Picture-work: how libraries, museums, and stock agencies launched a new image economy

Abstract

"Argues that our contemporary treatment of the image as a circulating object was forged by three 20th century institutions: the museum, the library, and the stock photography agency"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents

Introduction: picture-problems -- Circulating collection style: pictures as documents at the New York Public Library -- The museum without walls: the Museum of Modern Art and photography's double duty -- "Your story in pictures leaves nothing untold": H. Armstrong Roberts and the rise of American stock photography -- The new universal collection: from pictures to digital assets -- Coda: angels of history.