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Re: BEST METHOD(S) FOR PRESERVING HISTORICAL PHOTOS
Whenever you have the money, may I suggest *both* digitizing and
negatives? For the following reasons:
Digitizing photos, given rapidly changing technology and compression, may
not be the best way to preserve their content. However, it is a very good
way to access them and it helps preserve them in the sense that they only
have to be handled once, by the scanner, and not again and again by
archivists and patrons. Scanning and placing the images onto a CD and/or a
hard drive or the most convenient digital format available to you will make
access easier for you and patrons and also easier on the photos, that can
then be put away where it's cold, dark and properly dry, and left there
until reformatting is necessary. Be sure, if you digitize, to place images
onto a 2nd medium--whether it be CD, zip, remote hard drive or photo
CD--that is *not* at the same location as the physical photos or the
ordinarily accessed medium. (A more preservation-based solution, by the
way, is to digitize a negative.)
Getting negatives may be hard to do given the current rapid switch to
digitizing by photo establishments. It has been often argued on this list
and others that media that can be accessed by light alone is the best
long-term solution to preservation quandaries. Again, separate the
negatives from the originals, get a good print. If you can also digitize
the same photos of which you get negatives, compare the print you get at
that time with the original. If you have a good photographer you may find
that the print will give you a better digital image than the original. You
can then choose whether to expose the original to more light by scanning
it, or put it away and scan the print. (Some "original" prints, for
instance, may become yellow or faded over time. A good photographer can
compensate for this, which is why establishments are becoming digital,
because the process of correcting a photograph is now digital.) If you can
find a photo establishment that does both digital and negative work, you
might be able to get a package deal?
These are just my personal opinions, but they rely on *what I have
understood* from a lot of similar discussions on this list and others, and
with photography experts. I hope I'm not misrepresenting expert opinion
too badly.
Arel
Arel Lucas
Tobacco Control Archives
Library and Center for Knowledge Management
University of California San Francisco
http://www.library.ucsf.edu/tobacco/
------------------------
At 08:56 AM 4/25/2002 -0700, larry hlavsa wrote:
I am involved in the formation of an historical society in my small
California town. We only started in March 2002 but already it s becoming
clear that we may get more photos in the next few months than we re
prepared to deal with. Also, some families are willing for us to copy
their photos but don t want to give up the originals. We want to preserve
these photos using whatever method is currently state of the art.
Here s my QUESTION:
1) When preserving historical photos should we digitize them at the
highest resolution possible?; or
2) Should we photograph the photographs and get a negative (2 ¼ x 2 ¼?)?
We want to start doing this the right way so any comments on current
practices will be helpful.
Thanks!
Larry
P.S. We ll be contacting the California Historical Society and others but
I always like to get the opinions of practitioners as well.
Larry Hlavsa, Director
St. Helena Public Library / Napa Valley Wine Library
1492 Library Lane
St. Helena, CA 94574
PH: 707-967-2805
FX: 707-963-5264
EMAIL: <mailto:larry@shpl.org>larry@shpl.org
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