Photo preservation seminar

It's seminar time again.  In keeping with IPI's mandate to provide
the most current information on timely preservation related topics
we have made some rather radical changes to the traditional program.
We are fortunate to have Dr. Franziska Frey working with us this
year and she will be providing the more technical lectures on
digitization.  Franziska Frey received her M.S. Degree in Geography
(Concentration Remote Sensing) from the University of Zurich,
Switzerland in 1988.  From 1989 to 1994 she was an assistant in the
Group of Photography at the Institute of Physical Chemistry at the
Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich.  She worked mainly on a
project on the digital reconstruction of faded color photographs.
In 1994 she received her Ph.D. in Natural Science ( Concentration
Imaging Science) from the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich.
She is now working on a grant as a postdoctoral-fellow at the Image
Permanence Institute at the Rochester Institute of Technology.  Dr.
Frey's research interests include image processing, electronic
photography and color photography.

Believe me.  This brief biography says nothing about her.  When I
met her, we talked for three or four hours about her work with
digital reconstruction.  She could talk about the organic chemistry
of dye fading, chemical kinetics, the art and artifactual history of
objects in old images that she digitized, the matrix mathematics
behind the algorithms, programing, hardware, color science and the
correlation between natural and accelerated aging on a variety of
dye based photographic material types. If you're wondering about the
history part, she wanted to be sure that the reconstructed color of
images of historic or artistic works (blankets, etc.) accurately
matched what the original object probably looked like at the time it
was photographed.

The reason that the program was changed this year was because we
realized that institutions *are* digitizing irregardless of whether
it is a good idea or not.  People need to understand the objects
(photographs) that they are digitizing (process ID, care and
display), how the object types will affect selection for and
mechanics of digitization, and finally understand the digital
objects themselves.

This is the press release from Feb. 17, 1995.

    RIT Seminar Demonstrates the Preservation of Photographs
    in a Digital World

    Rochester Institute of Technology's Technical and Education
    Center of the Graphic Arts and Imaging will present "Preserving
    Photographs in a Digital World" on August 19-25, 1995, in
    Rochester, N.Y., at the George Eastman House International
    Museum of Photography and Film.  This program is an updated
    version of the former "Preservation of Photographs" seminar
    sponsored by the T&E Center, RIT's Image Permanence Institute,
    and the George Eastman House International Museum of Photography
    and Film.

    Highlights of the new program include hands-on laboratory
    sessions teaching participants to identify various 19th- and
    20th-century photographic processes.  Using both visual and
    microscopic examination, participants will also learn to
    distinguish an albumen prints from a platinotype, and a
    Kodachrome from and Autochrome.  "Preserving Photographs in a
    Digital World" will be of special interest to curators,
    archivists, librarians, conservators, and others responsible for
    photographic collections.

    The five-day seminar will include topics such as:

    *   identification of 19th- and 20th-century image-forming
        processes

    *   storage and display of photo collections

    *   digital imaging for archival applications

    *   the role of digital imaging in collection management

    *   digital reconstruction of faded color images.

    The addition of digital topics for this year's seminar mirrors
    trends in the preservation industry. "The traditional and
    digital components of the seminar are complementary--today's
    collection managers can't afford to be uninformed in either
    area," said James Reilly, program co-chairman and director of
    RIT's Image Permanence Institute.

    Participants will receive an exclusive tour of the historic
    George Eastman House and have a unique opportunity to visit the
    archival storage area. During the week of the seminar, suppliers
    will exhibit state-of-the-art preservation and storage
    materials.

    The program fee for the five day seminar is $950.  For
    additional information or a free brochure, contact Val Johnson
    at 716-475-2736.  To register, call 1-800-724-2536 or send a fax
    to 716-475-7000.

Douglas Nishimura
Image Permanence Institute

                                  ***
                  Conservation DistList Instance 8:87
                  Distributed: Wednesday, May 3, 1995
                        Message Id: cdl-8-87-002
                                  ***