58 REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE. 



The Desirahility of Promoting County Photoc/rcqyhic Surveys. 

 By W. Jerome Harrison, F.G.S. 



I.— Origin of the Photo-Survey Movement. 



The movement which it is the object of tliis paper still further to 

 promote hail its origin in a meeting of the representatives of numerous 

 local photographic, scientific, and literary societies at Birmingham in 1889, 

 when a paper was read entitled ' Notes upon a Proposed Photographic 

 Survey of Warwickshire.' This paper was an amplification of the ideas 

 which had been urged in a note upon ' The Work of a Local Pliotographic 

 Society,' read before the Birmingham Pliotographic Society in 1885, and 

 published in the PhotocjraiMc Neics (vol. xxix. p. 421). 



Although this Birmingham paper of 1889 had a local title, yet it has, 

 and was intended to have, a general application. 



In response to an invitation from the (Royal) Photographic Society 

 of Great Britain, a paper bearing the wider title of a 'Proposal for a 

 National Photographic Record and Survey ' was su))scquently read before 

 tlmt body in London in 1892. In this paper the right and duty apper- 

 taining to the ' parent ' photographic Society of taking the lead in this 

 m(5st important work was strongly urged. 



Finally an ambitious attempt was made to link together the photo- 

 graphers of the entire civilised world by an extension of the ' survey ' 

 idea, and at the World's Congre.ss at Chicago in 1893 a paper upon ' The 

 Desirability of an International Bureau ; established (1) to record, and 

 (2) to exchange Photographic Negatives and Prints,' in which these views 

 were explained, was read and discussed. In this paper three principal 

 points were urged : — 



(1) In every country it is desirable that a photographic survey .should 

 be initiated. By the term ' survey ' is here meant a pictorial record of 

 the state of tliiugs, physical and general, now existing. 



(2) In each country there should be («) local depots (free libraries, 

 museums, itc.) containing complete sets of permanent photographic prints 

 of the iunnediatc district ; and {b) a central bureau (in England, the 

 British Museum, for example) containing both negatives and prints 

 relating to the entire country. 



(3) Facilities for the exchange, or purchase, of prints, kc, should be 

 provided.' 



On the motion of Mr. Snowden Ward an International Connnittce 

 was appointed to consider how these ideas might best be carried out. 

 This Committee did good work in disseminating a knowledge of 

 the survey movement, and its French representative, M. Leon Vidal, 

 inaugurated a very complete .system in his owii country. 



II- — Phogre.ss of Photo-Survey Work in Britain. 



Seventeen years have elapsed since the photographers of Warwickshire 

 began their task of making a local photo-survey. Each year an exhibition 

 of the Warwickshire Survey Prints has been held in the Municipal Art 



' A few copies of tlio first paper of 1889 still remain, and, wljile the supply lasts, 

 a copy will be gladly forwarded to the secretary of any Society which contemplates 

 commencmg photo-survey work. Address: W. J. Harrison, 52 Claremont Road, 

 Handsworth, Birmingham. 



