PUBLIC SPEECH BY AUDREY LEBLANC

This presentation introduces an interdisciplinary research project focused on the media dimension of historical writing in France during the years 1960–1975, carried out with the support of the Institut pour la photographie.  

The focus here is on examining producers and their relationships with the ORTF’s editorial departments, with a particular emphasis on identifying the cause-and-effect relationships associated with the management of such collections—notably by iconographers. These lesser-known roles within photo agencies often serve as the memory of the organization and management of photographic collections (indexing, editing/selection of subjects/photos, folder structures, commercial hierarchies, etc.); collections that, moreover, retain a record of their circulation, as this is inscribed in their physical nature.  

Finally, the aim will be to draw a parallel between the images in the archives and the ways they were used in the news programs subsequently broadcast by the ORTF, in order to confirm—or refute—whether, by selling their images to other visual media (in this case, television in France), the image producers—namely the news agencies (AFP, UPI, etc.)—helped circulate their cartography of the world and society; and to determine whether this physical circulation of photographs contributed to the dissemination of narratives and values.

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Thursday, May 2, 2019
5:00 p. m., IRHIS seminar room (A1.152)
University of Lille,
Pont-de-Bois Campus
Rue du Barreau
59650 Villeneuve d’Ascq