Photo archives build their collections and gather documentation for the works of art they record through purchases, gifts and photography campaigns.
These pioneers, including Richard Hamann, Aby Warburg, Sir Robert Witt, William Martin Conway, Bernard Berenson, Cornelis Hofstede de Groot and Helen Clay Frick, were the first to realize the potential of photography as a means to provide researchers with materials that strengthen the documentation and interpretation of works of art.
They felt that an examination of the origins of photo archives can help guide and shape their future and, at the same time, convey to the uninitiated how image resources continue to be used as essential elements for art historical research.
However, there is a problem for photo archives in that currently they have no copyright claim to the majority of the images in their collection and thus they are unable to display them on the web.
It is therefore now their task to develop and promote a new model for access and use of these extraordinary resources that will maximize the opportunities of current and future technical advances in a way that suits the demands of today's scholars.