The tiny tintype photograph of a young Indigenous woman could be the oldest original photograph in the Institute’s 650 000 strong photographic collection.
The newest item in the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies’ (AIATSIS) collection, a stamp sized tintype photograph, is the first of its type held by the Institute.
After a brief email in May enquiring about AIATSIS’ interest in a tiny tin picture for the audiovisual archives, things went quiet.
When a curious package arrived from the United Kingdom earlier this month, staff found sealed in a coin bag and wrapped in tissue paper, a studio head and shoulders portrait of a young Indigenous woman dressed in the fashion of the day.
The tiny photograph measuring about 2x3cm could also be the oldest original photograph in the Institute’s 650 000 strong photographic collection.
The donor from Stratford-on-Avon in the UK, said her mother who is Tasmanian, discovered the tiny tin picture when clearing some old boxes.
Tintypes, as the name suggests were printed onto a thin sheet of metal and were often sold mounted in decorative cardboard surrounds to frame the portrait.
They were relatively inexpensive and a copy could be provided to the subject within minutes of the photograph being taken.
Principal, Russell Taylor said AIATSIS is the natural home for this very small yet important cultural artefact.
“It is our duty to maintain Australia’s cultural resource collection relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people."
“We are very grateful to the donor and her family for choosing us to deposit and look after this portrait of a young woman.”
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