Preservation of Photographs and Photograph Collections

Education and training in the care of photographs leading to new professional networks in underserved regions

Project Details

Two people delicately perform treatment on an old photograph on a tabletop

About

Goal

The quantity and range of photograph collections in public and private repositories can pose challenges for those responsible for their care and management. This especially true when stewards of collections are unable to find local training or resources to support their efforts to preserve this heritage.

This project provided educational opportunities in two regions with significant photograph collections but with limited access to information and training--Central, Southern and Eastern Europe and the Middle East and North Africa.

Outcomes

  • The first workshop in the advanced topics series, Conservation Strategies of Humidity and Water-Damaged Photographic Materials, took place in partnership with the Croatian State Archives in Zagreb in July 2013, providing fifteen mid-career conservators with the theoretical and practical basis to learn about conservation needs and recovery plans.
  • The Identification and Conservation Strategies for Color and Digital Prints workshop, presented in partnership with the Hungarian National Museum and held at its facilities in July and August 2014, focused on similar themes as the preceding workshop along with an emphasis on various color and digital processes.
  • The Photographs and Their Environment: Decision-Making for Sustainability workshop took place in 2015 in Prague. It allowed seventeen mid-career conservators to understand the environmental vulnerabilities and needs of photographic materials current research.
  • The Digital Print: Contemporary Practice, Identification, and Preservation workshop ran from July 25 to 29, 2016, at the Getty Villa.
  • The Twentieth-Century Color Photographs: Contemporary Practice, Identification, and Preservation workshop ran from August 7 to 11, 2017, at the Getty Villa.

Background

In all regions of the world, photographs are an important part of the human record, capturing events and circumstances that range from the significant to the quotidian. However, the quantity and range of photograph collections in both public and private repositories often pose a challenge to the people responsible for caring for and managing them. This can be the case particularly where stewards of such collections are unable to find the training or resources to support their efforts to preserve this heritage.

For these reasons, the Getty Conservation Institute engaged in a series of educational activities that supported the enhancement of photograph preservation in two areas of the world with significant photograph collections but where access to information and training is still limited.

Partners

Supporters

MEPPI was supported in part by generous funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.