Collection F5 - Archives visual records collection

The Archives photo collection (also known as the General file or genfile) consists of photographs collected by the Archives from around 1908 until the 1990s. The photographs were primarily collected because of their subject matter and little or no information was gathered as to their provenance and type. A single volume, arranged numerically by a classification code, appears to indicate that the first 14,000 or so photographs acquired were arranged by subject groupings.

By 1934, the annual report of the Provincial Library and Archives department noted that the "collection of photographs and prints in the Archives, which is estimated to consist of at least 14,000 items, is rapidly outgrowing the old filing system, and sooner or later the entire collection must be recatalogued and rearranged." In 1935 the new system of applying individual catalogue numbers known as "HP" or "Historic Photograph" numbers had begun. In 1940 the Provincial Archivist reported that half the photographs had been recatalogued. The cataloguing consisted of entering the photographs into registers in HP number order; the first number assigned was HP101 or HP000101. This system of item level numbering continued into the 1990s with over 100,000 photographs entered into the HP accession registers. While most of these photographs continued to be acquired because of their subject matter, selected photographs that formed part of original record groups, were also catalogued with an HP number.

The "original" photographs acquired in this way consist mainly of photographic prints in a variety of sizes and formats, but also include original negatives (both glass and flexible). In many cases, the Archives borrowed and copied photographs from individuals and other institutions. In these cases the "original" is a copy print made by the Archives at the time.

The prints are stored in HP number order in several runs: main run of several hundred boxes, one run of Maynard photographs, two runs of oversized photographic prints and one run of large oversized prints stored in map cabinets. Original negatives are stored by type (glass, nitrate, acetate, polyester etc.), usually by HP number. These original records are often know as "HP originals".

Copy prints were made of many of the prints and are arranged by subject in several runs. Portrait/family files are arranged in alphabetical order; topographic (place name) files are arranged alphabetically by place name and then by subject within the place; and a small set of subject files (including ships) are arranged alphabetically by subject. There are a variety of indexes and lists of files available in the Archives to help determine which general file copy print files are available on request.

Copy negatives (arranged by negative number or photo lab number) were made from many of the prints and original negatives. These records were used for reproductions and are stored in a large negative cabinet.