child portrait

One of the problems with many collections of old photographs and negatives is that they are too often disconnected from their history and provenance. Sometimes that doesn't really matter. If the subject matter is mostly generic then the images may stand on their own. But some collections cry out for more explanation. I recently bought a small collection of 35 glass plate negatives from a seller in Melbourne. My main reason for buying was the presence in the collection of five plates depicting some of the decorative arches erected in Melbourne at the time of the…