Preserving and Conserving Archived Photographs:

An Annotated Bibliography

Todd Anselmo

June 6, 2010

 

Summary Section

Introduction and Scope:

            Photographs have been as important a tool for the teaching and understanding of history as diaries and journals, and conserving or preserving these priceless artifacts of exact images of history has been, and will continue to be, a critical task for whoever has been charged with storing, monitoring, and keeping well-preserved original photographs for the enjoyment of public viewing or the research of authors, historians, and more. The following bibliography includes articles that detail important programs and procedures for minimizing the deterioration of photographs and have, for the most part, been published between the years 2000-2010, with a few relevant articles from the 1990’s, that were written to relate modern techniques used in recent history to preserve, maintain, and store non-digital photographic images. The articles were chose to display both time-tested methods of preservation that have been used for decades and are still used today.

Description:

            Photograph preservation is the active involvement in ensuring that photographs degrade or deteriorate at the slowest possible. It is impossible to curtail all deterioration, but over the many decades photography has been in existence, many processes and chemicals have been developed take, develop, and preserve pictures. The use of different types and papers and negative types also can increase or decrease the life of a photograph. The Wikipedia definition of “Photograph Conservation” defines it as “the study of the physical care and treatment of photographic materials, including an in-depth understanding of how photographs are made, and the causes and prevention of deterioration.” Archivists or collection monitors would be well-advised to take courses or seminars in the photographic process if now experience currently exists.

Summary of Findings:

            There are several overlapping themes that emerged in the process of assembling this bibliography. One is the fact that true analog photographs and negatives are going by the wayside, but digitization in no way is ready to usurp the lasting quality of the photographic negative due its constant-changing and unstable history with effective and lasting preservation. Another theme is that long-used, proven procedures are still the norm of the day. And, finally, the control of the environment of the photograph is crucial to its durability.

The digitization of photographs as a means of preservation is not gaining much acceptance because there are concerns about the various digital processing and storage programs and the constant changes and revisions. Concerns abound about whether a photograph digitized in one program will be properly represented in a different program decades later. Bossen discusses his concerns about the “longevity and stability of digital storage and retrieval systems” (2006). Until the concerns can be adequately addressed, and there is proof that photographs won’t be significantly altered, proven methods are consistently being used and original photographs will continue to be monitored and cared for as long as the photographs tolerate it. Hopefully, when the day comes that all photographs are digital, there will be programs in place capable of preserving photographs for as long people exist.

The “norms of the day” include knowing what to look for in a photograph or negative, such as identifying the photograph, the date it was taken, and, if possible, what type of chemicals and processes were used to develop the original photograph. This information can help to avoid harmful interactions while helping stem degradation.

Buchanan and Domer detail some of the physical and chemical structures including the support layer, the binder or emulsion layer, and the final image (1995). They further write about distinguishing originals front prints, separating the most commonly used types of photographs: black and white sliver gelatin prints, color transparencies, film-based negatives, also positive-only images that include daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, and tintypes, as well as determining what processes were used on what documents so that “appropriate storage enclosures” are used to enhance preservation (Buchanan & Domer, 1995). The McCabe citation discusses an extensive project that preserved nearly 8,000 collodion glass plate negatives. Most of the articles in these bibliographies discuss the preservation of these specific types of photograph processes.

            Most photographs can be preserved for the length of the life of the paper or medium it is put on if the environment that the photograph is kept in is strictly controlled. Monitoring the environment and foreseeing possible changes to that environment are really the most important things anyone overseeing a photograph or archive can do. Knowing the bases of chemical restoration is important to repairing a photograph, and in some cases enhancing its preservation, but having some training in controlling the environment, and common sense, will go a long way towards stretching out the natural lives of photographs.

            The physical properties, chemical stability, and mold growth rate of a photograph are critically influenced by photographic films moisture content (Adelstein, Bigourdan, & Reilly, 1997). Water is an incredibly destructive agent that can affect photographs through direct contact, humidity, or even natural disasters such as floods, hurricanes, etc. Other environmental areas that are controllable, and that can be harmful or helpful to photograph life are light, darkness, and temperature. Some less though of threats to photographs include insects and natural disasters. The general consensus is that keeping photographs in dark, dry, cold, airtight containers or rooms can best preserve photographs. But this can cause problems with the purpose of collection, photographic or not, the accessibility to them by people, whether trained academic researchers or just the curious public. Also, whether they are out for public display or locked away for posterity, they need to be regularly monitored, with intense examination for evidence of insect dropping, changes in the shape or distortion of photographs, and any other signs of change. And natural disasters might give warning or might hit unexpectedly. Archive monitors need to have plans in place. The Ross bibliography discusses these issues as they relate to paper-based materials in the humid state of Mississippi.

