Constructing Family Photograph Albums: How the Process of Archival Acquisition Writes History

This work is about photographic archives. Specifically, it concerns the process of acquisition for family photograph albums as archival texts. It argues that the process of acquisition writes history, and not one sole author. Additionally it argues that the institutional policy of an archive governs this process. Further, it argues that there is a homology between a public and private archive. In this light, it pursues an autobiographical approach, and compares the author?s family photograph album with a family photograph album in the McCord Museum of Canadian History.