The Library's collection of 20th Century articles has a strong focus on preservation. The earliest such article dates from 1978 and is contributed by James Reilly. Entitled The Manufacture and Use of Albumen Paper, Reilly presents a brief historical account of the process while laying some fundamental groundwork for materials-based preservation research. This thread continues through many of Reilly's other articles and is worked into more recent articles contributed by conservators and conservation scientists.
The Library holds many articles from the field of food science that shed light on the fundamental chemical and mechanical properties of albumen. In addition, there are several articles on the mechanical properties of gelatin, as its behavior is has been more thoroughly characterized in the 20th Century (as compared to albumen) and since there are distinct parallels between the properties of gelatin photographs and albumen photographs.