            Several of the articles specifically point the necessity for the preservation of photographs to include the preparation for their handling and viewing by others. The Hunter and Legg bibliography details the incredible amount of planning and work required to adequately protect and prepare collections for display, and the Wright citation determined that 75% of large European collections are at risk or inaccessible and details the effectiveness of a “preservation factory” to raise funds, develop resources, and reduce the costs for preserving and increasing access to large, historic collections. He also writes about a new project to allow access to the “factory” by small and medium-sized collections.

            This bibliography provides a good start for the investigation of the preservation and/or conservation of photographs. It is geared toward libraries, museums, and other archival-type information collecting, maintaining, preserving, and displaying organizations. It covers, briefly, almost every issue or step that an archivist should need to be aware of from the identification of types of photographs or negatives, different, but proven methods of chemically preserving photographs, fairly in-depth coverage of environment issues to be aware, a little bit about the problems with current digital preservation techniques, and, quite importantly, the need to remember that photographs might only be as important is their ability to be viewed by others.

 

Bibliography

Entry One:

Adelstein, P.Z., Bigourdan, J.-L., & Reilly, J.M. (1997). Moisture relationships of photographic film. Journal of the American Institute for Conversation, 36(3), 193-206.

Abstract:

The moisture content of photographic film is a critical feature that influences physical properties, mold growth, and chemical stability. It is characterized by the moisture equilibrium curve, which is a plot of the moisture content as a function of the relative humidity. The effect of temperature on the moisture equilibrium curve is the main thrust of this article, which discusses the practical implications of these data for accelerated incubation studies. The temperature effect on the rates of moisture conditioning on film in several practical storage configurations and enclosures is presented. Finally, data are given on the moisture protection afforded by different enclosures, leading to recommendations on the cold storage of photographic film.

Annotation: This article succinctly details how moisture affects photographic film including how it reacts chemically and how the film reacts physically through shape changes and distortions. The article is lengthy and somewhat scientific in nature, but provides excellent examples of how to protect photographic film from the effects of moisture.

Search Strategy: I found this database (JSTOR) while accessing an article that I found cited in the bibliography on the Library of Congress’ “Care, Handling, and Storage of Photographs Bibliography” webpage. After accessing that article, I stayed and browsed through this database where I found this article using keyword search with the string: “photography and conservation.”

Database: JSTOR

Method of Searching: Keyword search

Search String: photography and conservation

Entry Two:

Bossen, H., Davenport, L.D., & Randle, Q. (2006). Digital camera use affects photo procedures/archiving. Newspaper Research Journal, 27(1), 18—33.

Abstract: Bossen et al explore the impact of digital photography on the preservation of these visual images, which are tomorrow's historical record. Among questions they ask is whether digital technology is affecting both the numbers of images taken and those preserved. Along the way, they discovered concern about the "longevity and stability of digital storage and retrieval systems," a worry shared by archivists, photographers, and historians.

Annotation: This article discusses the complications of the photographic and archiving process as it changes from film to digital. It provides the purpose and results of studies that show that preserved photographic images might possibly be forever lost if current archival software and hardware becomes archaic to future generations. Film negatives don’t change, but digital devices change often, so it’s important to be aware of how new technologies can affect older generations. This article does not provide specific answers, but certainly demands that technical scientists and engineers, as well as photographers and archivists, be aware of the dichotomy that “digital” represents.

Search Strategy: I chose the ProQuest database to check due to its myriad categories and journals. I entered “photograph* and (conserve* or preserv*)” in the citation and abstract search and then, after finding nothing to help me, used the controlled vocabulary provided by ProQuest to find this article.

Database: ProQuest

Method of Searching: Controlled vocabulary search

Search String: Conservation AND Photography

Entry Three:

Buchanan, S., & Domer, M. (1995). Writing with light. Wilson Library Bulletin, 69(10), 68.

Abstract:

   Photography, which literally means "writing with light," was born in France in 1839. From the very beginning, institutions have collected photographs, fascinated by their beauty and well aware of their research value, yet seldom finding ways to make them easily accessible or to preserve them.
    Photographs have complex physical and chemical structures. Basically, a photograph is composed of three layers: a support layer, a binder or emulsion layer that holds the final image material to the support, and the final image material, which is usually suspended in the binder layer.
    It is important to determine and document what photographic processes are represented in a collection. Proper identification will distinguish later copies from vintage originals. In addition, identification allows for the choice of appropriate storage enclosures to support preservation efforts.
    Photographs most commonly found in libraries and archives are black-and-white silver gelatin prints, glass plate and film-based negatives, and color transparencies. Some collections have many nineteenth-century photographs rendered in both positive and negative images. Positive-only images were made with something other than paper supports and include daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, and tintypes.

