A one-of-a-kind 17th-century map housed at the Ransom Center for decades, currently too fragile to display, is now the subject of an intensive research and conservation project that will utilize scientific analysis to reveal the hidden story behind the map’s production and significance. [Read more…] about The science behind the Blaeu World Map
Conservation
Preserving one of the Center’s most celebrated objects
In partnership with imaging specialists and conservation scientists across the country, in summer 2019, the Harry Ransom Center undertook a project to ensure the longterm preservation of The Niépce Heliograph, the earliest known surviving photograph made with the aid of the camera obscura. [Read more…] about Preserving one of the Center’s most celebrated objects
Introducing The Niépce Heliograph
One of the most celebrated objects in the history of photography is featured in a permanent exhibition just inside the main entrance to the Harry Ransom Center. The untitled photograph—the earliest known surviving photograph made with the aid of the camera obscura—was produced in 1827 by the French scientist and inventor Joseph Nicéphore Niépce using a process he called héliographie. Permanent exhibitions are never really “permanent,” however; objects may remain in place, but their meanings are always evolving, and exhibitions are periodically revised to reflect those advances. [Read more…] about Introducing The Niépce Heliograph