Assessment Workshops - Lifetime of Colour Photographs in Mixed Archival Collections

[Annuca]

Have you ever wondered about loss of information in archives caused by material decay? Or about what makes an archival photograph fit-for-purpose? I am Ann Fenech, a PhD student at the UCL Centre for Sustainable Heritage looking at degradation of colour photographs. I will be exploring these questions as part of my PhD. 

One of the questions the research project ‘Lifetime of Colour Photographs in Mixed Archival Collections’ aims to tackle is the way material degradation is linked to information content in photographic images. In particular, the point where photographs are no longer ‘fit for purpose’ is of interest. To understand this better this question will be explored with various groups of stakeholders - curators and custodians to photographic collectors, scientists and the general public - in order to capture a variety of opinions.

The aim of the 1-hr workshops is to define the point at which changes in information content is no longer considered to be acceptable for photographs in archives. The workshops will start with a brief introduction to the project and the exercise. The assessment exercise will consist of a classification exercise of photographs at different stages of degradation. This will be followed by a brief discussion on any issues arising from the exercise. Following the workshops and data analysis, a report on the results of the workshop will be circulated to all participants.

Read more about the project: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/sustainableheritage/Fenech.html

To voice your opinion and explore the issues we invite you to attend a 1-hour long workshop as part of the research project ‘Lifetime of Colour Photographs in Mixed Archival Collections’. Kindly visit the workshop webpage for more information or register your interest.

Workshops are planned for the following days at the Heritage Science Laboratory (Gordon House), 29 Gordon Street, WC1H 0PP, London. 

Monday 4th April 2011 at 4pm

Monday 11th April 2011 at 4pm

Friday 15th April 2011 at 4pm

Thursday 5th May 2011 at 4pm

Tuesday 10th May 2011 at 5pm

Friday 13th May 2011 at 1pm

Friday 13th May 2011 at 4pm

If none of these dates are appropriate, please contact me as further workshops are planned for the future.

I look forward to meeting you at the workshops,

Ann Fenech – PhD Student

E-mail: [e-mail]

Phone No: 02076791973

Supervisors: Matija Strlič (UCL-CSH) and Nancy Bell (TNA)

UK AHRC/EPSRC Science and Heritage Programme project CDA 08/ 412

 

 

 

[Annuca]

Thanks for your comment Gael.

Unfortunately setting up a video/skype version will be a bit difficult, as the assessment exercise in the workshop involves assessing actual photographs which people need to be able to see clearly and closely. However, if you send me your e-mail, I can make sure to let you know of results which come out of the workshops!

Ann

[Gael Newton]

Oh how we need such workshops,Ann is there someway you could set up an international video/skype version. The National Gallery of Australia has colour prints a number of which have problems usually all the ones we paid a lot for ! and our experience suggests that a critical point is reached even after 20-30 years in dark storage after which colour shift is then rapid.  We are considering approaching the photographers for replacement prints or digital scans and permission to reprint. Gael