Annotation: This article gives definitions and descriptions of early photographic image types including daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, and tintypes, and how to distinguish the difference. It then details the problems with preserving these types of photographs and then provides specific strategies to minimize the deterioration rate while keeping them available for public viewing. These strategies include controlling lights, temperature, types of light sources (such as ultra-violet), appropriate enclosure materials and proper storage.

Search Strategy: I searched the Social SciSearch database in Dialog, found several citations and then searched the Library Literature & Information Science Full Text database where I entered the title and accessed the article.

Database: Library Literature & Information Science [Dialog]

Method of Searching: Keyword search

Search String: b438photograph?/de and (preservation or conservation)/de and py=1995:2010 (55)

Entry Four:

Bushey, J. (2008). He shoots, he stores: New photographic practice in the digital age. Archivaria, 65, 125-149.

Abstract: In the last decade, professional photographers have responded to changing business needs and creative opportunities by transforming their analogue-based processes and products into a predominantly digital-imaging practice. The fundamental differences between the creation and preservation of analogue photographs, and the creation and preservation of digital images have moved beyond issues of media stability and now focus on the changing role of the photographer as both creator and preserver. Central to this discourse is the relationship among the concepts of originality, reliability, and authenticity in regards to photographic representation in the digital era. This article contributes to that discussion by presenting the results of an InterPARES 2 survey on the record-keeping activities of photographers using digital technology; presenting new developments instigated by the imaging community to address issues of digital-image creation, use, and preservation; and exploring how the digital paradigm shapes the responsibilities of the archivist.

Annotation: This lengthy article provides quite an inclusive background for the transition from analog or film photographs to their digital, and increasingly more predominant, counterpart. The authors discuss a survey where most of their data was gathered and analyzed, and include many common and new concepts and concerns; of the newer being the concern among professionals for the reliability and longevity of “born-digital” images, as well as the preservation of said images in an evolving and changing medium. The article provides a pretty thorough introduction of the changing role of photographer as not only the creator, but also as a major contributor to preservation aspect in regards to how the photographer utilized camera and editing criteria and settings. The expansive survey used, called InterPARES 2, utilized a wide variety of professionals, and included archivists who were eager to learn about new preservation methods for the “born-digital” images that appear to be less stable than analog negatives used as standards in the past.

Search Strategy: I searched the Social SciSearch database in Dialog, found several citations and then searched the Library Literature & Information Science Full Text database where I entered the title. I was unable to access it on the WilsonWeb, so I accessed the article in the journal, Archivaria, itself.

Database: Library Literature & Information Science [Dialog]

Method of Searching: Keyword search

Search String: b438photograph?/de and (preservation or conservation)/de and py=1995:2010 (55)

Entry Five:

Cohen, D.J. (2005). The future of preserving the past. CRM, 2(2), 6-19.

Abstract: The writer discusses the need for the cultural-heritage community to make extensive use of digital technologies as part of their mission. To highlight how the nature of the historical record has changed, he compares the efforts expended to save a rich and representative historical record of perhaps the two most tragic days in 20th-century American history: December 7, 1941; and September 11, 2001. He argues that the vast expansion of the historical record into new media that occurred between these dates presents serious challenges that will have to be surmounted if future scholars and the public are to have access to an adequate record of the past. He considers various aspects of the issue, such as the major reservations that many in the cultural-heritage community have about digital collecting, the active solicitation of digital materials, saving existing digital sources, and the importance of moving quickly to save extant digital materials.

Annotation: This article discusses relatively short lives of digital sources such as websites and seeks to find more permanent digital storage processes for important historical events that were photographed using either analog or digital means. It expresses the importance of finding effective means to “capture digital document, messages, images, audio, and video before they are altered or erased if our descendents are to understand how we lived.” It uses tragic, historically important events like the Pearl Harbor and 9/11 attacks as examples of photographic materials that were taken by civilians and gathered for reconstruction and preservation.

Search Strategy: I browsed the databases in the Hagerty Library by category and found the Art Full Text database where I entered my search string and began to find some journals that had articles on photograph preservation such as the one I used here: CRM.

Database: Art Full Text

Method of Searching: Keyword search

Search String: photograph* AND conserv* OR preserv* AND archive*

Entry Six:

Cribbs, M.A. (1998). Photographic conservation-An update. ARMA Records Management Quarterly, 22(3), 17-20.

Abstract: Records managers often are faced with the problem of preserving photographs and related photoproducts. Photoproducts are unstable media that begin to lose their quality from the moment they are created. Chemicals in resin-based paper immediately begin to break down the image emulsions. Some other agents that have an adverse effect on photoproducts are: 1. heat, 2. humidity, 3. fungus, 4. static electricity, and 5. the oils from human hands. Although it is possible, under bad conditions, for damage to be noticeable in as little as 3 years, with proper care, photoproducts can be preserved for up to 100 years. Decisions about conservation mediums should be made with 3 elements in mind: 1. projected use, 2. projected budget, and 3. environment. Mylar (a type of polyester) envelopes are appropriate for materials in a library that will be used frequently. Less expensive cotton rag envelopes may be used for archive storage since the photos will be handled less. A constant cool temperature and stable humidity are important.

