At 8:10 AM -0500 10/29/03, Barbara Magid wrote:
>Archivists tell me that laser printer and photo copier ink is
>archival, but of course they are talking about their use on archival
>quality copy paper rather than photo paper.

One of the problems here is the inborn timidity of archivists. They
have been burnt in the past by so-called permanent media. We think we
know everything about permanent/durable papers, and something new
comes along. Then there is the inherent impermanence of institutional
will.

In fact, a good halftone printed on good archival paper is today's
premier method of conserving an image forever, provided it is then
kept in a low-humidity, controlled temperature environment away from
UV radiation, and it is never subjected to flood, fire, vermin, or
windstorm. There are so many imponderables beyond mere acidity.

Glass plate negatives are technically the very best, I'm sure, but
they are fragile. I recall one photographer's studio collection that
was kept on the sill of his house in the basement. That was fine
storage until they treated the house for termites and every glass
plate got a coat of tar-like substance around its edges.  Another
photographer's collection was sold to a glazier and the images were
stripped to make window panes; photographic plates are excellent
smooth glass, very desirable for glazing.

Publication on permanent/durable paper would seem to be the ideal;
make enough copies and one might survive.

Right now, standards require well-washed black-and-white negatives on
Mylar, which has been available for less than fifty years. Acid-free
paper has been available for even shorter time.  Acid-free and
lignin-free papers are even newer.  The cold fact is that we don't
really know what constitutes archival media, but this is our best
guess. Check back in a few centuries.

But in terms of the real world, experience shows that administrative
indifference is a much more serious threat to the archaeological and
archival record.  What difference does it make if we make these
archival-quality records and carefully shelved collections if some
idiot administrator decides they are taking up too much space someday?






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