Connecting to Collections Care

Hello to all!

I'm finally starting to get my paper file archive scanned and I wondered what the hive mind thought about what to do when photographs are found in a file. Is is best to keep it with, keep a scanned copy with the file and house the photograph with the rest of the photo collection (what I'm leaning toward), or other ideas I haven't thought of? Any and all advice and suggestions welcome.

Thank you!

-Bonnie

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Bonnie Seymour
Registrar and Assistant Curator
The Parthenon
Nashville TN
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Hi Bonnie,

As the acting C2C Care community monitor, I'd like to thank you for reaching out to the community. I passed your query along to a colleague who just received her Archivist Certification from the ACA (congratulations A!!). She suggests you keep the photographs with the paper – it provides context, which is what most researchers want. If you separate the photo, it loses its context and researchers may not put them back together in their research. If it is just a couple of photos, I wouldn't worry too much about it. But, if you want to provide some housing for them, I recommend either acid free paper sandwich/taco (meaning put acid free paper around the photo(s)), Mylar sleeves, or un/buffered envelopes. Any of these will provide protection, at varying levels. Please note, this is for photographs only. If it is a negative, then I would separate into a different folder with the same name, plus "negatives," so they can be stored properly. For example, "Annual meeting, 1990" and "Annual meeting negatives, 1990."<u1:p></u1:p>

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Sharon Fickeissen
Connecting to Collections Care Monitor
Senior Library Conservation Technician
Hagley Museum & Library
Wilmington DE
sfickeissen@hagley.org
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This is perfect, thank you so much!

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Bonnie Seymour
Registrar and Assistant Curator
The Parthenon
Nashville TN
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Original Message:
Sent: 07-20-2023 15:42
From: Sharon Fickeissen
Subject: Question for the Archivists

Hi Bonnie,

As the acting C2C Care community monitor, I'd like to thank you for reaching out to the community. I passed your query along to a colleague who just received her Archivist Certification from the ACA (congratulations A!!). She suggests you keep the photographs with the paper – it provides context, which is what most researchers want. If you separate the photo, it loses its context and researchers may not put them back together in their research. If it is just a couple of photos, I wouldn't worry too much about it. But, if you want to provide some housing for them, I recommend either acid free paper sandwich/taco (meaning put acid free paper around the photo(s)), Mylar sleeves, or un/buffered envelopes. Any of these will provide protection, at varying levels. Please note, this is for photographs only. If it is a negative, then I would separate into a different folder with the same name, plus "negatives," so they can be stored properly. For example, "Annual meeting, 1990" and "Annual meeting negatives, 1990."

------------------------------
Sharon Fickeissen
Connecting to Collections Care Monitor
Senior Library Conservation Technician
Hagley Museum & Library
Wilmington DE
sfickeissen@hagley.org
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