Photographs, postcards and copies of works of art

Earliest dates are for drawn or painted images later photographed. Many photographs are undated.

This series contains a variety of images in different mediums. The main component consists of photographic prints taken from E.M. Forster's photograph albums. These have been supplemented by a number of prints found loose, photographs of works of art, and photographs taken posthumously of Forster's rooms in King's College, Cambridge. A few daguerrotypes and ambrotypes, some still in their frames, testify to early attempts at creating positive images. In addition to the photographs, there are a substantial number of commercial postcards which can be found scattered throughout the main sequence, as well as a group of postcards catalogued EMF/27/875a. Prints and reproductions owned by Forster, taken from books, greeting cards and other sources, round out the series. These have been catalogued as EMF/27/945a.

A description of each photograph is given with people and places identified when known. Where they add significantly to the detail, the contents of inscriptions are quoted. If the information is given in the description, inscriptions are summarised. The names of photographers have been given, if known, and should appear in the originator field of the relevant entry. Where dates are supplied from any source other than inscription or stamp, the note 'Date has been supplied' should appear as well as the dates given.

The photographs have been grouped under approximately 90 subject headings and are in chronological order as far as possible. In moving from a paper to an electronic version of the Forster catalogue, it has been impossible to retain these subject headings perfectly. Some attempt has been made to retain subject headings by placing them within the titles given to photographs. For example, the titles of photograph formerly in Album Five, 'Arles, Aug. 1931' all begin with the keyword 'Arles' followed by a title relevant to the specific photograph being described. In many cases, however, the need for concise description within the title field has made the retention of subject headings impossible by that means.

Apart from EMF/27/68-70 which remain pasted into Album One, and oversize items, the photographs are loose within transparent archival sleeves. They are arranged as nearly as possible in their numbered order, but variation in sleeve and photograph size has necessitated slight displacement in some cases. The sleeve number is given in parentheses at the end of the entry for each photograph. Please cite the sleeve number, as well as the reference number, when requesting a photograph.

In 8 box albums and oversize envelopes

Photographs formerly held in nine albums have been removed for conservation reasons, but their physical arrangement within archival sleeves and their description in this catalogue preserves the original order within each album. Any original inscriptions in the albums have been noted within the description. References for photographs formerly held in albums are as follows: Album One, EMF/27/1-70; Album Two, EMF/27/380-91; Album Three, EMF/27/447-61; Album Four, EMF/27/462-6; Album Five, EMF/27/467-78; Album Six, EMF/27/491-511; Album Seven, EMF/27/533-41; Album Eight, EMF/27/542-6 and Album Nine, EMF/27/604-7.