Reflections on the documentary and patrimonial nature of the Institutional Photography Fund of Televisión Pública Argentina

Abstract

Founded in 1951, the Televisión Pública (LS 82 TV - Canal 7) is the first state television channel to open in Argentina. From its earliest days it incorporated a Photography Department that is responsible for registering the station's work with the aim of generating institutional photography and press material. Over the course of almost seventy years of history, the channel implemented the protection of these images as a policy. However, the lack of application of a comprehensive archival criteria turned this collection into a mere accumulation of documents that are difficult to access. The purpose of this article is to reflect on the importance of the enhancement of the Fund for Institutional Photography of Televisión Pública due to its dual status as a photographic heritage and a tool for the activation of absent television heritage. To do this, we will divide this paper into three parts. First, we will study the history of the constitution of the photographic collection, its characteristics and the first archival interventions carried out by the Archivo Histórico de Radio y Televisión Argentina. Then, we will investigate the documentary and patrimonial character of the photographs of the fund. At the same time, we tend to face the obstacles that historically had to draw to accomplish this. Finally, we will investigate how the revaluation of these visual documents allows the activation of a television heritage that is lost for reasons inherent in the logic of the television industry.