Annotation: This older, but very relevant article, describes many methods to help prevent the degradation of photographic prints and negatives. The article details specific types of materials, lighting, and temperature to help slow the inevitable process of aging. It furthers shows how photographs are more likely stay better preserved in archives as they are handled less frequently and temperatures can more easily be controlled due to less traffic. The author further puts the onus of photographic preservation on the facilities manager’s conscientiousness and security-awareness (something not brought up in previous articles on preservation).

Search Strategy: I chose the ProQuest database to check due to its myriad categories and journals. After finding a helpful article using the keyword searches offered by ProQuest, I continued to browse through the database where I found this article using helpful controlled vocabulary search words.

Database: ProQuest

Method of Searching: Controlled vocabulary search

Search String: photography AND Archives & records

Entry Seven:

Hill, G. (1991). The conservation of a photograph album at the National Archives of Canada. Journal of the American Institute for Conservation, 30(1), 75-88.

Abstract: The full conservation treatment performed on a large 19th-century Canadian photograph album at the National Archives of Canada is outlined in detail. The Jacobs Album, considered to be one of the most valuable in the collection, was completely taken apart. All 913 photographs were lined and remounted onto new pages, and new bindings were constructed. The original pages and binding jackets were treated and stored separately. Also outlined are the treatment options presented prior to treatment and the decision-making process that resulted in this treatment. The Conservation of a Photograph Album at the National Archives of Canada Author(s): Gregory Hill Source: Journal of the American Institute for Conservation, Vol. 30, No. 1 (Spring, 1991), pp. 75-88 Published by: The American Institute for Conservation of Historic & Artistic Works Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3179518 Accessed: 27/05/2010 09:15

Annotation: This article details specific treatment steps for the preservation of approved photographs, as well as the procedure for getting preservation approval at the National Archives of Canada. It shows the conditions that must be met, the examination of the photograph or album, in this case an album with several hundred historically-significant photographs of Canada from 1800 to the end of the 19^th century.

Search Strategy: I found this database (JSTOR) while accessing an article that I found cited in the bibliography on the Library of Congress’ “Care, Handling, and Storage of Photographs Bibliography” webpage. After accessing that article, I stayed and browsed through this database where I found this article using the keyword search with the string: “photographic and preservation or conservation.”

Database: JSTOR

Method of Searching: Keyword search

Search String: photographic and preservation or conservation

Entry Eight:

Hunter, N.C., Legg, K., & Oehlerts, B. (2010). Two librarians, an archivist, and 13,000 images: Collaborating to build a digital collection. The Library Quarterly, 80(1), 81-103).

Abstract: Colorado State University Libraries has been creating digitized collections, primarily from its Archives and Special Collections unit, since 2000. These projects involved collaboration among Archives, Cataloging, and Digitization; the most recent and ambitious project, digitizing 13,000 historical images of the university dating from the 1880s into the 1930s, required closer collaboration than any previous project. The three authors, each with a distinctive role in the project, use this case study to illustrate and discuss in detail the different professional and technical skills and perspectives that each brought to the project and how they learned from each other. The author’s present lessons learned in how to effectively build successful internal partnerships to further digitization projects.

Annotation: This important article relates the difficulties and disagreements that occur when three professional with the same end-goal but with differing methodologies and approaches attempt to initiate a preservation program for half a million historically important images that hold the image history of an entire town and culture since the late 1800’s. It details the risks that increase preservation difficulties, how to overcome different objectives to complete the same goal, and how crucial it is to plan for collaboration when planning for preservation. In between the various struggles and explanations of difficulties and portions of the collection, good information exists about how the group began organizing the photographs, how they planned to digitize them and deliver them to the web, and how they worked with the different collections that included glass plate negatives, cabinet cards, 35-millimeter color film, silver gelatin prints, and more.

Search Strategy: Search Strategy: I searched the Social SciSearch database in Dialog using descriptor and publication year with a keyword search, found this citation and then went and accessed the Library Literature & Information Science Full Text database from the Hagerty Library Database Tools where I entered the title and accessed the article.

Database: Library Literature & Information Science [Dialog]

Method of Searching: Keyword description search

Search String: b438photograph?/de and (preservation or conservation)/de and py=1995:2010 (55)

Entry Nine:

Klijn, E. & de Lusenet, Y. (2000). In the picture: Preservation and digitization of European photographic collections. Library Collections Acquisitions & Technical Services, 25(3), 340-342.

