In light of the recent material turn in photography studies, this article proposes a reconsideration of two of its favourite tropes: the index and the archive. It argues for a reconception of indexicality that privileges the referent associated with the photographic object, as opposed to the photographic image, with reference to contemporary repackaging of erstwhile ephemeral and disposable photographic prints in the context of both the art museum and auction house. Then, through a reading of Stephen Poliakoff's television drama Shooting the Past, which centres on a photographic collection, it sketches out a new perspective on the embodied experience of the physical archive, which is increasingly under threat of replacement by the virtual image repository of the digital database.