Office of Continuity Verification
Corrected Photographs
Scope and content
This collection consists of photographic prints and negatives held by the Bureau and corrected to agree with the Official Record.
A correction is recorded in the conservation register at the time it is performed. The register records the item, the treatment, the elements removed, the elements added, the authority, and the officer responsible. It does not record the condition of the item before treatment, because the register is a record of work and not of the past.
The images in this collection are not reproduced in this finding aid, in the reading room, or in any Bureau publication. The description is the access.
The collection begins in 1841. Corrections to representations of earlier events are held by the prints and drawings series, which is not part of this collection and is arranged by engraver.
Extent and arrangement
Collection extent: 6 linear feet, 7 items, 7 conservation register entries, 1 accompanying document.
Arrangement is by date of exposure. Where the date of exposure is not established, the item is filed by the date of correction. One item is filed by the date on its accompanying document.
Conditions governing access
Reproduction is not permitted.
Corrected prints are permanent under Records Schedule 12/4, item 2. Uncorrected prints were not retained. Their disposition is authorized by Records Schedule 12/4, item 3, destruction of superseded likenesses.
Container list
| Item | Exposed | Corrected | Elements removed | Access |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PH-1841-001 | 1841 | 1974 | 1 sitter | AVAILABLE |
| PH-1908-001 | 1908 | 1974 | 1 camera | AVAILABLE |
| PH-1911-004 | 1911 | None | None | AVAILABLE |
| PH-1903-006 | 1903 | 1961 | 1 boarding queue | AVAILABLE |
| PH-1969-011 | 1969 | 1969 | 1 handset | AVAILABLE |
| PH-1974-118 | 1974 | None | None | AVAILABLE |
| PH-2043-001 | Not established | Not applicable | None | AVAILABLE |
PH-1841-001
Salted paper print, 4 by 5 inches. Exposed 1841. Corrected 1974.
Elements removed: 1 sitter. Elements added: 1 chair. Authority: Directive 9.9. Register entry signed by Employee 000 as custodian.
Catalog description. Two sitters, one seated. The caption names one.
PH-1908-001
Gelatin dry plate negative, 8 by 10 inches. Exposed 1908. Corrected 1974.
Elements removed: 1 camera, 1 reflection. Removed by: Conservation Officer, Office of Records That Should Not Exist. Authority: Directive 9.9, section 4.
Catalog description. Interior, unidentified office. Eleven persons. A table, four chairs, a filing press, and a wall calendar showing a month that is legible and a year that is not.
The register records the removal. It does not record the exposure.
PH-1911-004
Gelatin silver print, 5 by 7 inches. Exposed 1911. Not corrected.
Conservation note, 1974: examined, no correction required.
Catalog description. Swearing-in ceremony, Office of the Administrator. Nine persons. The person at center right is identified in the caption as the Acting Administrator. Caption added 1974.
PH-1903-006
Bureau reference print, 5 by 7 inches. Exposed December 17, 1903, at Kill Devil Hills. Acquired 1961 as a commercial reproduction. Corrected 1961.
Elements removed: 1 boarding queue. Elements added: none. Authority: premature procedure, Bureau of Premature Invention referral.
Catalog description. A powered heavier-than-air machine at the moment of leaving the ground, with one figure at the right of the frame.
The Bureau does not hold the original negative. The correction was applied to the Bureau’s reference print, which is the only copy of the print in which the correction is present, and is the copy cited in CASE HAEB-1903-GROUPC.
PH-1969-011
Gelatin silver print, 8 by 10 inches. Exposed 1969. Corrected 1969.
Elements removed: 1 handset, not era compatible. Elements added: 1 handset, era compatible. Net change in handsets: 0. Authority: Directive 9.9. Correction performed on the date of exposure.
Catalog description. Communications console, three operators, one supervisor standing. Cited in CASE HAEB-1969-HOLD.
PH-1974-118
Gelatin silver print, 11 by 14 inches. Exposed 1974. Not corrected.
Catalog description. Group photograph, all offices, 1974.
Persons in image: 214. Persons named in the caption: 211.
The caption has been revised three times. Each revision named one fewer person. The print itself has received no treatment and is in excellent condition.
PH-2043-001
Portrait, unidentified sitter. Medium not established. Date of exposure not established. Not corrected.
Accompanying document: one retirement notice, dated 2043, one leaf.
Catalog description. A seated figure, three-quarter view, against a plain ground. The notice is filed with the print. Both are cited in current Bureau personnel policy under succession planning.
Access. The print is available. The notice is available.
Related material
- CASE HAEB-1903-GROUPC, Premature Boarding Procedure, for the reference print at PH-1903-006.
- CASE HAEB-1969-HOLD, Lunar Call Placement, for the console at PH-1969-011.
- The conservation register, held by the Office of Continuity Verification, which produces register entries in the reading room on request. Entries are produced without the items they describe.
- Records created by no employee, the companion collection holding the register entries whose responsible officer field is blank.
Finding aid note
Prepared by the Office of Continuity Verification, imaging and conservation control.
Every photograph in this collection agrees with the Official Record. Photographs that did not are not in this collection.
Related records
- HAEB-1903-GROUPC, Premature Boarding Procedure
- HAEB-1969-HOLD, Lunar Call Placement
- HAEB Directive 9.9, Records That Should Not Exist
This directive is in force and is not published. Its provisions are available through the office that applies them.
Real-world source note
The historical anchors below are factual. The Bureau, its staff, its records, and every administrative consequence described on this page are fictional.
- HAEB is fictional. No such bureau exists, no photograph has been altered by it, and every item described in this collection is fictional. [Tier A, Basic anchor]
- Practical photographic processes were announced publicly in 1839, and no photograph of an event earlier than the late 1830s exists. [Tier A, Basic anchor]
- The first sustained powered flights of a heavier-than-air machine were made by Orville and Wilbur Wright on December 17, 1903, at Kill Devil Hills near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, and were photographed at the time. [Tier B, Specific detail]
The flights and the surviving photographs are real. The Bureau, its reference print, and every correction described here are fictional. No original negative is described as altered. - Photographic conservation practice records treatments performed on an object, including retouching and other interventions, in a written treatment record kept separately from the object. [Tier A, Basic anchor]
The practice is real. What the Bureau records in the register is not.