Housing Broken and Irregularly sized Glass Plate Negatives

Photographic materials on glass supports are prone to cracking, braking, and flaking emulsion. With large collections, treatment may not always be an option. For this reason, proper housing and implementation of preventive conservation methods are the only viable solution to prolong the longevity of the collections. While the National Archives’ recommendation of housing negatives individually in paper sleeves sounds straightforward, non-standard sizes, broken plates, and the need to maintain association with original envelope enclosures or groupings can complicate the process.

Also presented it at STASH Flash, AIC Annual Meeting in Chicago, 2017.