Holtermann Collection Digitisation Project - Preservation

What to do with a broken plate

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 12:19:20 +1100

During the preservation and rehousing process of the Holtermann glass plate collection, the Collection Preservation team has occasionally come across a broken plate.

The broken plates are cleaned, and then rehoused in museum mount board sink mats. The sink mats hold the broken pieces safely and securely in place, but still allow viewing access. The sink mat and cover is then sandwiched and sealed together with an archival paper tape for storage. All materials used in this process including tapes and board pass the Photographic Activity Test (PAT) and will not adversely affect the glass plate negative.

Gulgong now!

Tue, 11 Aug 2009 12:29:30 +1100

Martin Polkinghorne of Collection Preservation and Storage recently travelled to Hill End, Mudgee and Gulgong for a short trip away and took a few happy snaps for fellow Holtermann team members. For months, the preservation Holtermann team have been rehousing and cleaning plates depicting the 19th century shopfronts of Gulgong and Hill End and we were struck by how well preserved the historic streets and shopfronts of Gulgong still are!

Holtermann's Hill End

Thu, 28 May 2009 12:28:59 +1100

The preservation and rehousing of over 3500 glass plate negatives in the Holtermann collection is now underway. Assistant conservators in the Collection Preservation and Storage branch have recently begun cleaning and rehousing the glass plate negatives in readiness for their imminent digitisation.

The negatives are currently housed in non archival glassine envelopes and metal boxes. The assistant conservators are cleaning the glass of each negative, and then rehousing them in four flap folders and specially constructed acid free board boxes. The new enclosures we are using have passed the photographic activity test (PAT). The PAT was developed by the Image Permanence Institute of the USA to test the quality of photographic storage materials and indicates whether a material is likely to damage photographs, negatives, slides, motion picture films, etc.

The assistant conservators are currently working on the quarter plate negatives of which there are 31 boxes with approximately 100 in each box! So far they have spotted the local schools of Hill End, a Chinese boarding house and shopfronts with one looking very much like the Gem saloon in Deadwood (an entertaining HBO series about a gold rush town)