Since 1947, the legendary Magnum Photos agency has told its own stories about photography—ones that exalt photographers as “concerned” witnesses to history, and as artists documenting “decisive moments.” Inside the Decisive Network, a new digital project by Nadya Bair that launched this month, unravels these mythologies, examining what it meant to shoot, edit, and sell news images after World War II. Her accompanying book, The Decisive Network: Magnum Photos and the Postwar Image Market, was published this July and is available from University of California Press.

Bair’s project is the first to systematically examine Magnum’s early operations. Rather than studying the agency’s photographers in isolation, Bair argues that they belonged to a larger “decisive network,” a community of professionals who helped photographers attain success. This network included editors, publishers, secretaries, spouses, and sales agents; many were women, and many have been missing until now from histories of photography.

Inside the Decisive Network was designed to reflect the collaborative, interconnected nature of Magnum’s work. Developed in collaboration with Yale’s Digital Humanities Lab (DHLab), the site draws on a range of digital methods—mapping, network analysis, and online exhibits of Magnum photos—to illustrate the breadth of Magnum’s activities after World War II. Visitors can browse detailed profiles of the agency’s staff members, visualize the expansion of Magnum’s network of agents in Europe, and peruse commentary on iconic photo essays.

Bair’s work reveals that the history of photojournalism is not just one narrative, but many: the stories of the simultaneous labor of multiple people, developed on concurrent tracks. Inside the Decisive Network sheds new light not only on this important agency’s activities, but on photojournalism and postwar visual culture more broadly.

Inside the Decisive Network was developed during Bair’s time as a Postdoctoral Associate with the Yale DHLab and American Studies. Bair will soon be joining the faculty of Hamilton College as Assistant Professor of Art History.