I’m excited to start an internship working with the Center for Railroad Photography & Art and the Lake Forest College Archives! I want to use this space to write up a bit about the Center for Railroad Photography & Art, the collection I’ll be working with, and the some initial thoughts and goals for my particular project.

About the Center

The Center for Railroad Photography & Art is a organization dedicated to the preservation and interpretation of railroad art as it intersects with American life. There website provides much greater detail about their mission: http://www.railphoto-art.org/about/. They are involved in publication – including the journal “Railroad Heritage” – and maintain an online web portal that serves as a digital collection of railroad photography.

About the Collection

I’ll be working directly with one of the Center’s collections – The Fred M. Springer Collection.  The Center for Railroad photography & Art has compiled a relatively complete biographic section – and he seems like a pretty interesting guy! I’m particularly fascinated by his interest in narrow gauge trains. I’m working with his collection of black and white negatives that are currently housed and curated by the Lake Forest College Archives.

The Project

Preservation

The collection is roughly 7,500 Cellulose Acetate Film Base negatives – most seem to be “Kodak Safety” negatives. Most of the negatives are 3.5 inches wide and 2.25 inches tall. These negatives are currently housed in sleeves and envelopes of various sizes and materials (paper, plastic, etc.) and I do not know if they are archival quality of not. These sleeves contain critical metadata for the collection. The collection seems in very good shape – no signs of deterioration at this point.

Options/Recommendations

• Invest in A-D strips to check for deterioration (
  http://www.hollingermetaledge.com/modules/store/index.html?dept=27&cat=846&cart=1421953411839179)
• Re-housing material in archival quality envelopes ($1,500) and boxes ($100) would be expensive – determine if there is need for this.

Organization

The physical negatives are currently arranged alphabetically by railroad (and possibly by train number following that) in what is presumed to be the Springer’s original organization. The collection is also physically divided into 6 boxes. Digital files are currently named used a locally devised scheme of Collection_Box#_Envelope# and seems to correspond closely to the existing physical arrangement.

Options/Recommendations

• Gather all digital files in one folder and confirm that digital file naming standards match physical arrangement.
• Add additional dividers within the boxes to reflect envelope numbering (current system makes discovery difficult).
• Consider writing the unique identifier directly on each envelope/sleeve.
• Standardize practice when envelopes contain multiple negatives (re-house in new envelopes/sleeves, change file naming structure?)

Metadata and Access

Implement metadata standards that relate to the intended purpose and audience of this collection. Existing metadata is written on the envelope and often includes: train, train number, location, date, and sometimes a short description.

Options/Recommendations

• Transcribe existing metadata to a spreadsheet – apply controlled vocabulary and standards – and add other descriptive and technical metadata (collection and collector information, original format, digital format, size, color)
• Create new descriptive metadata (classifications, titles, longer descriptions)

Questions for the Center

To organize my thoughts and get a better sense of the project I wanted to compile a list of questions for the Center for Railroad Photography & Art. Here is a quick list.

1. What is the intended purpose of digitizing this collection? Who is the intended audience? Where will this live online?
2. What level of metadata is required for this collection?
   1. Is associating digital files with unique identifiers sufficient for this collection?
   2. Should the unique identifiers be associated with descriptive metadata and – if so – what level of metadata is required?
3. What is the best way to store this collection?
   1. Preserve existing organization and structure – would it be okay to add additional marking and structure?
   2. Are the current storage systems of archival quality? Are there funds to invest in other storage systems?
4. Small Questions
   1. The orientation of some of the photos is wrong (i.e. letter/numbers are backwards) – is that something we should fix?
   2. Should I change basic orientation?
   3. One file per photo – extend file naming to be Collection_Box#_Envelope#_A if we continue using the current file naming convention or assign new unique identifier if it is replaced.

Background Information

I’m new to the area and wanted to begin building a body of knowledge and resources as it relates to this project. Here are some helpful resources I’ve found so far.

• Northeast Document Conservation Center (URL: https://www.nedcc.org/free-resources/preservation-leaflets/overview). This site provides a very helpful overview of photography preservation, especially in identifying film bases and in long term care. The information could b
• Guidelines for Care & Identification of Film-Base Photographic Materials (URL: http://cool.conservation-us.org/byauth/fischer/fischer1.html) Similar in scope to the earlier article but still a helpful guide to the preservation of negatives.
• National Archives (URL http://www.archives.gov/preservation/storage/negatives-transparencies.html and http://www.archives.gov/preservation/family-archives/storing-photos.html)
• Hollinger Supplies (URL: http://www.hollingermetaledge.com/modules/store/index.html?dept=15&cat=70&cart=1421953411839179) This seems like archival quality material that we could use to rehouse the negatives.