CREATING A LIVING ARCHIVE
Photo collections are complicated and expensive with each object or image requiring extensive handling before becoming a true living archive available to the public. The next most important step for the collection is to partner with an established institutional home that shares Kennerly’s objective of making his documentary images available to the public for research and education. Several major institutions and universities have expressed an interesting in acquiring some or all of the Kennerly collection. However, just as the Kennerlys have been so careful to protect and process the collection to maximize its educational potential, so too must they be careful to ensure that the collection finds its way to a home that shares that mission. The next step for the collection is to create a comprehensive inventory and assessment of its contents. This will help provide a foundation for formal discussions around acquisition and providing access to the public.
Once installed in its new institutional home or homes, the Kennerly collection will continue its journey to become a true living archive. A three to five-year endowment will provide the infrastructure and resources to transform the collection into a fully accessible, annotated and dynamic archive. Images would be edited, with key collections selected for full-scale annotation and then catalogued into a searchable database that is made available to the public for research and enjoyment. Physical materials such as letters, prints and rare objects collected throughout Kennerly’s 50-year career would be digitized, annotated and also catalogued so that a digital link could be made between these objects and their corresponding photographic images. Audio and/or video recordings would be created of Kennerly relaying his personal recollections about the events that he documented. As archive components are created, additional educational opportunities will become possible such exhibitions, videos, and lecture series with Kennerly interviewing subjects events that he documented with his photos.