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
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905.634.4498 or 1.888.748.5386
905.332.9888 or 1.800.374.2099
www.museumsofburlington.com