P HO T O S H AR D S
Archival conservator Lauren Buttle pinning shards of a glassplate negative into a pincushion tray.
Preparing to Move Broken Glass-Plate Negatives
M
oving is hard work. Moving an entire museum collection and an archive is a lot of hard work. The preparation for our move to the new Collections and Research Building is underway, and we’re busy making sure that collection material is packed in a safe, stable way, so it can withstand handling and transport. Any material that is not stable enough to be moved is flagged for conservation. By Lauren Buttle Archival Conservator
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One common conservation flag involves collections of broken glass-plate photographs. Glass plates were used as a support for photographic slides and negatives well into the first half of the twentieth century, and there are many in the collections. Many have undergone treatment in the past couple of years, but these treatments are time-consuming—too time-consuming, given the quantity of glass plates and the staff available. This means some plates will need to be moved before they are treated. But how do you move sharp, fragile shards of glass in a manner that keeps both the photographs and those handling them safe, while also maintaining the links these plates have to their respective collections? The solution we’ve developed involves custom-made pincushion trays. The trays are made from corrugated plastic board and high-quality foam, then lined with a plastic fabric to create a smooth surface for the plates. The glass-plate shards are set into the tray, one piece at a time, beginning in one of the