Abstract: Abstract: Digital cameras abound, and at prices now below $100; photography studios will post your photographs to the Web; and millions of dollars a year are being spent by archives, libraries, museums and “other memory institutions” to enable them to digitize and describe photographic collections. In other words, digitizing is all the rage, and, like so many other technologies before it, it is being heralded by many as the answer to preservation and access to scholarly and not-so-scholarly materials, especially photographs. But things are not necessarily as they appear, and digitizing photographs is not as simple a process as some would have us believe. Or, as the authors of this compact primer tell us, “ Creating sustainable digital collections. . . involves much more than scanning.” Indeed, it does, and in this slim volume Klijn and de Lusenet have not only summarized the issues facing managers who want to digitize a collection, but also include brief descriptions of eight major European projects and their URLs, and a questionnaire summary (Appendix A) of responses from 141 memory institutions from 29 European countries. The projects that are described in this work are from The Public Record Office (UK), The Royal Library of Denmark, Victoria and Albert Museum (UK), The COLLAGE Project (UK), The British Library, Stadt- und Universitaetsbibliothek Frankfurt (Germany), Mediatheque de l“Architecture et du Patrimoine (Paris) and the Deutsches Film Institut (Germany). This primer on digitization projects covers hidden costs, quality issues (specifications, standards, personnel), policies, expertise, archival conditions, access (now and in the future), digital formats, user copies, and the long-term preservation of digital collections. This is a valuable introduction to a complicated subject that will be useful for administrators, for grant writers, for grant providers, and for all of us who are custodians of photographic collections. For those institutions without policies and personnel, this book would be an ideal starting point because it is so succinctly written, while covering the basics that need to be considered before embarking on a policy statement and certainly before beginning any digitization project. The suggestions for further reading (pp. 57–64) include books, reports, Web sites, etc. The subjects covered give the reader an idea of the complexity of the issues and an idea of the thoroughness of the work, short though it may be:

• History of photography
• Photographic preservation
• Standards and standard organizations
• Digitization of photographic materials (the longest section)
• European digital imaging projects
• Digital preservation
• Storage mediums
• Copyright
• Metadata
• Permanence of inkjet prints.

Most memory institutions throughout the world would benefit from owning a copy of this book.

Annotation: This article discusses information that has to do with the logistical aspects of digitization projects such as hidden costs, archival conditions, expertise, access, long-term preservation issues, and more. It is a good starting point for people who are just beginning a preservation project and don’t have policies and clear mission statements and goals, yet.

Search Strategy: I searched the Social SciSearch database in Dialog using a title search, found this citation and then went and accessed the Science Direct database from the Hagerty Library Database Tools where I entered the title and accessed the article.

Database: Science Direct [Dialog]

Method of Searching: Title search

Search String: s photograph?/ti and preserv?/ti

Entry Ten:

McCabe, C. (1991). Preservation of 19^th-century negatives in the National Archives. Journal of the American Institute for Conservation, 30(1), 41-73.

Abstract: This article discusses an extensive project to preserve nearly 8,000 collodion glass plate negatives of portrait and field work by noted photographers Matthew Brady, William Henry Jackson, Timothy H. O'Sullivan, and others. Information is presented about the constituents of collodion negatives and the characteristic deterioration related to inherent compositional factors. Finally, preservation issues such as photographic duplication, rehousing, and storage are addressed.

Annotation: This very informative article discusses specific procedures for the preservation of collodion negatives which were glass plate negatives that hold most of America’s early photographs of the western United States. It explains how the plates work, the biggest challenges to maintaining and preserving them, and the best methods currently available for their conservation and storage.

Search Strategy: I searched Google using “photographic and preservation or conservation,” found “Bibliography: Care, Handling, and Storage of Photographs” on the website for the Library of Congress, and browsed down the page until I found this article. To access it, I entered the name of the journal into the Hagerty Library search bar and was taken the JSTOR database, where I entered the title and found the article.

Database: JSTOR

Method of Searching: Citation Search

Search String: photographic and preservation or conservation in Google to find the Library of Congress’ website where I found the citation to continue my search.

Entry Eleven:

Natanson, B.O. (2007). Worth a billion words? Library of Congress pictures online, 94(1), 99-112.

