Characteristic Common Damages to Glass Negatives within a Single Collection: A Search for Restoration Solutions

The photographic collection of the Shchusev State Museum of Architecture is considered, the formation of which began in the 1930s and continues to the present; the history of acquisition and use of photographic negative collections; problems related to storage; typical damages characteristic of negatives within a single collection; and the nature and causes of their occurrence. Using two collections as examples, damages associated with storage and production of negatives are described. Special attention is given to the methods applied to eliminate chemical and photographic damages, including silver mirroring and stains caused by sodium thiosulfate. The stages of dismounting negatives, chemical treatment, and transferring the emulsion layer onto a new support using methods developed by the All-Russian Scientific Research Institute of Documentation and Archival Science (VNIIDAD) are described in detail. The difficulties arising when working with a thin and partially degraded emulsion layer are shown. The results confirm the effectiveness of restoration measures aimed at recovering and preserving historically significant images. The selected and improved approach developed in the course of restoring a single collection has been successfully applied to a broader series of negatives.