Welcome
We provide conservation treatment and consulting services to museums, galleries, collectors, historical societies, libraries, and individuals. Our services range from the treatment of individual fine art prints, to the care of large print and negative collections.
We also offer a range of educational opportunities and products, including workshops, both online and in-person, historic photographic sample sets, and XRF analysis and rentals.
New & Upcoming
Coming Soon: 19th Century Photographic Print Process ID chart
We will be releasing the first version of our new 19th Century Photographic Print Process ID chart in the near future. The link for a PDF version of the chart will go out via our newsletter as soon as we have finalized the design. You can sign-up here for the newsletter. Process ID charts dealing with other categories of photographic materials such as photomechanical, digital, and color will be released as they are ready.
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Vinegar Syndrome and Emulsion Stripping of Acetate Negatives
When photographic film with a cellulose acetate support begins to deteriorate we say it has vinegar syndrome because it forms acetic acid (among other deterioration byproducts) and smells like vinegar. The acetate support also shrinks and becomes brittle eventually pulling away from the gelatin image layer in patterns often called channeling. The plasticizer in the acetate support comes to the surface and forms small bubbles between the acetate support and the gelatin image layer. Find out how it can be fixed after the jump.
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Advanced Photo Conservation Course at Huntington Library
An advanced-level photograph conservation workshop will be offered for the first time for book and paper conservators October 21-24, 2013. It will be hosted by the conservation department at the Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens in San Marino, CA, and taught by Gawain Weaver and Jennifer Olsen
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Upcoming XRF Workshop
We will be offering a hands-on workshop at our studio on November 5-6: "Accurate Elemental Non-Destructive XRF" taught by Dr. Bruce Kaiser, Chief Scientist, Bruker Elemental, Handheld XRF. Please visit our new XRF page for more information and to apply for the workshop.
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Opening Reception and Magic Lantern Autochrome show
Please join us on Saturday, February 11th from 6-9pm at our new studio at 18 Greenfield Ave in San Anselmo.
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Carleton E. Watkins
Nevada Fall, 700 Ft, Yosemite Valley, CA
Mammoth Albumen Print
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Ektacolor Paper Backprint Chronology
This backprint chronology of Kodak color prints from 1942 to the present is part of a larger on-going research project into the understanding and technical analysis of chromogenic color photography. We are making this portion available now, as it can be very useful on its own for the dating of color prints. Visit the library to download.