Mobilizing Materiality: The Role of Digitisation in the Preservation of and Access to Berenice Abbott’s Acetate Negatives

Abstract

This paper considers how digitisation can be mobilized by museums as a tool of both photographic preservation and access by placing the materiality of its objects at the fore. Using the digitisation workflow of the acetate negatives in the Berenice Abbott Archive at the Ryerson Image Centre this paper will address these concerns. First, this paper will describe the material aspects of Abbott’s acetate negatives, and the preservation issues in the collection. Second, it will describe the monitoring of vinegar syndrome present in the collection and the development of a digitisation workflow based on acetic acid off-gassing and the development of a priority sequence. Third, this paper will demonstrate how digitisation can be used to preserve and provide access to the object, its condition, and the image without sacrifice.