Photographic Archives

The Photographic Archives of the Istituto Agronomico per l'Oltremare, holds an important photographic patrimony, that ranges from the second decade of the 1900 to date.
Reviewing the few available documents to trace the story of the Photographic Archives, the most important aspect is that in 1936 the Archives was instituted as such and no longer as a photographic collection annexed to the museum and the library.

The Photographic Archives documents in pictures the activities of the agronomist and technicians of the Institute in those zones where "the colonial interests of Italy" had been of prime importance. Most of the photographs in the 1920s and 1930s, refer to Tripolitania and Cyrenaica, Eritrea and Somalia and then after 1936 to Italian East Africa. In addition to the collections regarding Africa, the Photographic Archives also conserve an important collection on the countries where important Italian migration influencing agriculture took place, especially Brazil, reflecting the commitment of some of the technician officials of the Institute in the field of studies on emigration to South America.
The history of the Photographic Archives therefore runs parallel to that of the IAO, of lesser or greater importance depending on the vicissitudes in which the Institute was involved.

As in the case of the Documentation Center, interesting material continued to come to the photographic collections even after the cataloguing phase of of "photographs from the colonial period" was completed. This material, prevalently from colonial technical offices, private collections and the archives, further enriched the patrimony of the photograph collection. Gifts to the IAO continued in the 1950s and 1960s when, for example, around 16,000 photographs and their negatives came to the photographic archives.

The available material, is concerned not only with the specific aspects of tropical agriculture but include spictures of historical and anthropological interest. The albums, in the field of historical cataloging, have been arranged according to trips and assignments and thus can be thought of as travel diaries.

Currently in progress is a project for the cataloging and re-ordering of the photographic archives which plans to feed all the available data into a database so as to have not only a catalogue but also a useful access tool for the contents.

The photographic archives currently include 480 photographic albums for a total of 67,718 photographs of varying format, several thousand individual photographs, together with over 65,000 negatives, circa 10,00 glass plates and several hundred stereoscopic plates. The reordering project also plans for the adoption of conservation measures with suitable material such as neutral containers (envelopes, boxes...) with a view to better preserving the available patrimony.

For consultation contact:Antonella Bigazzi.