Tag Archives: photographs

300 photographs?! More like 4800 photographs!! 

This past March, at one of our Special collections meetings, the Lab received a photographic project from UC’s Classics Library. This was a large German collection comprised of 16 series, each series with approximately 300 photographs, a total of about 4800 photographs!! These are silver gelatin photographs that depict ancient sculptures. The photographs are important since in some cases they show sculptures that may have been destroyed during the WWII.

  • Before Treatment – Series 5 of the 16 series of photographs
  • Before Treatment – Original enclosure – Book board with cloth ties
  • Before Treatment – Curled photographs

All the photographs were curled, some showed silver mirroring, and minor tears along the edges, or creases. Most of the conservation treatment focuses on humidification and flattening of each photograph. With such a large number of photographs, the project was divided between Chris (Senior Conservation Technician), Hyacinth (Conservation Technician), and myself (Assistant Conservator).

Before Treatment – Photographs as they were received in the Preservation Lab. Overall, curled with small tears along the edges.

We each took a series of photographs to work on. Ahead of starting the project, we conducted some tests, along with Ashleigh (Conservator), to understand how long we should humidify the photographs, we create the pressing stacks that would be used for the flattening, and some guidelines that we could all refer to throughout the projects.

Before Treatment – Curled photograph, tear, and creased corners (Recto)
Before Treatment – Curled photograph, tear, and creased corners (Verso)

We concluded that we would obtain the best results by only humidifying the photographs for a maximum of 20-30 mins and then pressing them. First, we pressed the photographs between pressing stacks of thin Hollytex, blotter, Rising Museum Photomount mat board and binders board for two days. Then we pressed them in a book press or under weights between Photomount mat board until the compression enclosure is created. Before humidification, each photograph was surface cleaned with a hydrophilic sponges.

  • During Treatment – Small batch of Photographs being humidified in a cold humidity chamber.
  • During Treatment – Photographs being prepared for flattening by being pressed in a pressing stack.

After being humidified, small cracks on the emulsion and small tears were repaired.

Chris is usually faster with any treatment, so his batch has been fully treated, and now he is in the process of making an enclosure, a cloth clamshell compression enclosure to ensure the photographs don’t start to curl again.

During Treatment – Chris working on the cloth clamshell compression enclosure.

I am still working on my batch. I currently have one-fifth of the photographs being pressed and the rest are awaiting humidification and flattening. This is a long project that requires constant monitoring and time for pressing, but it is so satisfying to see the photographs slowly relaxing and flattening. It will probably take us a few years or more to fully complete the entire 16 series, but once the project is complete each series will be safely housed and repair.

Before Treatment – Photographs as they were received in the Preservation Lab. Overall, curled with small tears along the edges.
After treatment – Photographs have been humidified and flattened, each received minor stabilization treatment
After treatment – Photographs flattened.

Catarina Figueirinhas [UCL] – Assistant Conservator

Conservation – a Complex Profession

“WhAsleighat is it that you do, exactly?” is a question conservators are often asked when met for the first time.
As an emerging conservator, sometimes it’s difficult to quickly describe the daily work I perform. When many people hear the word conservation, they immediately think of protecting wildlife.
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Incendiary Films

The Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County has a wonderful collection of materials about the use of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers known as the Inland Rivers Collection. Recently a group of photographs with accompanying film negatives from this collection came to the Lab.
What for? Well, film has been made using different chemicals over the years, some of which are very unstable. The Lab’s task was to divide and house the entire grouping according to film type. Special attention was given to identifying any cellulose nitrate negatives and isolating them in separate storage housing with the recommendation they be digitized and then disposed of in accordance with Ohio’s guidelines for discarding hazardous materials.
Cellulose nitrate film was the first widely used flexible plastic film. In the late nineteenth century it supplanted heavy, fragile glass plates. Great! Except nitrate is also a chemical component in gunpowder. As cellulose nitrate film degrades it goes through several distinct stages, beginning with silver mirroring and yellowing. Then it may become sticky and smelly (nitric acid odor). Gradually the negative changes to an amber color with the image beginning to fade. Eventually the negative can soften to a point where it may stick to adjacent pictures or its enclosure. In the final stage it turns to a brown acidic powder. As deterioration progresses it accelerates and in the last stages the film may begin to generate its own heat and ignite. A cellulose nitrate fire doesn’t need oxygen to burn so most of the usual firefighting methods won’t put it out. Any grouping of cellulose nitrate film increases the risk. Reels of motion picture film contained in metal canisters concentrate the off-gassing and accelerate the deterioration process.
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