Care of Photographs (Level 2)
Participants will learn to differentiate the major black & white photographic processes, both prints and negatives – everything from daguerreotypes to gelatin developed-out photographs, from paper negatives to nitrate film. We will do this by reviewing the history of photography, understanding how photographs deteriorate, and examining lots of images.
Process identification will become the key to determining how best to preserve photographs. While discussing proper storage materials and the best environments, we’ll delineate the special needs of each process. Can they be exhibited safely? Are they prone to abrasion? Are special storage enclosures ever recommended? Which processes require freezer storage to survive? Participants will be encouraged to ask questions and to bring items for discussion.
Course Dates
Course Fee
Early Registration
Instructor
About the Instructor
Gary Albright has been consulting, treating, and teaching about photographs for over 40 years. For the past 15 years he has been an art conservator in private practice. Before that he was conservator at the George Eastman House, Rochester, NY and senior paper and photograph conservator at the Northeast Document Conservation Center, Andover, MA. During his career he has treated a diverse array of objects, including the Emancipation Proclamation, a Honus Wagner baseball card, Ansel Adams’ photographs, and working drafts of the Constitution of the United States. Since 2003, Albright has been the guest professor of photograph conservation at the State University at Buffalo. In 2017 he received the American Institute for Conservation’s Sheldon & Caroline Keck Award in recognition of a sustained record of excellence in the education and training of conservation professionals. Albright lives and works in Honeoye Falls, New York.
