Decolonizing Photographic Archives

Almost 100 years ago, in October 1928, Virginia Woolf was invited to give a lecture at two women’s Cambridge student societies about women and fiction. In preparation for her speech, Woolf visited the Round Reading Room of the British Museum. The impressive Reading Room opened in 1857 and could accommodate 302 readers at 38 tables all radiating from a central catalogue desk (Hillier, 2018). Readers needed to apply in advance and wait to receive permission to visit the library.