Volume 9, Number 4
Jul 1985

Photo Conservation in Spain

George Greenia, who is in the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures at William and Mary, has covered the binding and conservation news from Spain for years both for this Newsletter and for the Binders' Guild Newsletter. He has forwarded a photocopy and translation of a little article in Spanish from Información cultural, a bulletin put out by the Spanish government to announce cultural events in art, music, publications, sports, and all phases of Spanish cultural life, especially regional events and exhibits. The publishing agency's address is: Centro Nacional de Información Artística; Avenida de Juan Herrera, 2; Madrid - 28040; Spain.

The article says:

FIRST CONFERENCE ON PHOTOGRAPHIC CONSERVATION AND RESTORATION

The Minister of Culture, through the National Center on Artistic, Archaeological and Ethnographic Information, is organizing the First Conference on the conservation and restoration of photographs, to be held on the 26th, 27th and 28th of March.

It is expected that the conference will contribute to improving the legal protection of photos, highlighting the problems that plague them, such as copyright and rights of duplication, scanty knowledge about and diffusion of technology for conservation and restoration, standardization of cataloging procedures, lack of adequate information on individual professionals and institutions who devote themselves to this area, a survey of archives and collections in our country, a detailed description of their current and likely future condition, recognition of their value as fixed documents and as an artistic manifestation that has come into its own, showing us how things were in their period, just as other arts had done previously and are now captured in moving pictures.

As Julio Care Baroja has pointed out, "Every technique produces its own way of capturing reality, and idealizing it."

Those interested can attend as participants or simply as observers. In the former case they should send their paper along with the attached registration form before March 8, 1985. In the latter, it will be sufficient to send the registration form by March 20.

Reports can deal with the following topics:

• Legal protection for photographs.
• Photographs as art and as documentary evidence.
• Conservation, archives and restoration.
• Toward a master list of depositories of photographs.