Photocopy
Definition
A photocopy is a piece of paper with a printed image on it, where the image is sourced from an already existing piece of physical media (i.e. a magazine or a poster). By printing an image of an already existent entity onto paper, a photographic form of the entity is created as a paper copy of the original work, hence the term's name. Photocopies typically are produced using dedicated machinery (most commonly in the form of photocopiers) and commonly are produced multiple times per original copy of a given work, often for the purpose of easier distribution of a physical work by transferring the original work's content onto paper for easier storage and handling.
History of Photocopies
Photocopies have been around since the 1940s, where photocopiers capable of performing what was referred to as "xerography" style printing began to be produced and allowed for the production of photocopies on large scales for the first time.[1] However, it took some time after that for photocopiers, and in turn photocopies, to become easily accessible by the public and to be integrated into day to day business practices. It was in the 1960s that photocopies began to play a role in professional settings, and it wouldn't be until the 1970s for print photocopies to become accessible enough to be used as an easier means for individual printing in an everyday setting.[1]
Impact of Photocopies
Once photocopies became mainstream and people began to have access to large-scale production of photocopies, it became much easier for people across the world to create, share, and preserve media through simply photographing and printing the original work.
Zines
Through an enhanced means of easily crafting and distributing several copies of a written work, authors and publishers were able to find a much easier way to share their work in the form of zines. Though zines had been around since the 1930s, the advent of publicly accessible photocopies in the 1970s allowed them to become much more practical, and they began to be a popular way of communicating in underground scenes (such as punk fans) during that time.[1]
Historical Preservation
As soon as photocopies were accessible in a professional setting, historians found that they held immense value in the ability to instantly form brand new copies of written work, and so photocopies began to be used for the creation of new copies for deteriorating historical works compatible with photocopiers, such as collections of old newspapers and other dated publications.[2]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Curtis, Makyla. “Certified Copies: 1980s New Zealand Photocopy Journals & the Xerographic Aesthetic.” Journal of New Zealand Literature (JNZL), no. 34.2, 2016, pp. 81–103. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/44066249. Accessed 14 Mar. 2026.
- ↑ Eckles, Robert B. “The Importance of Photocopy Projects for Local and Regional History.” The American Archivist, vol. 25, no. 2, 1962, pp. 159–63. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/40290145. Accessed 14 Mar. 2026.
