It doesn't look good for chemical photography.  In recent years, one of
the major supply manufacturers went out of business, another was bought
by employees and converted to specialty and 'art' photography supplies.

Does it have to be a photographic negative?  Perhaps good microfilm
would serve.

Stephen Van Buren
University Archivist and Special Collections Librarian
BL241/Box 2115
North Campus Drive
Brookings, SD  57007
605-688-4906

-----Original Message-----
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Lynne
Sent: Wednesday, February 23, 2005 8:57 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: No Negative

  A resident who lived in our town in the late 1920's sent us some
original 
photos of his still-standing historic house here. He asked that they be 
returned after copying them. I scanned them at a high resolution and
saved 
them to a CD. In light of the ongoing debates about digitizing images
and 
ever-changing technology, however, I also took them to two photo shops
in 
town and asked that negatives be made of them -- so we always have
something 
in hand. I was startled when both places said they don't make negatives 
anymore and that they just scan the images too. They did note, though,
that 
if I brought the CD to them, they could print the images with whatever 
technology they have that produces longer-lasting images than those from
our 
ink-jet printer.
    Is this true everywhere? Are negatives now unavailable and useless?
We 
have many negatives in our collection already and I foresee having to
jump 
in and start digitizing those images. Is this true of slides, too?
    Thanks!
Lynne 

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