The UCLA Historic Photographs archive is a collection of pictures of the University dated back to as far as the 1920’s shortly after the school opened. We see pictures of when UCLA consisted of the four original buildings, Royce, Powell, Humanities, and Haines, to further growth of campus and the Westwood community over time. The photographs in the archive vary from pictures of campus to Westwood to gatherings for student organization events. Each photograph has basic information including the date and source, as well as a description of the photo, identifying any landmarks, buildings, people, dates, or any significance to the photo.
By examining this archive, the photographs tell a vast amount of stories, as we can write an essay on numerous things. Some could include the development of UCLA, the growth of Westwood, the visions and appearance of the surrounding areas during different points of time (during historic eras, for example). We could also learn a lot about traditions we have at UCLA, by specific student groups or long held events. For example, a lot of the people in the pictures are alumni and alumni events. We have photographic data with time stamped dates to verify exact (if not close estimates) of how the university grew to the size it exists today. Perhaps this can be an integral part of an urban planning research paper. We can compare and contrast photos from this archive to current photos we have now. We can match historical events with historical figures shown in the picture, and tell as story about their visit or attendance at UCLA.
Though this archive contains lots of information, not everything can be told. Something this archive lacks is consistency. Because it is a collection of preexisting photos, there are no two pictures showing the exact same thing. Even if a comparison piece is written with photos exemplifying the changes of the university over time in chronological order, there will always be gaps of unknown. Some years have more photos than others, and some years will have no photos at all. Furthermore, not every single picture has accurate descriptions. Some people/figures in the photos were not identified because they were not documented when the picture was first taken. For photos that lack the description, we often will not be able to piece together what is happening in the photo, or why the photo itself was taken. For some photographs, the age and quality of the photograph could influence the clarity.