Conservation Matters
Can the First Photographs Last?
William Henry Fox Talbot made the first silver photographs on paper in 1835, and they deserve to be seen more widely - but is it safe for the Museums charged with their custody to show them? This is an informal account of how I came to undertake a research project in the science of photograph conservation.
Quantifying the Vulnerability of Photogenic Drawings
A technical exposition of the factors influencing the degradation of early silver images, especially Talbot's photogenic drawings, with a numerical assessment of the damage caused by their exposure to light, and other aspects of their conservation.
A Blueprint for Conserving Cyanotypes
The chemical vulnerability of cyanotypes is threefold: to light fading, alkaline hydrolysis, and aqueous peptization. The mechanisms of these degradative pathways are explored and experimentally quantified, and remedies are suggested for each.