The Care and Feeding of Photographic Collections LIS 2214 Library and Archival Preservation

So, What Is This Thing? Don’t Fear the Format Identifying what you have Survey the Collection s.htm

Photograph Types and Processes Daguerreotype [1837]1839 to 1860 [1863] Ambrotype ca to 1870 Tintype ca to 1930s Gelatin Silver Glass Plate 1878 to 1940s Cellulose Nitrate Film 1890 to1951 Cellulose Acetate Film 1920s to Present Polyester Film 1940s to Present Gelatin Silver Print 1880s to Present Platinum Print 1880s to1930 Cyanotype 1842 to mid-twentieth Century These tend to show up in archives often:

Photograph Types Talbottype (Salted Paper Print)1840 to1860 [may also have been referred to as Calotype Prints] Carte de visite late 1850sto1880 Cabinet Card 1868to1900 Cyanotype1842to1900s Albumen Print c1850 to1900 Tintype c1860to1930s Gelatin Silver Paper Print 1880 to modern Platinum Print c1880to1930

Photographic Negatives Negative on Paper Calotype [1840 to1860] Negative on Glass Collodion Wet Plate [1851 to1885] Gelatin Silver Glass Plate [1878 to1940]

Photographic Negatives Gelatin Silver Negatives on Film Cellulose Nitrate [1888 to1951] Cellulose Acetates [1920s to present] (Di-Acetate, Cellose Tri- Acetate) Polyester [1955 to Present]

The Photograph belongs to that class of laminated objects whose two leaves cannot be separated without destroying them both” ---Roland Barthes, Camera Lucida, Reflections on Photography

Scrapbooks, Albums, and Bound Visual Materials

Damaged Scrapbooks and Albums

Damage Control

A Few Comments on Boxing, Shelving and Handling Size Really Does Matter It’s Heavier Than You Think Handle with Care

Storage Environment “And Mine Is Just Right”, Said Baby Bear –While ideal temperatures for various media can vary, temperatures should never exceed 68 F. Keeping collections at 65 F +/- 3 F is the recommended range. Oy, It’s So Humid, It’s Like a Sauna in Here! –The literature seems to be very consistent on this issue. While the ideal humidity level seems to vary slightly in the writings, it always falls between % RH“

Storage Environment “No civilization... would ever have been possible without a framework of stability...” Hannah Arendt (1906–1975) “Sometimes, all i need is the air that i breathe” The importance of clean living

Why Don’t You Just Digitize It? To Digitize or Not to Digitize Materials Safety Digitization-the Access point

So, What Is This Thing? Part Deux Identifying what you have

And Now A Word From Our Catalog... A note on archival supplies

Final Commentary