Photograph Conservation Program
Overview
The Weissman Preservation Center offers a range of preservation services for photographic materials — prints, film-based negatives, glass-plate negatives, lantern slides, daguerreotypes and other cased photographs, and photograph albums, among others. A comprehensive five-year plan, funded in part by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, provides for the following services
- General preservation assessments of photographic holdings
- Condition surveys of collections
- Conservation treatments of photographs
- Archival housing of collections
- Cataloging of photographs
General preservation assessments of photographic holdings
Do you have photographs in your collection, but you are unsure about how to preserve them? The WPC staff will make a site visit to your repository to help you determine the types of photographic materials you have and what their needs are in terms of storage, handling, cataloging and treatment. This service is a good first step in developing preservation priorities for your photograph collections.
General assessments are free for all Harvard libraries, museums, archives and other repositories. Click here to contact the WPC about a photograph preservation assessment for your repository.
Condition surveys of collections
A condition survey is an essential tool for assessing the stability of individual items and prioritizing treatment or housing activities. A survey is a systematic activity in which the condition of each photograph in a collection is noted on a custom form or spreadsheet. The survey is especially useful for small to medium size collections (fewer than 5,000 photographs) that have been selected for exhibition or digitization projects.
In some cases, a condition assessment may be more appropriate for a collection. Less formal than a survey, an assessment may flag photographs for treatment or custom housing, but does not provide condition notes for each item.
Photograph collection surveys and assessments are free for all Harvard libraries, museums, archives and other repositories. Click here to contact the WPC about a photograph collection survey or assessment.
Conservation treatments of photographs
Conservation treatments are performed on photographs primarily to stabilize them for access and to prevent further damage or deterioration. Treatments often lead to an improvement in image legibility and aesthetics. They can be done on single items or on batches of similar material. Examples include: flattening rolled prints, mending tears, consolidating flaking image layers, surface cleaning, repairing cracked glass-plate negatives, tape removal, inpainting of losses, etc.
This is a free service for all Harvard libraries, museums, archives and other repositories; however projects are scheduled on a priority basis. Click here to contact the WPC about photograph conservation treatments.
Archival housing of collections
Photographs stored in poor quality or inadequate sleeves, folders and boxes are at high risk for image deterioration and physical damage. The WPC's conservation technicians are adept at re-housing large collections of similar items as well as fabricating custom housings for unique items, such as cracked glass-plate negatives. They can also devise safe and space-efficient systems for housing dissimilar items that must be kept together.
This is a free service for Harvard libraries only. Libraries are asked to contribute the cost of materials for large projects. Re-housing projects for other Harvard repositories may be possible as resources allow. Contact the WPC for more information. Click here to contact WPC about photograph re-housing projects.
Cataloging of photographs
Intellectual control is essential for making photographs accessible to researchers. Cataloging strategies can range from collection-level entries, to finding aids, to item-level entries with or without digitized images.
The WPC's photograph cataloger can provide free consultation for all Harvard repositories, helping you develop the appropriate cataloging strategy for your collections. Also, for Harvard College Libraries, cataloging of collections or individual photographs is available at no charge; however projects are scheduled on a priority basis. Click here to contact the WPC about photograph cataloging.
The following resources offer advice and guidelines for describing and cataloging photographs:
