At the same time that the rigour of diplomatic criticism is undermined by the inherent ambiguity of the photograph, diplomatics is a useful conceptual tool by which archivists may come to achieve a greater degree of visual literacy, and by that I mean the

At the same time that the rigour of diplomatic criticism is undermined by the inherent ambiguity of the photograph, diplomatics is a useful conceptual tool by which archivists may come to achieve a greater degree of visual literacy, and by that I mean the ability to 'read' the message of the photograph, to comprehend its evidential value, and understand it as an archival document. . . . By studying the photograph, not as a more or less accurate transcription of the material world, but in terms of its relationships with the persons concurring in its formation, diplomatic principles and concepts may help to break the presumed link between the photographic image and visual 'truth' by revealing the photograph to be the mediated representation of reality; the product of a series of decisions; created by a will, for a purpose, to convey a message to an audience.