We have over 6,000 negatives, mostly from a photography studio here from
1897 to 1951. We also have several storage boxes of prints by the same
photographers from several sources.

We keep the two separate for two primary reasons:

First, all of the negatives belonged to the photographer and can really
be considered the original work. The great majority are glass and need to
stored in special 4-fold folders to protect the glass and the
gelatine-silver layer attached to it. Once in the folders they are then
stored in clamshell boxes designed for the purpose. So far with have
between 1/2 and 1/3 so stored. The others are in the original boxes with
notes by the photographer as to the subject/person in the photo.

The prints have come from four sources primarily and are not necessarily
are from the same photographer. Prints should be stored flat with
interleafing tissue while the glass negatives stand on their edges
vertically.

We also have !,000 + gelative negatives from the 1930-40s. They can be
stored in a different manner than the glass negs. Ironically, many of
them are in worse shape. For 30-35 years they were stored in the basement
of our court house. Some were on the bottom layer, on the basement floor.
The glass negs on the bottom got cracked by the weight of the ones on
top. The gel negs soaked up the water, mildewed, and stuck together. More
of them are flaking and peeling also.

As far as the handling for research purposes, that is a valid reason for
the separation, but since we have so many, we are planning to scan the
negatives into PastPerfect so visitors can view them that way and not
handle either print nor negative.

Good luck,

Mary Kirby
Historic Upshur Museum
[log in to unmask]

On Wed, 16 Jul 2003 11:06:03 -0700 Leslie Karp <[log in to unmask]>
writes:
> If you have photographs in your collection, do you store the prints
> and
> the negatives together? Why or why not?
> Thanks,
> Leslie Karp
> Temecula Valley Museum
>
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