329
Talbot, letters by whom appeared in several issues,
and Hippolyte Bayard) or simply submitted improve-
ments and observations. Photography was reported
on in nearly fi fteen different issues in the second half
of 1839, and in about thirty in the fi rst half of 1840;
many of these papers, which described methodology
rather than theory, were taken up by other publica-
tions throughout the world. The Comptes rendus was
indeed the major scientifi c publication involved in the
initial development of photography, and a quasi-offi cial
channel for its announcement. Remarkably, a method
of picture-making that was hailed as a revolution-
ary and radically simple alternative to every known
craft of depiction was thus given a fairly abstract and
scientifi c defi nition, rather than a technical or visual
one (actual practice was not discussed in the Comptes
rendus, and there were no illustrations). Although pas-
sions surrounding the invention abated after 1840, the
topic of photographic technology remained prominent
in the Comptes rendus, with publications by Louis
Daguerre, Alfred Donné, Léon Foucault, Hippolyte
Fizeau, among others, on various processes of micro-
photography, astronomical photography, photographic
printing and reproduction. With regard to photography
on paper and glass, the French periodical advocated
Louis-Désiré Blanquart-Evrard’s process as opposed
to the English collodion process, until Arago’s death
in 1853. Later on in the century, the Comptes rendus
published important contributions on color photogra-
phy and permanent printing techniques.
François Brunet
See Also: Arago, François; Daguerre; Talbot,
William Henry Fox; Bayard, Hippolyte; Donné,
Alfred, Foucault, Jean Bernard Léon, Fizeau, Louis
Armand Hippolyte; and Blanquart-Evrard, Louis-
Désiré.
Further Reading
Daumas, Maurice, Arago 1786–1853, La jeunesse de la science
[Arago 1786–1853, The Youth of Science] revised edition by
Emmanuel Grison, Paris: Belin, 1987.
Mccauley, Anne, “François Arago and the Politics of the
French Invention of Photography” in Multiple Views, Logan
Grant Essays on Photography 1983– 89 , edited by Daniel P.
Younger, Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press,
1991, 43–69.
Royal Society of London, Catalogue of Scientifi c Papers, London:
Royal Society, 1867–1925 [available through http://www.
scholarly-societies.org/history/RSLC.html].
Taton René, “Arago et l’Académie des Sciences” [Arago and the
Academy of Sciences] in François Arago, Actes du colloque
national des 20, 21 et 22 octobre 1986 [François Arago,
Proceedings of the National Conference of 20–22 October
1986], Cahiers de l’Université de Perpignan no. 2, Perpignan:
Presses de l’Université de Perpignan, 1987, 23–46.
CONSERVATION AND PRESERVATION
The history of photography has become a well-estab-
lished and respectable scientifi c aspect of art history. It
is a highly productive fi eld that produces much scholarly
work on the lives and works of photographers as well
as the impact of photography on art and society. The
preservation of photographs has become a matter of
concern for societies that appreciate and continue to
enjoy photography. Over the past few decades, scien-
tifi c research has advanced considerably in its efforts to
understand the deterioration of early photographs and to
fi nd more effective methods of preserving them.
In the United States, the principles of archival pro-
cessing seem to have been applied at an early stage by
the majority of photographers. In Europe, and the rest
of the world, the situation has evolved more slowly,
perhaps by a lack of information and resources.
World wide however many conservationists such
as James Reilly in the United States and Bertrand
Lavédrine in Europe have incorporated their scientifi c
interest in photographic conservation, restoration, and
preservation. Important museums such as The Getty
Conservation Institute; The National Media Museum in
Bradford; the Centre de Recherches sur la Conservation
des Documents Graphiques (CRCDG) in Paris; the Im-
ages Permanence Institute (IPI); a part of the Rochester
Institute of Technology; The Harry Ransom Humanities
Research Center in the University of Texas at Austin,
Texas, USA all provide a foundation for the develop-
ment of new tools to address the causes of deterioration
of photographic materials. Their work also includes the
development of new treatment and preventive conserva-
tion strategies for these materials. Because of their work
in preservation, photographic collections with images
from the nineteenth century can be appreciated today,
serving as an integral part of our collective heritage
and memory.
Individual pioneers of conservation were Ian L. Moor
and Angela H. Moor from the Centre for Photographic
Conservation (London), Etsuo Fujii and Hideko Fujii
(Tokyo) and Roger Kockaerts (pH7 Center, Brussels).
The foundation pH7 was establsihed in the early 1980s
to educate European photographers and museum staff
on existing photographic conservation techniques. At
that time photo conservation, as seen by the majority
of the photographic community, was still in its infancy
although its principles referred to the fi ndings of the
scientifi c committees of the 1850s, organized by the
Photographic Society of London and the Société fran-
çaise de photographie in Paris.
Fortunately much of this pioneering work was
published in photographic journals such as the early
issues of the Photographic News, Photographic Jour-
nal, and the British Journal of Photography, and their