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Re: the gloves are off????



Title: ARCHIVES Digest - 12 Aug 2002 to 13 Aug 2002 (#2002-226)
Latex allergies aside -- I've been told that there's another type of plastic glove for people with latex allergies (I think it's polyurethane, but don't quote me) . . .
 
I've long been concerned that ill-fitting cotton gloves reduce individual's dexterity so much that there may be as much physical damage as any resulting from skin oils. Gloves are a bit of false security, in my mind.  Think of the times you've seen someone wearing gloves scratch an itch or brush there hair; after which the gloves transfer the oils to the photograph.
 
I've used latex gloves myself for the increased sensitivity. (To quote the old ad, 'So thin, you can pick up a dime!')  The flip side is that I find them miserably uncomfortable because they become little hothouses for your hands, trapping every bit of sweat.
 
Ultimately, I think you have to find another solution.  Because the collections I was responsible for were heavily used by patrons, I put the photos in Mylar sleeves.  It's an expensive solution, and I understand there are problems with microenvironments within Mylar sleeves.  However, photographs don't have to be removed from Mylar sleeves to be viewed (hence, skin oils are somewhat moot); paper enclosures don't offer any protection from skin oils, sneezes, or worse.  Heavy Mylar also offers some physical support for fragile images. 
 
Because we seldom retrieved negatives for patrons to handle, those could be stored in paper enclosures to save money.
 
Scanning the images so that patrons view a surrogate while the original remains untouched is a superb solution, now that the costs are dropping.  However, it's important to remember that the photographic document is more than the image.  For cabinet cards and cartes-de-visite, the characteristics of the border may offer significant clues about the date of the image.  The backs of photographs often have notes or other information that provides context.  (Transcription is not necessarily sufficient; the hand, the ink, and other factors not captured by a scan may call into question the trustworthiness of the information.)  Hence, a scanning project should include borders and backs (or a note indicating the absence of information on the back).
 
I'm comfortable that staff can be trained to wash their hands frequently, avoid touching the emulsion, and handle images gently without gloves.  One technique I've seen is the use of long, thin wooden spatulas to slide under images and support them while turning or moving.  I liked the idea in principle; but I never actually tried it.  Other techniques include sliding a thin board or heavy Mylar under the print.
 
Richard Pearce-Moses
 rpm9@mindspring.com