Vera Conlon

Vera Conlon
Born
Vera Marjorie Drake

(1906-08-12)12 August 1906
Streatham, Surrey, England
Died23 January 1994(1994-01-23) (aged 87)
Swanage, Dorset, England
Academic work
InstitutionsHead of the Photography Department, UCL Institute of Archaeology
Notable works
Camera Techniques in Archaeology (1973)

Vera Marjorie Conlon (née Drake, 12 August 1906 – 23 January 1994) was a British archaeological excavation photographer who is noted for her work at the UCL Institute of Archaeology and for publishing a textbook about photographic techniques for archaeologists.

Life

Conlon was born in 1906 in Streatham, Surrey, as Vera Marjorie Drake, and was later described as having a "strong cockney accent." She was known by the nickname "Connie."

Conlon worked as an excavation photographer and as an assistant to Mortimer Wheeler. She became one of the early women employees at the UCL Institute of Archaeology in London. She worked as the head of the Photography Department. She retired in 1971.

After retiring, she published Camera Techniques in Archaeology, a textbook for archaeologists, in 1973. The book adapted advice to the newest camera and darkroom equipment available to photographers. It became a notable work about the specific photographic techniques required for field archaeology and "showed a keen awareness of photography's own lineage in archaeology."

Conlon died in 1994 in Swanage, Dorset.

References

  1. 1 2 Chapman, John (13 October 2021). A Life in Balkan Archaeology. Oxbow Books. p. 20. ISBN 978-1-78925-732-8.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Pye, Elizabeth (16 November 2015). "From the Archives: Women of the Early Institute". Archaeology International. 18 (1). doi:10.5334/ai.1817. ISSN 2048-4194. Archived from the original on 7 October 2024. Retrieved 5 October 2024.
  3. ↑ Chapman, John (13 October 2021). A Life in Balkan Archaeology. Oxbow Books. p. 30. ISBN 978-1-78925-732-8.
  4. ↑ Riggs, C. (13 August 2020). "Archaeology and Photography". The Handbook of Photography Studies. Taylor & Francis. pp. 187–205. doi:10.4324/9781003103974-15. ISBN 978-1-003-10397-4. Archived from the original on 12 July 2025.
  5. ↑ Conlon, Vera M. (1973). Camera Techniques in Archaeology. J. Baker. ISBN 978-0-212-98422-0.
  6. ↑ Howell, Carol L.; Blanc, Warren (1992). A Practical Guide to Archaeological Photography. Institute of Archaeology, University of California. p. 134. ISBN 978-0-917956-73-7.
  7. 1 2 Pasternak, Gil (13 August 2020). The Handbook of Photography Studies. Routledge. p. 201. ISBN 978-1-000-21307-2.
  8. ↑ Woodhead, A. G. (2 January 1968). The Study of Greek Inscriptions. CUP Archive. p. 84.