Hi Becca,
Are we talking about the type of slides that have an image between two
relatively thin pieces of glass, where the image itself is actually on one
of the pieces of glass and not simply sandwiched in between? They are
typically wrapped around the edges with a black paper tape, and often
labelled on one side. Hand touching and coloring are common.
If so, you do not need to worry about a scan or two. The surface should be
well protected from harm, and scanning such an image will not unduly damage
it in terms of light exposure. Your scanner light is bright, but the
duration is low, and you will not do any appreciable damage in those few
seconds. The scanner does not get hot, so that should also not be an issue.
The only really certain way to determine the emulsion type is to
disassemble them and test them, which should only be done by a conservator.
According to my info, you are most likely dealing with gelatin dry plate
images, which were common in the late 1800's. You are right however, that
there are other possible types.
I would suggest scanning them into a high resolution(1200DPI +) and
archiving them in .tiff format. The images will be large, but the quality
will allow you to do whatever you want with the images in the future,
including changing the format and shrinking them to an appropriate size.
Good luck.
Mark Janzen
Registrar/Collections Manager
Edwin A. Ulrich Museum of Art
Martin H. Bush Outdoor Sculpture Collection
Wichita State University
(316)978-5850
Santa Fe Trail
Center
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03/08/2006 03:08
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We have a wonderful collection (approximately 2300) Glass Magic Lantern
Slides that were taken by a local resident 'Comrade Smith' in the mid to
late 1800's. There are both black & white and color slides. We are
considering a project which would require scanning the slides with a
scanner that has the adapter you place on it and the slide is lit from the
back.
My concern is how this will effect the slides. I have gone through the
information we have on the slides and there is no information on the
process Smith used. I know that there is the Albumen process, and others
that used silver bromo-chloride or chloro-bromide silver gelatine
emulsions.
Does anyone know what effect scanning them could have? Also, is there any
tell-tell signs we can look for that would give us a hint to what process
he used?
Any help you give is greatly appreciated.
Becca Hiller
Museum Curator
Santa Fe Trail Center
R.R. 3 Box 137
Larned, KS 67550
(620) 285-2054
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