Abstract: Ansel Adams's photographs of Japanese American internment at Manzanar (244 items) American cartoon prints dating, 1766-1876 (500 items) Civil War photographs, including many generated under the auspices of Mathew Brady's studio (7,000 items) Farm Security Administration and Office of War Information black-and-white and color photographs from the depression and early World War II eras (172,000 items) Historic American Buildings Survey, Historic American Engineering Record, and Historic American Landscapes Survey materials produced by the National Park Service, which, through photographs, measured drawings, and textual records document historic sites throughout the United States (500,000 items covering more than 37,000 structures) photographs of the Middle East taken by the American Colony Photo Department and the Matson Photo Service between 1898 and 1946 (14,000 items) National Child Labor Committee photographs taken by Lewis Hine between 1908 and 1924 (5,100 items) posters, including works issued by the Work Projects Administration; Wodd War I posters from the United States, Germany, and France; performing arts posters from the turn of the twentieth century; and propaganda posters from more than fifty countries, 1960s-1980s (9,000 items) photographs of Russia by an early innovator in color photography technology, Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii, 1905-1915 (4,000 items) the Wright brothers negatives, which document their experiments in building and flying aircraft between 1897 and 1928 (303 items) As one might suspect with an operation as complex as scanning and describing hundreds of thousands of images in different formats, shapes, and sizes-an enterprise that took the Prints and Photographs Division twelve years-the Germany Schaefer photo was not simply the millionth to pass through an assembly line. [...] digitized materials relating to Germany Schaefer that are available on the Library of Congress Web site include the following: additional images in the Bain Collection, including one showing Schaefer playing for Cleveland, the team with which he ended his career in 1918 a photograph from the Chicago Historical Society's Chicago Daily News negatives collection that portrays Schaefer in action at the start of his career, playing for the National League's Chicago Orphans baseball cards that used his image to market tobacco products the Spalding Base Ball Guides (1889-1939), through which one can track portions of Schaefer's career and the evolution of the game an article in a 1918 issue of the U.S. Army newspaper, Stars and Stripes, that records that Schaefer (the "well-known major league comedian") dropped his "Germany" moniker, to become "Liberty" Schaefer18 The Library of Congress plans to continue its digital conversion of historical resources, while expanding its programs to acquire information that is "born-digital" and collaborating with other institutions whenever possible to promote collection building and standards for the presentation and preservation of digital data.19 Digital technology has become an important, even transformative, tool the library can use to accomplish its mission to sustain a universal collection of knowledge and creativity.

Annotation: This article details the research, selection, digitization, preservation, and web-distribution of its photograph collection. It states the importance that digitization will have as a library tool and stresses the mission to sustain a “universal collection of knowledge and creativity,” of which the preservation of digital data is a big part, both digitized film photographs, and “born-digital” photographs. This is a fascinating and informative essay of the Library of Congress’ intent to continue with its plans of the digital conversion of historical resources, including the “presentation and preservation of digital data.”

Search Strategy: I continued to browse the ProQuest database using the controlled vocabulary search words offered by the database and came across this fascinating article.

Database: ProQuest.

Method of Searching: Controlled vocabulary search

Search String: photography AND Archives & records

Entry Twelve:

Ross, D.D. (2001). An overview of the care of silver-based photographic prints and negatives. Mississippi Libraries, 65(2), 40-44.

Abstract:     Photographs have a way of drawing us in: at various times, they distract, entertain, disturb, and seduce. They lend immediacy to written words; they also stand on their own as invaluable primary sources of information. In a survey of seventy-five public and academic libraries in Mississippi last year, a full 40% held photographic materials in their collections. Black and white (silver-based) prints were most common, and many of these libraries held materials dated prior to 1910.(FN1) Though they share some of the characteristics of other paper-based materials, the additional chemical components in photographs make them even more prone to damage and deterioration.

Annotation: This article discusses “care and concerns” similar to other articles, but with some differences. Other things to look out for when storing and archiving photographs are mishandling, insects, mold, acidification in addition to the regular light, temperature, and humidity concerns. It also detailed the need to be prepared for what to do if a natural disaster or other unexpected emergency, particularly with water or fire, occur in or near a photographic archive.

Search Strategy: I searched the Social SciSearch database in Dialog using descriptor and publication year with a keyword search, found this citation and then went and accessed the Library Literature & Information Science Full Text database from the Hagerty Library Database Tools where I entered the title and accessed the article.

Database: Library Literature & Information Science [Dialog]

Method of Searching: Keyword search

Search String: b438photograph?/de and (preservation or conservation)/de and py=1995:2010 (55)

Entry Thirteen:

Saunders, S. (2003). Obscure delights. Source Creative Review, 23(5), 59-63.

Abstract: Discusses the work of a number of British specialist picture libraries. The author reports on the collection of pictures relating to magic and the occult held at the Charles Walker Collection, questions the ability of such collections to market and conserve their work, and highlights the cost involved in digitising photographic images. She explains the involvement of the photographic group Topfoto in preserving the Charles Walker Collection, describes the digitisation of its stock of images, and cites the views of the Topfoto editor Liz Peck that such collections can be marketed to creative agencies. She examines the work of the photographers Brian and Cherry Alexander in building up a mainly digitised photographic collection of images of the Arctic and the Antarctic, reports on the couple's perception of the challenges involved in marketing their work to creative outlets, and focuses on their approach to the issue of model release. She explains the need for specialist photolibraries to cater for 'non-editorial' customers with reference to the work of the Houghton Horses and Skyscan libraries, argues that access to images via the internet improves the marketability of small photographic collections, and explores the marketing policy of the Everynight photolibrary. She notes the continuing emergence of new photo libraries, and considers the importance of targeted marketing in helping such enterprises survive.

