientific questions.
Outreach: Social Media Engagement
To reach wider audiences, concise features for social media were produced, highlighting significant stories or items to mark anniversaries and thematic touchpoints.
For example:
- Denis Vibert’s Escape: A post about Vibert’s daring flight during the German Occupation sparked community interest and direct family contact, which added new details to the archive.
- Magic Lantern Slides: Posts on early visual technologies (such as Adventures with a Flea and The Fire Brigade Series) illustrated how the collections reflect shifts in education, entertainment, and technology.
What’s Next?
While the project has:
- Improved descriptive metadata
- Greatly expanded online discoverability
- Established robust interpretive frameworks
…it is clear that further work is needed to reach full intellectual control — especially with complex bodies like the Card Mounted Photograph Collection, originally catalogued by prominent Société members such as Emile Guiton and Joan Stevens. Its massive scale and the legacy of inconsistent re-cataloguing have made it difficult to rationalise. A dedicated future initiative will aim to build on this foundation to rigorously curate, rationalise, and reclassify this collection, ensuring it remains not only preserved but meaningful and accessible for everyone.
Final Reflection
Bridging Heritage and Community shows that archival work is not just about boxes and data — it is about opening up shared histories so that anyone, from seasoned researchers to curious islanders, can discover, question, and connect with Jersey’s rich photographic record. This work, led by Orlando Echeverri Benedetti, helps ensure that the collections are not only safe in storage but truly alive in the minds and imaginations of those who use them.
