Images as Carriers of information : A Comparative Study of Images in Archives

This thesis examines how images are used and evaluated in a Swedish archival context. Images as of today are very common in society. They are nearly everywhere, particularly in our phones and computers. Therefore the written word is slowly losing it's sovereignty as a carrier of information. With this background the study examines if the images role also have changed in an archival setting. The following work is a qualitative research study that examines three Swedish archives: the Regional State Archive in Uppsala, Swedish Labour Movement's Archives and Library in Stockholm and the Centre for Business History in Stockholm. Furthermore the study examines how the institutions organize images and how they make them accessible for the public. It also examines what role the image play as a carrier of information in the archive. In more general terms the study also investigates what function the image can have for people in society. The comparison of the archival institutions is a methodological foundation for this study. Semi- structured interviews were conducted with archivists from the three institutions and works as the main source. For the analysis this study uses document theory and a few concepts derived from Terry Cook's archival theory, namely evidence, memory, identity and community. In terms with the previous research made on the subject this study comes to the result that images have different terms for archiving than other materials, most specifically papers documents. The examined archival institutions are today using the same tools for organizing images as they use for other documents. This can have negative effects on the ability the image has as a carrier of information. In the long run this could cause the image to become a marginalized part of the archive as a whole. The conclusion this mater's thesis presents is that the image has a potential as a source of information. Especially for groups that aren't previously represented in the archive through traditional paper documents. The image may therefore contribute to the archival pluralism and diversity, as long as the images are treated with the terms they demand as an archival document. This is a two years master's thesis in Archival Science.