Photograph storage

    The State Library of New South Wales has a photographic collection
    of almost one million items. The collection includes many
    photographic prints, lantern slides, 35mm slides and many albums of
    photographs, as well as other forms of photographic items pre 1800
    (principally daguerreotypes, ambrotypes and tintypes). The
    collection also contains a large number of negatives.

    We are in the process of reviewing the storage box options for this
    collection. Currently, the paper-based boxes are our preferred
    option. However, we import them, they are expensive, the collection
    is growing and the budgets are shrink shrinking. Polypropylene
    boxes, on the other hand, are made in Australia and they are
    cheaper. But, are they suitable for the storage of photographic
    items? I am very interested in learning:

        *   any opinions being offered on the subject;

        *   what type of boxes others are using for the storage of
            photographic collections;

        *   whether anyone has done any comparative analysis of
            paper-based and polypropylene storage systems, to look at
            the long-term interaction between the storage material and
            the stored product.

    Thank you for any information you may be able to supply. Please send
    to me c/o ahowell [at] nswsl__slnsw__gov__au

    Heather Mansell
    Program Conservator
    State Library of New South Wales

Alan Howell
State Library of NSW
Macquarie Street, Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia
+61 2 230 1481
Fax: +61 2 233 1397

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                   Conservation DistList Instance 8:4
                   Distributed: Sunday, June 26, 1994
                        Message Id: cdl-8-4-007
                                  ***