We zoom in on the topic of photography conservation and photos in collections with guest host Lorraine Finch. From positives to negatives, we build a picture of some common things look out for and discuss some ways of storing vintage photos. Also tune in for a review of ‘Twentieth-Century Color Photographs – Identification and Care’ and an Albumen cocktail (and mocktail) at the Benchwork Bar!
00:00:45 Do object conservators come across many old photos?
00:06:44 What sort of photos do we mostly encounter?
00:15:13 Book recommendations galore
00:16:23 Kloe frets about modern photography
00:20:53 Polaroid revival and instant photos
00:23:24 Common types of damage
00:31:56 Storage solutions
00:39:19 Treat it or lose it
00:47:25 Review: ‘Twentieth-Century Color Photographs – Identification and Care’
00:53:37 Benchwork Bar: Albumen
01:01:40 Patreon shout out
Show Notes:
– Lorraine’s previous episodes: https://thecword.show/2018/05/02/s03e04-looking-after-your-conservator/ and https://thecword.show/2019/09/18/s06e01-conservation-on-a-budget/
– The Centre for Photographic Conservation: http://www.cpc-moor.com/index.htm
– Winston Churchill Traveling Fellowship: https://www.wcmt.org.uk/why-apply/travel-grant
– Image Permanence Institute: https://www.imagepermanenceinstitute.org/
– George Eastman Museum: https://www.eastman.org/
– Care and Identification of 19th-Century Photographic Prints: https://store.imagepermanenceinstitute.org/care-id-photographic-prints
– Photographs of the Past – Process and Preservation: https://www.getty.edu/conservation/publications_resources/books/photos_of_the_past.html
– Sub-zero storage of photographs: http://wilhelm-research.com/subzero.html
– ZINK technology: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zink_(technology)
– Lorraine’s articles on the PEL blog: https://www.preservationequipment.com/Blog/Blog-Posts/Blog-Categories/Photographic
– Photographic Negatives – Nature and Evolution of Processes: https://s3.cad.rit.edu/ipi-assets/publications/negatives_poster_booklet.pdf
– Twentieth-Century Color Photographs – Identification and Care: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Twentieth-Century-Colour-Photographs-Identification/dp/0500517193/ or https://www.getty.edu/conservation/publications_resources/books/20th_century_color.html
– Go follow Amanda Richards for more conservation cocktails: https://twitter.com/ConserveItAll
Hosted by Jenny Mathiasson, Kloe Rumsey, and Lorraine Finch.
Intro and outro music by DDmyzik used under a Creative Commons Attribution license.
Made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International license.
A Wooden Dice production, 2020.