Hilde Lotz-Bauer
The glories of a database
By Robbie Griffiths
This may be a peculiar place to wax lyrical over a database, but it is an indispensable tool to record, and then more importantly, intelligently extract information. The 'form' above shows the information we have recorded about the images in the possession of the Lotz family. And here's some information that it has revealed:
The regions in Italy captured by Hilde
| Region | Total |
| Toscana (Tuscany) | 401 |
| Abruzzo | 45 |
| Latium (Lazio) | 33 |
| Sicilia (Sicily) | 12 |
| Campania | 7 |
| Umbria | 3 |
| Marche | 3 |
| Puglia (Apulia) | 1 |
| Emilia-Romagna | 1 |
| Total | 506 |
The locations (cities, towns) where Hilde photographed
| Location | Total |
| Florence | 379 |
| Scanno | 36 |
| Rome | 24 |
| Palermo | 7 |
| England | 5 |
| Terracina | 5 |
| Paris | 4 |
| Naples | 4 |
| Monte Velino | 4 |
| Capri | 3 |
| Ascoli Piceno | 3 |
| Enna | 3 |
| L'Aquila | 3 |
| Assisi | 3 |
| Sicily | 2 |
| Crete Senesi | 2 |
| Lanuvio | 2 |
| Pistoia | 2 |
| Greve in Chianti | 2 |
| Sabina | 2 |
| Siena | 1 |
| Bologna | 1 |
| Subiaco | 1 |
| Monte Soracte | 1 |
| Total | 499 |
What the images show
| Category | Total |
Florence exhibition |
| Street scene | 147 |
25 |
| Courtyard/Cloister/Portico | 74 |
26 |
| Sculpture/Statue | 60 |
12 |
| Church | 53 |
25 |
| Palace | 50 |
19 |
| Rural | 36 |
|
| Bridge | 32 |
10 |
| Landscape | 27 |
2 |
| Panorama | 23 |
4 |
| Garden/Villa | 23 |
6 |
| Postcard | 22 |
|
| Hilde | 21 |
|
| Person | 13 |
|
| Family | 11 |
|
| Market | 10 |
|
| Harbour | 8 |
|
| City gate/Wall | 8 |
4 |
| Steps | 7 |
2 |
| Sport | 4 |
|
| Document | 4 |
|
| Tower | 4 |
2 |
| Animals | 3 |
|
| Flowers | 1 |
|
| Other building | 1 |
1 |
| Total | 642 |
138 |
This reveals that there were probably over 140 photographs in the exhibition in Florence's Palazzo Strozzi in 1977 (see latest page for up-to-date stats).
The type of paper that Hilde printed on
| Paper | Total |
| Agfa Brovira | 106 |
| Agfa Lupex | 67 |
| Nannini Roma | 42 |
| Gevaert Ridax | 32 |
| Agfa | 19 |
| Mimosa Sunotyp | 7 |
| Leonar | 5 |
| Kodak | 1 |
| Total | 279 |
Most of these papers were only available before and during the war and a close examination of the logo gives an indication of when they were made. You can find out more about the logos revealed in the watermarks on the back of the photos here.
And the bad news...
But the database also reveals what is missing – the information we have not yet managed to glean about these photos.
As of today we have scanned 642 images, with over 100 still to go. But if you look at the totals of the fields recorded above you will see that we still need to record the following details:
- regions – 136 records
- locations – 127 records
- paper printed on – we are unlikely to be able to add any more to the 347 records where this is missing as the photos were either not printed on watermarked paper or in the case of the images for the Florence exhibition, they were mounted on a green (almost baize) card, though we do suspect they were printed by Nannini in Rome.
Updated 26 April 2020