22 June. The objective of the four-month case study was to develop a methodology for an interdisciplinary approach to photograph collections conservation.

The professionals involved ranged from restorers to biologists, including an archivist, a photo cataloguer, and photographers specialized in digitization. It included staff from the CFLR (Centro di Fotoriproduzione, Legatoria e Restauro per gli Archivi di Stato), ICPL (Istituto Centrale per la Patologia del Libro) and free-lance professionals.

The methodology developed was applied and tested on over 400 photographic prints in the ICCROM Archive. It included the following phases:

• visual recognition,
• archival rearrangement and cataloguing,
• analysis of the state of conservation (including biological analysis),
• application of preventive measures,
• restoration,
• digitization.

Specific forms to record each phase systematically were developed, based on the needs and viewpoints of the different disciplines involved in the case study.

A poster illustrating the project was presented at the international conference 'Museums, libraries and archives online', organized in Rome by the European project MICHAEL (Multilingual Inventory of Cultural Heritage in Europe) in December 2006.

updated on: 26 June, 2007