The Photographic Materials Group of the American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works is proud to announce advance sales of Platinum and Palladium Photographs: Technical History, Connoisseurship, and Preservation.

Edited by Constance McCabe, the book presents the results of a four-year inter-institutional, interdisciplinary research initiative led by the National Gallery of Art and contains contributions by 47 leading photograph conservators, scientists, and historians. 

This volume will help those who care for photograph collections gain a thorough appreciation of the technical and aesthetic characteristics of platinum and palladium prints and a scientific basis for their preservation. Topics, among many, that specifically address the permanence of platinum and palladium prints include: 
How platinum/palladium prints are made and their degradation; 
Analytical methods used to characterize and identify these and related photomechanical processes; 
The history and use of both artist-prepared and manufactured papers and their distinguishing characteristics; 
Historic chemical treatments to reduce staining, and an investigation of chelation treatments in use today; 
and Proper storage, display, and non-adhesive mounting methods. 

Not only does this volume advance our understanding of the history and character of platinum and palladium prints; it also validates and promotes a method of investigation that brings together professionals from various disciplines, each examining the subject with a unique perspective and area of expertise, informing one another for a richer and more complex understanding of the art and science of photography. 

Foreword, Malcolm Daniel, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston 

Learn more at www.conservation-us.org/platinum-palladium-book.

This webinar series, funded by The National Endowment for the Humanities, is free and open for all to attend. The first three webinars will discuss the various materials and technologies of photographic prints. The next two will teach a methodology and controlled vocabulary for process identification, as well as a demo of how to use Graphics Atlas. The last one will include an overview of collections care for prints and photographs including proper storage, handling and display methods, and guidelines for the storage environment. Watching the webinars as a series is encouraged but not required. Recordings of the webinars will be made available.

https://www.imagepermanenceinstitute.org/process-id-webinars

The Analog Sample Set Committee would like to, once again, thank each of you and the Photographic Materials Group of the AIC for the $5,000 in support of the creation of this unique commemoration and celebration of the analog photographic processes so dear to us all. In making this donation, the PMG is imparting an invaluable and lasting contribution to the future of our profession—a gift that will keep giving.

In the past year, we have more than matched PMG’s seminal investment with $80,000  in donations and grants from the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation, Samuel H. Kress Foundation, Photographic Arts Council of Los Angeles, Joe LaBarca and Pat Webber (from Pixel Preservation and Kodak Alaris respectively with an in-kind donation), Amon Carter Museum (in kind donation), The Better Image, University of Delaware Art Conservation Department, and the Chicago Albumen Works.

The PMG’s support has been instrumental in our fundraising success and we are very close to our goal of producing 17 analog processes for the set. However, we lack the final piece of the puzzle: the all–important dye transfer samples that will cost $60,000 to create. These will be some of the last of this process ever produced by Guy Stricherz and Irene Malli. They are pleased to work with us, but caution that their time is limited and they will cease printing when their dye lots are depleted. We cannot stop now. We need your help and good thinking.

Any suggestions from the membership on possible donors or ways to fund this important sample group will be most appreciated. Please contact any of the committee members listed below with your ideas and suggestions.  

Thank you all for your unwavering support and your commitment to our profession!

The Analog Sample Set Committee

Debbie Norris (dhnorris@udel.edu), Luisa Casella (Luisa.Casella@gmail.com), Nora Kennedy (nora.kennedy@metmuseum.org), Sarah Freeman (Sfreeman@getty.edu)