Annotation: This article gives some insight into preservation and storage issues in the arctic regions, both north and south. It details how small markets and small libraries trying stay competitive, especially when larger collections and the web are having more resources available for patrons. Another tough part is the manual scanning that many small libraries have to do as they digitize their collections. This article is very different than most scholarly articles and provides some insight into the artists and combination of resources in small market web-based parts of the world.

Search Strategy: I searched the Social SciSearch database in Dialog, found this citation and then went and accessed the ILLUMINA database from the Hagerty Library Database Tools where I entered the title and accessed the article.

Database: ILLUMINA

Method of Searching: Keyword search

Search String: photograph* and (conserve* or preserv*)

Entry Fourteen:

Wilhelm, H. (1981). Monitoring the fading and staining of color photographic prints. Journal of the American Institute for Conservation, 21(1), 49-64.

Abstract: Methods are described for the long-term monitoring of visual changes which can occur in color photographs kept in the dark or exposed to light on display. A photographic color densitometer is used to measure changes in stain levels and in the integral red, green, and blue optical densities of the images, which consist of cyan, magenta, and yellow dyes or pigments. Procedures are given for making polyester print overlay sheets to record precise measurement locations. A separate "fading monitor," which can be used to distinguish between deterioration caused by exposure to light and that which occurs in dark storage, is described. A system of long-term densitometer calibration using refrigerated photographic gray scales and color scales is outlined. The types of visual and physical changes which can occur with common types of color photographs are described. Quantitative limits for color print image deterioration which take into account stain formation, color balance changes, and losses in high- and low-density portions of the image are suggested.

Annotation: This very informing and detailed article discusses the reasons that cause photographs to deteriorate in library, gallery, or archive settings. After detailing these reasons, which show what changes light, darkness, and temperature can do, it goes on to tell how these reasons are different from location to location, and then discusses a comprehensive monitoring system that can maintain long-term preservation of photographic materials.

Search Strategy: I found this database (JSTOR) while accessing an article that I found cited in the bibliography on the Library of Congress’ “Care, Handling, and Storage of Photographs Bibliography” webpage. After accessing that article, I stayed and browsed through this database where I found this article using the title search with the string: “photograph preservation.”

Database: JSTOR

Method of Searching: Title search

Search String: photography and preservation

Entry Fifteen:

Wilhelm, H., Gressent, C., & MacLean D. (2008). Long-term preservation of photographic originals and digital image files in the Corbis/Sygma collection in France. Journal of Electronic Imaging. Archiving 2008 Final Program and Proceedings. Springfield: IS&T: The Society for Imaging Science and Technology.

Abstract: Corbis/Sygma in France is one of the most important documentary photography collections in the world. The Corbis “Sygma Preservation and Access Initiative” project began in 2004 to ensure that the collection’s more than 50 million individual objects, including prints, negatives, contact sheets, and color transparencies, will be carefully preserved for thousands of years into the future in a new high-security cold storage facility located in Garnay, France (45 minutes from Paris by train). The second major goal of the project was to make the collection more widely accessible to publishers, the creative community, historians, photographers, students, and others around the world.

Annotation: This paper that was presented at an archiving conference and discusses an incredible project that is building a secure, highly environmentally-controlled building for the long-term storage of photographs of all types of images bases and papers. The project has tested various materials at all types of temperatures and lights and darkness and humidity and developed a state-of-the-art image storing facility.

Search Strategy: I searched Google and found the Northeast Document Conservation Center where I found a select bibliography for the preservation of photographs. I found Wilhelm’s name and had liked other material I had read by him, so I looked him up.

Database: N/A

Method of Searching: Citation search

Search String: Found in “Preservation of Photographs: Select Bibliography” on the Northeast Document Conservation Center website.

Entry Sixteen:

Wright, R. (2004). Digital preservation of audio, video, and film. Vine, 34(2), 71-76.

Abstract: Digitisation is used for preservation of audiovisual material. This preservation work is a major producer of digital collections – which then need digital preservation for sustainability. EC Project Presto surveyed the holdings and status of ten major broadcast archives – a significant portion of total European broadcast archives, including some of the largest individual collections. The main findings are that approximately 75 per cent of this material is at risk or inaccessible and that the collections are growing at roughly four times the rate of current progress in preservation work. This paper gives further results of the project, and gives practical guidance for preservation of audiovisual material. Presto demonstrated the effectiveness of the “preservation factory” concept for major broadcast archives – a way to reduce cost while still maintaining or even increasing quality. There is now a new EC project, Presto-space, which will make the preservation factory available to small and medium-sized collections.

