Dear Heather,

We had the same problem with a fonds involving negatives from the 1950s
and 1960s. Our photo conservator made prints of them and then we scanned
the prints. Why do you need the transparency or copy negative? Wouldn't
the print and scan suffice? 

Ellen Scheinberg
Director
Ontario Jewish Archives
Latner Centre for Jewish Knowledge and Learning
UJA Federation of Greater Toronto
416-635-2883 ext. 187
www.ontariojewisharchives.org

-----Original Message-----
From: A forum for discussion for the Archives Assoc. of Ontario
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Curator - IHM
Sent: Friday, November 24, 2006 10:36 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: transparencies vs. negatives

Good morning all,

My apologies for cross postings.  We have a quantity of acetate
negatives 
which we are looking to have conserved.  The negs. are suffering from 
vinegar syndrome and I am looking to have the images/subject preserved 
before the deterioration damages the emulsion layer.  Upon speaking with
the 
conservator we were given two options:  a new neg. could be made or a 
transparency could be made.  The process to make the new neg. is 
significantly more expensive than the cost for transparencies.
From a long-term accessibility, as well as an economic perspective,
which is 
the better option?  We can have more images preserved as transparencies
than 
as negs. and it is getting harder and harder to find someone able to
make 
prints from negs., yet negs. are currently more accessible than 
transparencies (we don't have a lot of digital imaging technology
available 
to us).  I would be interested in hearing how other institutions have
dealt 
with this problem.  What factors and information affected your decision
and 
what resources did you find particularly helpful in determining your
choice.

Thanks in advance to everyone who is able to shed some light on this
issue 
for me.

Heather Ryckman

Museums' Curator of Collections
Museums of Burlington
[log in to unmask]
905.634.4498 or 1.888.748.5386
905.332.9888 or 1.800.374.2099
www.museumsofburlington.com