Consisting of 1,470 photographs of monuments and works of art in the Veneto region, the archive was put together by Ugo Ojetti (1871-1946), as president of the Supreme Command Commission for the protection of monuments and works of art during the 1915-1918 war. It was donated to the Fondazione Giorgio Cini by his wife Fernanda in 1957.

In a letter of 26 March 1957, sent to Giuseppe Fiocco, director of the Institute of Art History, Fernanda Ojetti wrote: "I have several hundreds of photographs of Venezia Giulia, Trentino and the Veneto collected by my husband during the Great War. There are some beautiful, intact photographs and complete documentation, for example, of the basilica and the museum of Aquileia, etc. I also have a large number of photographs concerning war damage, the protection of monuments, etc. All the photographs are ordered and very well preserved. I believe that for a library and an institution that collects everything pertaining to the Veneto, the photographs of damaged monuments, devasted towns and the defences raised, etc. during the war of 1915-1918 might be of interest."

Unfortunately, only 541 photographs of the collection kept at the Institute of Art History can be consulted. This is only a part of the entire corpus, the rest having been irremediably damaged during the Venice flood of 1966.

The photographs, all black and white gelatin or albumen prints of various sizes, have been arranged topographically thus respecting the original order.