Annotation: This article provides valuable information for the preservation of audio and video, as well as film, and details issues with access to preserved materials. It supports the fact that making information available to patrons is really the issue, and so archives should be satisfactorily protected from the public, while being preserved. It further details an integrated approach to providing access, generating revenues to fund the activity, and developing resources to finance collection maintenance.

Search Strategy: I found this in the footnote of an article that discussed logistical aspects of preservation programs, and this article provides further information about the program and access to by small and medium-sized collections.

Database: N/A

Method of Searching: Footnote chasing

Search String: Referenced in:

 Klijn, E. & de Lusenet, Y. (2000). In the picture: Preservation and digitization of European photographic collections. Library Collections Acquisitions & Technical Services, 25(3), 340-342.

Entry Seventeen:

Volpe, A.L. (2009). Archival meaning: Materiality,digitization, and the nineteenth-century photograph. Afterimage, 36(6), 11-17.

Abstract: Just as the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology was being founded at Harvard in 1866, Alexander Gardner was photographing native American tribal delegations in images that fused portrait with typology (now at the Smithsonian's National Anthropological Archives at the National Museum of Natural History) and the geological surveys of the United States turned a similarly classifying eye to the American West. While the storage function of the museum's archives is a way to fix meaning and produce knowledge, these exhibits point out there is an equal chance that the archive becomes a repository for forgetting - shelf lists and catalog numbers define the objects and anchor narratives of what they picture; preservation trumps interpretation and the institutions fix the meanings of photography's contingencies.

Annotation: This article, using examples of various historical periods, tells how digitization of preserved photographs can bring out details that have deteriorated, as well as bringing out clearer images than originally produced. It looks at digitization as a way to rescue photographic history “from itself” because it’s so advanced it can almost recreate better photographs, and then debates the purpose of restoring to reveal original technology, or altering the originality to provide splendid renditions. It also touches on the “storage function” of archives as a way of fixing meaning and producing knowledge on top of just storing and preserving.

Search Strategy: I chose the ProQuest database to check due to its myriad categories and journals. After finding a helpful article using the keyword searches offered by ProQuest, I continued to browse through the database where I found this article using helpful controlled vocabulary search words.

Database: ProQuest

Method of Searching: Controlled vocabulary search

Search String: Photographs AND Collections

 

Concluding Personal Statement

            Being almost as avid a photographer as I am a reader, I really feel the urgency and necessity for the preservation of both. I think a lot of people take photographs for granted, thinking that they’ll last forever, as they seem to do in our dusty, old photo albums. But, the truth is, we have a ton of important, historical photographs that tell and re-tell the “true picture” of the first two hundred, or so, years of the history of the United States. I worry about these original photographs and negatives as we enter the digital age of photography and digitization and digital preservation. Putting together this bibliography let me know that work is being done to make sure many of my fears do not come to fruition. I notice names, organizations, and publications that were seen repeatedly in the literature that I researched. There many more important and relevant articles that I really wanted to see, and believed would really strengthen this bibliography, but I was unable to access them, find them, or although they were highly professional and well-know (such as Eastman Kodak), they were not peer-reviewed or printed in academic journals. Also, there were many books, but I didn’t want to write any citations that I hadn’t read firsthand the complete text. To ensure that I did not run into any problems with my grade in that area, I decided to stay strictly with information gathered from source that I knew would be okay. I did, however, save this information for my own personal, future sources. I was really surprised at how difficult it was for me to find much information in peer-reviewed journals. I expected much more about preservation in journals dealing with archives and preservation, especially since photography has been around for so long and used quite extensively in museums, libraries, and other places that store and use such historical resources. I’m sure glad you had me expand my scope to include the preservation of all photographs and not just historical government ones. Oh boy, would that have been tough! I know a bit about photography, but not much specifically about preservation, except for keeping them dry, cool, flat, and in the dark. This research taught me a lot about other areas that I hadn’t thought of such as natural disasters, bugs, excessive handling, and the especially the digital problems. I thought digitization would solve all preservation issues and retain permanent, accurate, images for all time. That isn’t the case; in fact, photographic negatives are more reliable for image accuracy than digital means at this time. So, as continue my journey through archival studies, I have a nice bibliography as a beginning for what might be my main area of focus: photography preservation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References

Adelstein, P.Z., Bigourdan, J.-L., & Reilly, J.M. (1997). Moisture relationships of photographic film. Journal of the American Institute for Conversation, 36(3), 193-206.

Bossen, H., Davenport, L.D., & Randle, Q. (2006). Digital camera use affects photo procedures/archiving. Newspaper Research Journal, 27(1), 18—33.

Buchanan, S., & Domer, M. (1995). Writing with light. Wilson Library Bulletin, 69(10), 68.

Photograph conservation (2010). In Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photograph_conservation