330
counterparts in other European countries and the USA.
The Photographic Society (precursor to the Royal
Photographic Society) was dominated by photographic
scientists who found it a vital forum for mutual exchange
of information and constructive criticism. Of the many
photographic issues discussed by this group and the
Linked Ring, the Société française de photographie
in Paris and Secessionist Movements was the issue of
conservation and preservation.
A brief inspection of nineteenth century scientifi c
work proves that many scientists were interested in
photography and made significant contributions in
conservation or other related fi elds as a means to solve
the problem of deterioration. It is unfortunate for the
present day researcher in these fi elds that few of the
actual photographs exist to serve as scientifi c records.
The fading of prints was one of the key problems of early
photography, with the Photographic Society of London
setting up a committee on the subject in 1855. Surpris-
ingly the committee came up with some highly pertinent
recommendations, suggesting the prints be thoroughly
washed with gold toning. Two French investigators,
Alphonse Davanne and Jules Girard, conducted detailed
and exhaustive scientifi c investigation of the process,
and their study, published the same year, emphasized
the importance of using fresh (sodium thiosulphate)
fi xer. Albumen prints however created new problems.
Their thicker coating was relatively impermeable, and
it proved diffi cult to completely wash out the chemicals.
One of the favorite methods used in the early years for
gold toning—the sel d’or (gold salt) method—mixed
an acidic gold solution with the fi xer, but often caused
the decomposition of some of the fi xer, which produced
sulphur that could not be washed out. This was a major
cause of print fading. A move to separate toning in
alkaline gold solutions (fi rst introduced by James Water-
house around 1855) before fi xing in fresh hypo produced
signifi cantly more stable prints. The kind of rapid fading
that had often been a problem with the earlier salt prints
and albumen prints largely became a thing of the past
as Alkali gold toners deposited more gold, helping to
protect the image. All nineteenth century albumen prints
show some evidence of yellowing, but in a few cases
it is relatively slight and only noticeable if the print is
compared to a white paper surface.
As photography entered an age of more sophisticated
and comprehensive knowledge about collections of
photographs, the need for specialists in both curators
and conservationists increased. Attention was paid to
the methodology for the isolation and evaluation of
problems with deterioration and specialists focused their
analyses and prioritization on determining the eventual
solutions, which were applied or adapted to them.
The issues concerned with the conservation and
preservation of nineteenth century photographs are
still not fully understood, and this remains an important
area of scientifi c research. In addition to ensuring the
long-term survival of the originals, the challenge of
digitising early photography so that it remains available
for study, are huge.
Photography had to wait almost a century and a half
before scientifi c studies on complex chemistry of early
materials, and the effect on them of environmental condi-
tions, had advanced to a level where the inter-relationship
of many diverse factors involved in image deterioration
where understood. In recent years, many important re-
search projects have identifi ed the very different chemi-
cal processes involved in apparently similar materials.
This has resulted in a much sounder understanding of
the effects of time and environmental impact on different
papers, fi lms, and plates. Only relatively recently have
conservators been able to establish and create optimum
storage conditions.
It was not until 1989, exactly 150 years after the
invention of the medium that, in addition to the many al-
bums that were titled “the world history” of photography,
excellent monographs emerged resulting from patient
research in often diffi cult circumstances. Remarkable
essays studied development, revealing little known or
concealed facts. The history of photographic representa-
tion, however, was a controversial fi eld that played an
important role in the scope of photographic records.
Today, conservationists see themselves confronted with
a shift regarding the conditions of traditional historical
research. Because photography captures a moment in
time, that moment will exist as an artifact of the time
it was taken. This image then functions as a tool for
referencing that time period thus shaping our under-
standing of that time period. Historians though, can
only access this history if the image exists and therein
is the fact that its history is only possible as a result of
future interest in the medium and the conservation and
preservation of the image. Walter Benjamin stated that
we should rethink photography and history altogether,
because what transforms an event into a historical event
is its technical reproducibility (the photographic record-
ing of it). The language of photography memorializes
history and at the same time expands the signifi cance
of photography. More than ever though, this history of
photography remains ambiguous.
To help establish a comprehensive history of pho-
tography, conservationists and preservationists address
the primary issues of: modes of decomposition of pho-
tographic materials; carriers, binders, image forming
materials, the effects of specifi c pollutants and moisture
in decomposition and biological attack; enclosures; ad-
vantage/disadvantages of various types of construction
materials, and selecting specifi c materials for specifi c
purpose such as cracked glass plates; storage; relative
humidity and temperature, freezing, acclimatization,