Binnenplaats van de professoren gezien op het oosten en het westen in het oude universiteitsgebouw van de universiteit van Glasgow before 1891

This album page features photographs of the old Glasgow University building. The anonymous photographer has employed the wet collodion process, a 19th-century technique that demanded both technical skill and careful orchestration of materials. This process involved coating a glass plate with light-sensitive chemicals, exposing it in the camera while still wet, and then immediately developing the image. The resulting photographs, with their varying clarity and tonal range, were painstakingly pasted onto the album page, transforming a personal collection into a window onto a specific time and place. The choice of photography as a medium is significant. Unlike painting or drawing, it was seen as a more objective way to record the world. This association with truth and accuracy made it a valuable tool for documenting buildings and urban spaces, as seen here. The album itself can be understood as a carefully crafted object, with each page arranged to create a specific narrative or visual experience. Paying attention to its materials and how it was assembled provides insights into the social, cultural, and technological context in which it was made.