{HH} Hidden Heritage

{HH} discover the hidden history

of europe through old photography

Altamura 14-22 October 2012 www.hiddenheritage.eu

The conservation of photographic materials is central for managing an archive. Conservation work consists of: monitoring environmental and physical conditions and implementing precautionary and conservative activities to minimize the negative effects of external agents on the photographic materials.

PHOTO’S HISTORY TIMELINE [1839] Daguerreotype [1851] Ambrotype [1855] Albumen print [1856] Tintype [1874] Gelatin silver process (baryta-coated paper) [1884] Aristotype

1840

1850

1860

1870

1880

1890

1900

1910

Hidden Heritage Workshop is a project of

With the support of the

Associazione Culturale Link

LLP Gruntvig - Workshop of the European

Altamura (Ba) - Italy

Union

www.linkyouth.org This project has been funded with support from

www.hiddenheritage.eu

the European Commission. This publication HH team

reflects the views only of the author, and the

Birgit Atzl, Sam Carey, Michele Colonna, Carles Cunill,

Commission cannot be held responsible for

Lucia Creanza, Pierre de Bellevue, Michela Frontino,

any use which may be made of the information

Caterina Guerrieri, Sante Perrucci, Mino Vicenti

contained therein.

Local partners Archivio Biblioteca Museo Civico (ABMC) Altamura Centro Studi Torre di Nebbia - Altamura

Centro Studi Torre di Nebbia

ABMC

Archivio Biblioteca Museo Civico

1970 Gelatin silver process (resin-coated papers)

1930

1940

1950

1960

1970

1980

Contents

Physical cleaning [9]

Accession number [10]

Cataloguing form [11]

Digitalizing [13]

Storage [14]

1990

2000

1. PHYSICAL CLEANING The photographic material is very fragile and can be attacked by damaging agents.

We can classify them in three categories. # Biological agents Moulds, mushrooms and insects. ## Chemical agents Light and air pollution. ### Physical agents Flooding, weather events or various physical shocks. Furthermore, the photography can bo damaged by poor management.

For the physical agents you can protect the pictures through a cleaning process, however for biological and chemical damage, specific restorative work must be carried out.

Work tools # Cotton or latex gloves To avoid contact between greasy skin of hands and photographs. ## Velvety microfiber cloth To clean.

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2. ACCESSION NUMBER To make an Inventary you need to number the photo and place it in the archive.

Repository

Placing Letter and number of the box that contains the photo.

Every box will be named with a letter (A-Z) according to its size, follow an increasing order.

F ABMC A 0001 000012 Name of Repository

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Call number It’s the number that identifies the photo.

3. CATALOGUING FORM This phase consists of compiling the “Scheda F” (database), digitalizing the photo, and putting them in the neutral paper envelope (PH neutral).

So it’s possible to see the photos in digital format without the necessity of accessing the photo itself. This way it’s easier to access and consult the photo by author, topic, technical information, size, chronological period, …

Accession Number (Segnatura)

Physical informations

Call Number (Numero d’inventario) Repository (Fondo) Placing (Collocazione) Medium (Oggetto) Title (Titolo) Date created (Anno) Creator (Autore) Width (Lunghezza) Height (Altezza) Thickness (Spessore) 11

Format (Tecnica) Originality (Originalità) Color (Colore) Condition (Stato di conservazione) Notes of conservation (Nota di conservazione) Subject (Soggetto) Content information

Author’s Signature (Firma dell’autore) Stamp (Timbro) Inscription (Iscrizioni) Attachment (Allegato) Notes (Nota) Acquired value (Valore acquisto)

Economic information

Economic value (Valore economico) Compiler (Compilatore)

Form information

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Data Entry (Data inserimento)

4. DIGITALIZING To digitalize pictures you need of a scanner, flatbed or drum.

Generally a flatbed scanner of good quality is sufficent.

In professional sector (such as paper publishing), we often go to external services that use a drum scanner.

Size For archiviation use, you should digitalize the images in the same size (cm) of the original support.

Size for web To upload the images on websites you’ll need to consider the pixel size (px).

Resolution Refers to the quality of the image. Its indicates the density of the point in the image and it’s measured in dot per length: dot per inch= dpi.

Remember that during the acquisitions is necessary to scan the image to the resolution sufficient for the purpose.

# Monitor > 72 dpi > Low resolution # Print > 300 dpi > High resolution

Color The main color spaces used in digital acquisition images are RGB (monitor, projections and photographic print) and CMYK (industrial print).

# RGB > Red / Green / Blue Additive color system Color profile recommended Adobe RGB

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5. STORAGE To store the image files remember to use Accession number.

Any photograpic catalogue stores the same photo file in two different resolutions: high resolution for duplication or reprint; low resolution for web consultation or database preview.

How to work # Scan the photo RGB profile, 300 dpi resolution, Original dimension ## Save photo on your Hard Disk File name from Accession number: F_ABMC_A_0001_0000852.tif ### Edit the photo Open file in a image editor (Photoshop, Gimp, …), and use the command “save for web”.

Size for orizzontal photo > base 800 px Size for vertical photo > base 500 px File name: F_ABMC_A_0001_0000852.jpg The generated image will have automaticaly a resolution of 72 dpi. #### Folder Structure To avoid overwrite file pay attention to where you put your file.

Path High resolution > Dropbox/HH-catalogue/Group01/HR/ Path Low resolution > Dropbox/HH-catalogue/Group01/LR/

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graphic design michele colonna - printed by grafica & stampa, altamura