Pennsylvania State Archives Multiyear Freezer Negative Project
Written by Richard Saylor in the Hands-On History category and the Winter 2020 issue Topics in this article: Aero Service Corp., conservation, Pennsylvania Department of Highways, Pennsylvania State Archives, Philadelphia, photographs, Works Progress Administration (WPA)
Archivists Megan Rentschler and Megan Evans inspect a negative in preparation for conservation.
Photo, PHMC
The Pennsylvania State Archives is home to many photographic collections. Recently, a project was initiated to remove unstable nitrate and acetate negatives in the archives’ walk-in freezer to clear storage space and prepare for the future move to a new State Archives building, planned to open in 2022. The negatives have been stored for years in the freezer to slow down their deterioration and to protect employees and other collections from fire hazards and malodorous off-gassing fumes.
In January 2018 archivists began taking inventory of the frozen negatives and thawing a sampling of them to evaluate their general condition. By May 2019 the roughly 23,000 negatives in the freezer had been inventoried. A database was created that noted the size, condition and medium of each negative.
Megan Evans and Megan Rentschler were the archivists most actively involved with the project. While inventorying the negatives they had to wear respirator masks because of the off-gassing of the deteriorating film, which irritates the throat and has a bad odor.
The first set of 2,136 negatives chosen for conservation work were Aero Service Corp. photographs, ca. 1926–48. The collection consists of both acetate negatives, which were curling and exhibiting vinegar syndrome (deterioration that smells like vinegar), and nitrate negatives, which were shrinking, curling and yellowing, along with being highly flammable. This set was selected for immediate conservation because of its significant research value. The Aero Service Corp. began in 1919 in Philadelphia and was a pioneer and world leader in aerial photography and photogrammetry. The firm obtained lucrative government and private contracts, including those with the United States Geological Survey and the Tennessee Valley Authority, that involved some of the first aerial surveys of the country.
The archives contracted with the Chicago Albumen Works in Massachusetts to assist with the conservation work. They created high-resolution scans of the original negatives, made 4-by-5-inch duplicate negatives on archivally stable polyester film, and destroyed the original negatives in a legal and safe manner. With this part of the project completed, the archives is putting all digitized images from these collections on powerlibrary.org under “PA Photos and Docs.”
Photograph of Lehigh Portland Cement Co., Easton, from a conserved negative in the Aero Service Corp. collection.
Pennsylvania State Archives/MG-416
Rentschler said that this project was one of her favorite and most exciting assignments during her career at the archives. She enjoyed seeing the various scenic overlook images in the Department of Highways collection. Evans admired scenes taken by Works Progress Administration workers at archaeological digs and the Cornplanter Reservation.
Evans and Rentschler have helped to advise on setting priorities for which collections of negatives should be conserved next based on historical research value and condition. Additional funding will be needed to conserve the thousands of negatives remaining in the freezer. The archives’ goal is to have approximately 7,080 more negatives conserved in 2019–20.
Richard C. Saylor is an archivist for the Pennsylvania State Archives and author of the award-winning book Soldiers to Governors and numerous articles on military, political and sports history.
