AIC-PMG Winter Meeting 2025

"From the earliest era of photography, there was a desire to record and receive photographic images instantly. Edwin Land fulfilled this with his significant invention – Polaroid photography.

Edwin Land did extensive experimentation to come up with a successful instant photograph. In 2006 Baker Library at the Harvard Business School received the business archives of the Polaroid Corporation. A highlight of the archives are the research and development records, complete with experimental prints and documentation.

Weissman Preservation Center (WPC) photograph conservators and Baker Library staff have worked collaboratively on the preservation of this important collection. The experimental prints often have unknown compositions and vulnerabilities and there are important ethical considerations for conservation intervention and instrumental analysis. This presentation will provide an overview of some of the lessons learned over almost 20 years of working with this collection and will highlight exhibition planning for the recently opened exhibition, “From Concept to Product: Meroë Morse and Polaroid’s Culture of Art and Innovation, 1945–1969”, on display at the Baker Library through Spring 2025."

An untitled platinum print from 1904 signed by Clarence Hudson White (1871-1925), an American photographer of the Photo-Secession movement, was the subject of examination and conservation treatment in the art conservation department at SUNY Buffalo State University. The print depicts three young boys, likely White’s sons, playing near a creek. The rough surface texture and warm image tone, supported by analysis with x-ray fluorescence spectroscopy, confirm its identification as a mercury toned platinum print. The process of making a platinum print allows for the photographer’s artistic manipulation of the surface and tonality of the final print and was an ideal medium for photographers of the Photo-Secession movement. This movement promoted photography as a fine art form and moved away from the view of photography as an accurate representation of the world. This Clarence White platinum print is attached to two layers of paper, which will be referred to as the secondary and tertiary supports, with eight modern plastic adhesive photo corners. The historic significance of these two paper supports, the pictorialist mount, and the stylistic intent of the photographer were investigated. Small samples were collected of each paper support layer and analyzed with polarized light microscopy. The literature consulted suggests that the Photo Secessionists used handmade papers to adhere to the values of the arts & crafts movement, which favored the work of the individual over impersonal industrial production. However, this examination found that the secondary and tertiary paper supports may be machine-made due to the presence of wood pulp in the paper furnish. Viewing White’s photographs in several collections helped to ascertain his style of pictorialist mount and the papers he chose, and demonstrated how various institutions have mounted his prints for display and storage. The mount papers were determined to be components of the original mount created by Clarence White for this platinum print.

The photograph and its two mount papers were treated as a group to structurally stabilize and unify all three layers for display and safe return to the client. A treatment approach was chosen to address surface dirt, reduce adhesive residue, mend punctures and tears, and fill losses in all layers. The benefits and risks of washing the secondary and tertiary papers were thoroughly considered. However, ultimately the decision was made not to wash the papers because they were still joined in their original orientation, which was determined to outweigh the potential aesthetic benefits of washing. The photograph was remounted onto the repaired mount papers to preserve its authenticity and inherent meaning.

"In 2021, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, in collaboration with the Studio Museum in Harlem, acquired the James Van Der Zee Archive, consisting of roughly 20,000 prints and 30,000 negatives, studio equipment, and ephemera. James Van Der Zee (1886 – 1983) was an African American artist best known for his portraits of Black New Yorkers and documentation of life during the Harlem Renaissance and for decades after. His popular studio was renowned for thoughtful compositions, skillful retouching, hand-coloring, and combination printing, all with the goal of depicting subjects in the best possible light. Negative retouching was a common service offered by photograph studios at the time and involved adding and/or subtracting density from the negative to improve the subject’s appearance. Van Der Zee’s photographs not only exhibit these techniques regularly but are charming in the way in which his sitters were enhanced and creatively embellished.

The cellulose acetate film negatives from the Archive are currently being digitized by Chicago Albumen Works for increased accessibility and research. Less than one-third of the negatives are deteriorated, resulting in a channeled negative that will not produce a satisfactory digital capture. In these cases, the negatives are separated from their plastic supports, according to a well-established procedure laid out in Doug Munson’s 1997 publication, The Pellicular Burlesque, then imaged, and the gelatin pellicle housed for return to The Met along with the digital files.

Because of the extensive graphite retouching and underlying retouching varnish observed on many Van Der Zee negatives, the Department of Photograph Conservation was concerned what impact the solvents and mechanical actions involved in the stripping process might have. A test was carried out on a negative from our study collection to assess these potential effects and get a sense of how the artist’s negatives in the Archive would fare. The exact varnishes that Van Der Zee’s studio used are not known, so historic commercial varnishes from the time were procured, and varnish recipes detailed in historical literature were prepared. Graphite retouching was then applied to these varnish layers, following historic instructions as closely as possible. Each test area was documented both overall and under magnification before and after the stripping treatment. Following these tests, similar documentation was carried out on a selection of Van Der Zee’s negatives, before and after stripping. The results of these two investigative approaches were quite different, leading to an analysis and comparison of the testing methods. This project will contribute novel findings about the relationship between these retouching materials and the stripping treatment, as well as reflect on the benefits and limitations of experimental studies such as this. This research has impact on the long-term preservation of the large archive of one of America’s significant Black photographers, James Van Der Zee, but may also inform future treatment of other negative collections."

"Over the past decades, the quality of cultural heritage preservation in Slovakia have seen significant improvements. We can confirm this process by looking at the increased number of professional employees in museums, galleries and archives, new investments in storage and exhibition areas, not only in the capital, but also in other regions. However, due to the long neglected conditions, there are many examples of strikingly damaged photographic heritage in both the public and private sectors. Despite numerous efforts to improve the condition, it is not possible to make the changes immediately and the long-term absence of photograph conservators in Slovakia has resulted in several deficits in the care of photographic material. Photographs on a paper support, especially gelatine silver prints, form a significant part of those collections and funds. In the case of framed gelatin silver prints, we often face a complex conservation issues, such as the problem of emulsion layer swelling and glass adhesion or other tricky challenges, that lead us to find the most appropriate conservation treatment.

Under the incorrect storage or display conditions, these photographs have tendency to adhere to glass of a frame or other nearby material, resulting in deterioration of their fragile image layer. The main cause of these undesirable changes is the presence of water and increased humidity, but the damage is also caused by their inherent structure. The two primary layers – the paper support and the gelatin emulsion – expand and contract relatively in response to changes in storage conditions. This can lead to swelling of the emulsion layer and increased adhesion to the adjacent surface – such as the glass in the frame. Removing these photographs from the glass causing further damage to the image layer present a major challenge for conservators and requires a degree of creativity needed in the decision-making process. How does the object condition influence the choice of treatment methods? And is it even possible to treat these photographs without causing any image loss?

The purpose of this presentation is to describe the challenges and strategies used in the conservation treatments of two objects adhered to a glass frame – a large format photographic board of photographic portraits from a museum collection and an abstract glossy silver gelatin print, Ecce Homo, from a private collection. We will present and discuss the most effective, thought somewhat risky, methods of removing of photographs stuck to glass – the use of direct humidification and mechanical separation, and when to use them or when not to use them. By sharing our insights and experiences from these case studies, we aim to answer many questions appearing. This issue is related to a PhD research project at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Bratislava focused on the cleaning, stabilisation and conservation of photographs on a paper support."