Not just the Paris Portraits: preserving Berenice Abbott's glass plate negatives

Abstract

This practical thesis project focuses on the preservation of the Paris Portraits series of negatives within the Berenice Abbott Archive at the Ryerson Image Centre. Comprised of 347 gelatin dry plate negatives, this series is unique in Abbott’s body of work and requires additional scholarly research. In order to promote intellectual and physical accessibility to Abbott’s plate negatives, I propose and execute three preservation techniques: rehousing, digitization, and item-level cataloguing. I also provide a brief biography of Abbott’s time in Paris in order to contextualize the collection and discuss the history and deterioration of glass plate negatives.

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