Saving Your Treasures: Photographs
Saving Your Treasures
Types of Objects
PHOTOGRAPHS
Photographs and negatives are composed of three different parts or layers: a support base, a binder, and image material. 
The support for a photograph or negative may be glass (glass plate negative), a plastic film (slide negative), metal (daguerreotype), paper (photo print), or a resin-coated paper (digital print). Some plastic negative bases are inherently unstable and will have a negative effect on the life of the image.
The binder layer or emulsion holds the final image material to the support and is most commonly gelatin, but may also be albumen, collodion, or another material.
The final part of a photograph is the image-producing material, often silver particles, color dyes, or pigment particles, suspended in the emulsion layer.
Photographs and negatives are generally cared for by paper conservators or those who have specialized in photographs and negatives alone. The videos below and handouts and websites on the right will guide you in the proper methods for preserving your items.
If you have any questions, ask a conservator.
Photographs
Negatives & Film
How to Care
for Your Photos
Environment:
Light
Environment: Relative Humidity & Temperature
Environment: Airborne & Gaseous Pollutants
Environment:
Mold
How to Hinge & Matte
a Work of Art
Housing Photographs
for Archives
Housing Negatives, Film, Books, Newspapers, Scrapbooks, & Sound Recording Media
Pigments
vs. Dyes
Plastics in
Museum Collections
Plastics:
Chemistry
Plastics:
History
Plastics:
Deterioration
TYPES OF OBJECTS
Types of Objects
PHOTOGRAPHS
Photographs and negatives are composed of three different parts or layers: a support base, a binder, and image material. The support for a photograph or negative may be glass (glass plate negative), a plastic film (slide negative), metal (daguerreotype), paper (photo print), or a resin-coated paper (digital print). Some plastic negative bases are inherently unstable and will have a negative effect on the life of the image.
The binder layer or emulsion holds the final image material to the support and is most commonly gelatin, but may also be albumen, collodion, or another material.
The final part of a photograph is the image-producing material, often silver particles, color dyes, or pigment particles, suspended in the emulsion layer.
Photographs and negatives are generally cared for by paper conservators or those who have specialized in photographs and negatives alone. The videos below and handouts and websites on the right will guide you in the proper methods for preserving your items.
If you have any questions, ask a conservator.
| Photographs | Negatives & Film | How to Care for Your Photos |
The Harvey Boston Studio| Environment: Light | Environment: Relative Humidity & Temperature | Environment: Airborne & Gaseous Pollutants | Environment: Mold |
| How to Hinge & Matte a Work of Art | Housing Photographs for Archives | Housing Negatives, Film, Books, Newspapers, Scrapbooks, & Sound Recording Media | Pigments vs. Dyes |
| Plastics in Museum Collections | Plastics: Chemistry |
| Plastics: History | Plastics: Deterioration |
Plastics:TYPES OF OBJECTS
