| Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Your Family Photographs | |
|
Conservation
& Preservation of 19th Century Photographs
Since the early 19th century, photographs have provided a historical record and a source of information about their times. For this reason, art galleries, museums, archives, libraries and historical societies as well as government, business and private individuals all have an interest in the preservation and restoration of photographs. Through the years there has been very little factual information published on this subject. As a result, while there are some conservators who know a great deal about photographic conservation, there are many custodians of collections who have little knowledge or experience with photographic materials and how they effect the lifetime of the photographic image. In addition, they have no knowledge of the techniques and procedures that can be used to protect or restore old photographs. Photographic conservation is a relatively new field that started gaining popularity only within the past decade. The field of photographic conservation is still in its infancy as a separate area of study. In 1982 there were perhaps as few as only 24 professional photographic conservators in the world.
Black and white photographs, when properly processed and stored, are both stable and permanent. Generally, these two requirements have not been applied to many historic photographs, causing deterioration. There are four major forms of photographic deterioration which can be categorized as follows: Environmental, Chemical, Physical and Biological deterioration.
Environmental
Deterioration
The most common form of deterioration
also happens to be the easiest to control. By far, the single most serious cause
of deterioration is excessive humidity and is quickly followed by extremes in
temperature, which are both forms of Environmental deterioration. The
"ideal" humidity for photographs should be 50% relative humidity ±5%
and the temperature should be 68ºF ±2°F. These are quite rigid
specifications, especially in the northern parts of the United States and may be
beyond the means of most owners of photographs. The most practical system for
environmental control would be an air conditioned room in the summer and the use
of electric heat in that room in the winter. There is one additional controlled
environment that a genealogist once asked me about and which I thought was such
a wonderful idea, that this is where I now store all of my family photographs.
Most banks have 'safe' deposit storage boxes that are not only very secure, but
are kept in an environment which is close to ideal. Perhaps the most devastating
conditions for photograph storage would be cyclic heat and humidity such as you
would find in an attic. Controlled humidity and temperature would help prevent
curled prints, mold growth, fungus, foxing (blotchy, reddish-brown stains on
prints or mounts), negatives sticking to containers or themselves and
photographs sticking to glass frames. Obviously, the worst places to store
photographic materials would be in an attic or basement, yet this is where
60-70% of all personal photographs are kept. Are you guilty???
Next page > How to Preserve Old Photographs > Page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
