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Preservation Responsibilities: Material Care and Materials Science for Paper-Based Research Collections

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 February 2011

Dianne Van Der Reyden
Dianne Van Der Reyden*
Affiliation:
Senior Paper Conservator, Conservation Analytical Laboratory, Museum Support Center, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC 20560
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Abstract

Recently many US Federal Cultural Agencies have reevaluated the preservation responsibilities required by any comprehensive program to preserve research collections. There appears to be consensus about core responsibilities with specific action steps and targeted goals, that can be achieved by addressing seven key responsibilities:

1. preservation administration;

2. reformatting/duplication;

3. environmental control (storage & exhibits, disaster & integrated pest management);

4. collections maintenance (handling & housing);

5. conservation treatment;

6. conservation research;

7. preservation education.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 352: Symposium – Materials Issues in Art and Archaeology IV , 1995 , 63
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1995

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References

Endnotes

1. There are many types of value in addition to informational and evidential (including intrinsic, artifactual, artistic, aesthetic, associational, monetary, administrative, etc.) which may be variously defined depending on relevance to a bureau's mission statement.Google Scholar
2. There are many types of, and definitions for, originals (such as master original, vintage original, archival original, etc.). For example, a printing-out photographic process may produce an original negative and multiple “original” contemporaneous photographic prints (i.e. vintage original negative and photographs). A collection may have these vintage originals (i.e. the original “master” negative and a original “master” photograph) or a later reprint or copy. Depending on circumstances, any of these three items, if they are the sole example in the collection, might also be called an “archival original,” meaning that they should be protected from access as much as possible. “Archival originals” should be duplicated to make a “preservation master” and a “duplication master.” Each “archival original” and “master” should be stored in the most appropriate manner technologically available. The “duplication master” is used to generate “user copies” for general access. There are other terms and other definitions, and standardization within an institution should be encouraged.Google Scholar
3. van der Reyden, D. “Case Studies in Photography Conservation Including a Survey of 15,000 Photographs,” The Imperfect Image: Photographs. Their Past, Present and Future, Conference Proceedings, Windemere, England, 1992, pp. 347–361.Google Scholar
4. ----. “Maximizing Minimum Resources for Paper-Based Archives, Library, and Research Collections, International Institute for Conservation - Preventive Practice, Theory and Research: Summaries of the Posters at the Ottawa Congress, 12-16 September, 1994, Ottawa, 1994. p. 32.Google Scholar