Duplication of photographs

Brenda Parnes <parnesb<-a t->nyslgti< . >gen< . >ny< . >us> writes

>Can folks give me information about a vendor in the NYC area who can
>duplicate old family photographs that are in delicate condition?

A photographer or a lab may probably react somewhat confused when
asked to duplicate, lets say, a 19th century albumen print.
"Duplication" is a term usually used for an (almost) identical copy
of the original--photographic slides or negatives are duplicated,
i.e. the duplicate is of the same material and created by the same
process as the original. This may be difficult to achieve with old
photographs, although facsimiles probably could be made by somebody
experienced with old processes.

If you decide to have the images "reproduced", which means the image
information is transferred to another media (e.g. modern
photographic film or paper), any skilled photographer should be able
to do this. For example, when making bw-reproductions,
bleached/yellowed image information often can be brought back by a
strong blue filter in front of the lens.

If you decide to have the print reproduced on color film and printed
on color paper, keep in mind that still color photographs are less
archival than bw-photographs. You may well use them as a substitute
for the fragile original during an exhibit, but not for long term
storage or to replace an original. (Of the readily available
processes, only Ilfochrome prints or Ilfochrome Micrographic slides
show comparable stability.) And needless to say that there is s. th.
in an old photograph that cannot be duplicated or reproduced... ;-)

Klaus Pollmeier

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                  Conservation DistList Instance 10:87
                  Distributed: Tuesday, April 8, 1997
                       Message Id: cdl-10-87-005
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