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Facilities/Storage Options
Humidity controlled cold storage
vaults
Many institutions with very large collections in the United
States have chosen to store their valuable photographic material in large scale
humidity controlled cold storage vaults. The advantage of having a humidity
controlled environment is that the material requires no special packaging,
which reduces costs in terms of materials and handling, especially where very
large collections are concerned.
There are a number of humidity controlled cold-stores used
by a variety of institutions in Australia (see Appendix 1). These may house valuable polyester or
acetate masters, among other materials. Because of the volatile acids released
by degrading cellulose acetate, many cold store managers have concerns about
accepting cellulose acetate, and particularly degraded cellulose acetate, into
their vaults. Although controlled results are not available, the ability of
acetic acid vapours to initiate and/or accelerate the deterioration of other
nearby materials is well known. However, whether this is likely to be a problem
if the materials are not in direct contact with each other, and the storage
area is well ventilated, is not known with any certainty.
Domestic frost-free freezers
According to McCormick-Goodhart,
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a careful economic assessment of the
extra material and labour costs associated with packaging methods will show
that it is cost-effective for small to medium size collections up to and
including those which would normally occupy a storage area of 100m2. With this
size of photographic collection, the material and labour costs associated with
packaging and reuse are more than offset by the lower operating cost of a
conventional freezer when compared to the operating cost of the custom
dehumidified vault design
(McCormick-Goodhart, 1999,
p.22). |
For small collections, Henry Wilhelm9 advises the
use of domestic frost-free freezers. However, domestic frost-free freezer units
usually maintain humidity levels between 50% - 70%, which are too high for
storage of cellulose acetate. The material therefore needs to be sealed to
protect it from the high humidity levels. A system similar to the CMI package
(section Enclosures ) may be
useful.
Domestic frost-free refrigerators
In his book The Permanence and Care of Colour
Photographs, Henry Wilhelm advocated the use of frost-free refrigerators
for the storage of photographic film. Since that time, there have been concerns
that the relative humidity inside a frost-free refrigerator is not suitable for
the gelatin emulsion. Therefore it is suggested that if using frost-free
refrigerators, the objects be enclosed in sealed enclosures with some form of
buffering material. Again, a system similar to the CMI package (section
Enclosures ) may be useful.
(9) Henry Wilhelm (1993) The
Permanence and Care of Colour Photographs: Traditional and Digital Colour
Prints, Colour Negatives, Slides, and Motion Pictures. Iowa: Preservation
Publishing Company
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