Saving and processing threatened negatives in the Historical Museum of the National Museum

The main objective of the project is to save and process threatened negatives kept in the Historical Museum of the National Museum. Exceptionally valuable collections of negatives coming from a photoarchive of the former Ústředí umělecké lidové tvroby (Centre of Artistic Folk Production) and a photoarchive of the former Museum of the Workers' Movement will be transferred from their present place into the Central Depository Terezín II, where they will be further processed, i.e. conserved, restored, digitalised, registered, catalogued, and placed in special covers. Negatives treated in this way will eventually be deposited in special cooling depositories. Digital photographs made of the negatives, together with descriptive information, will be published through database systems of the National Museum.

Project name: Saving and processing threatened negatives in the Historical Museum of the National Museum
Duration: 2017–2021
Agency: IROP (Integrated Regional Operational Programme; Ministry of Regional Development)
NM’s investigator: Ing. Martina Ohlídalová Ph.D., Mgr. Kateřina Musílková

Anticipated results/outputs:
Construction changes of two cooling depositories and building a new acclimation chamber in the Central Depository Terezín II: these are crucial activities for the whole project. The construction changes of two existing depositories and building an acclimation chamber will enable staff to handle the negatives safely, without the risk of temperature fluctuation in the depositories, and also safe entry.
Establishing a conservation workplace in the Central Depository Terezín II, where collections of negatives could be physically saved and processed. Physical processing of the negatives, including their conservation and digitalisation. Digitalisation of negatives will be carried out as a necessary step, required for them to be subsequently catalogued and made available. Cleaned and digitalised negatives will be laid in special envelopes and boxes, then placed in cooling depositories with a stable temperature of 8 ± 2 °C and a relative humidity of 35 ± 3%.
Restoring damaged negatives. Digital registering, cataloguing, and making the negatives available to the public. All negatives which will undergo the above-described processes, will be – in cooperation with curators of individual collections – labelled, registered and interconnected with pictorial documentation. They will be made available mainly through the web portal eSbirky.cz and web application Archivní VadeMeCum.