Armour and Lace: Women Photographers in Nineteenth-Century Institutions
Presentation Type
Presentation
Start Date
8-3-2025 6:00 PM
Description
Dr. Erika Lederman, Cataloguer of photographs, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, United Kingdom
Armour and Lace: Women Photographers in Nineteenth-Century Institutions
This paper reconstructs and investigates the unrecognized careers of nineteenth-century women institutional photographers in Europe and the United States. It identifies their contributions documenting institutional collections and their important and influential role in Victorian networks of knowledge production.
The paper focuses on the material evidence of these women’s careers and critically analyses it within the social and professional contexts in which these women lived and worked when the status of women in Europe and the US was undergoing rapid change. Collectively, the professional narratives excavated in this paper reveal that despite the social barriers women faced, women photographers were practicing institutional photography, frequently working as embedded members of institutional organizations. To this point, this presentation defines these women’s relationships with key players in nineteenth-century visual culture circles. Uncovering these relationships enriches not only our understanding of Victorian networks of knowledge production but demonstrates how women negotiated access to these networks.
The women and institutions examined is this paper include Louise Laffon at the Louvre, Paris; Jane Clifford at the Prado Museum and Royal Collection, Madrid; Isabel Agnes Cowper and Julia Margaret Cameron at the South Kensington Museum/Victoria & Albert Museum; Marian Reynolds at the Royal Institution and the Natural History Museum, London; Alice Everett, Edith Rix and Annie Russell, all at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich; Louisa Bernie Gallaher at the Smithsonian Museum, Washington, D.C.
The paper establishes that women not only played a role in the formation of institutional photographic collections, but that museum photography was a career for women. It is a challenge to histories of photography regarding women photographers in the nineteenth century (most of which tend to focus on the “lady amateurs”) and adds nuance to prevailing narratives on the status of professional women in the nineteenth century.
Erika Lederman is a cataloguer of photographs at the V&A, a role she has held for 15 years. She was the Researcher for the 2015-16 traveling V&A exhibition ‘Julia Margaret Cameron’, curated by Dr Marta Weiss. In 2024 she was awarded a PhD from the V&A/De Montfort University, as part of the AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Award programme. Her dissertation focussed on nineteenth century women institutional photographers, which she is currently developing with V&A Publishing into a book scheduled for publication in 2026.
Relational Format
Conference proceeding
Recommended Citation
Lederman, Erika, "Armour and Lace: Women Photographers in Nineteenth-Century Institutions" (2025). Women of Photography: A 24-Hour Conference-a-thon Celebrating International Women’s Day 2025. 51.
https://egrove.olemiss.edu/womenofphotography/2025/schedule/51
Armour and Lace: Women Photographers in Nineteenth-Century Institutions
Dr. Erika Lederman, Cataloguer of photographs, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, United Kingdom
Armour and Lace: Women Photographers in Nineteenth-Century Institutions
This paper reconstructs and investigates the unrecognized careers of nineteenth-century women institutional photographers in Europe and the United States. It identifies their contributions documenting institutional collections and their important and influential role in Victorian networks of knowledge production.
The paper focuses on the material evidence of these women’s careers and critically analyses it within the social and professional contexts in which these women lived and worked when the status of women in Europe and the US was undergoing rapid change. Collectively, the professional narratives excavated in this paper reveal that despite the social barriers women faced, women photographers were practicing institutional photography, frequently working as embedded members of institutional organizations. To this point, this presentation defines these women’s relationships with key players in nineteenth-century visual culture circles. Uncovering these relationships enriches not only our understanding of Victorian networks of knowledge production but demonstrates how women negotiated access to these networks.
The women and institutions examined is this paper include Louise Laffon at the Louvre, Paris; Jane Clifford at the Prado Museum and Royal Collection, Madrid; Isabel Agnes Cowper and Julia Margaret Cameron at the South Kensington Museum/Victoria & Albert Museum; Marian Reynolds at the Royal Institution and the Natural History Museum, London; Alice Everett, Edith Rix and Annie Russell, all at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich; Louisa Bernie Gallaher at the Smithsonian Museum, Washington, D.C.
The paper establishes that women not only played a role in the formation of institutional photographic collections, but that museum photography was a career for women. It is a challenge to histories of photography regarding women photographers in the nineteenth century (most of which tend to focus on the “lady amateurs”) and adds nuance to prevailing narratives on the status of professional women in the nineteenth century.
Erika Lederman is a cataloguer of photographs at the V&A, a role she has held for 15 years. She was the Researcher for the 2015-16 traveling V&A exhibition ‘Julia Margaret Cameron’, curated by Dr Marta Weiss. In 2024 she was awarded a PhD from the V&A/De Montfort University, as part of the AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Award programme. Her dissertation focussed on nineteenth century women institutional photographers, which she is currently developing with V&A Publishing into a book scheduled for publication in 2026.
Comments
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