Two girls in European Persian dress, Antoin Sevruguin (1851-1933), Iran, c. 1880-1896, albumen print, 11.8 × 16.8 cm, Museum Rietberg Zurich, Emil Alpiger Collection, inv. no. 2022.428.134, gift from the heirs of Emil Alpiger. Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Antoin Sevruguin (1851–1933) was born to Armenian parents in Iran, he grew up in Tiflis (now Tbilisi), Georgia, and later worked in Tehran. His goal was to make a portrait of his native country that was as comprehensive as possible. His oeuvre included around 7,000 photographs. During his lifetime, his photographs were already being published in European books; he was awarded gold medals in Brussels and Paris and in 1900 raised to the nobility by the shah in 1900. Artists in Iran still relate to him today. Many museum all around the world have photographs by Sevruguin in their collections. In Zurich the Ethnografic Museum UZH and the Museum Rietberg each have several albums with a few hundred photographs.

In this challenge we want to discover how images from collections can be made accessible on the wikiverse: Together we will find out, what tools can be used and what the best practices are. Maybe we are even putting together a cheat sheet for GLAM institutions or write up detailed instruction? We further explore the use of the images on wikipedia.

The challenge is mostly aimed at people from GLAM institutions without an IT background who are interested in how to make their collections accessible through the wikiverse. The format of the challenge is a open process workshop and there is no need for a specific product at end.

Dataset: Photographs in the Collection of Museum Rietberg on Wikimedia Commons