Deteriorating Negatives and the End of My Internship

     As a continuation of my education in photographic negatives, I was recently given the opportunity to examine cellulose nitrate and cellulose acetate negatives that were already well into the deterioration process. These negatives had been removed from their original collections within the archive to a separate location in order to prevent their deterioration from affecting the other items within the collections. These negatives had also been packaged in archival boxes and then wrapped in a clear plastic bag in order to contain them from the other parts of the archive. The first sign of deterioration was readily apparent as soon as my supervisor and I began unwrapping the boxes. A very strong “vinegar” or acetic acid smell told us that at least some of the deteriorated negatives were cellulose acetate at an advanced level of deterioration. The first negatives I pulled from the box were easily identifiable as cellulose acetate because of their “vinegar” smell and, upon further investigation, had manufacturer’s markings along the edge identifying them as “Safety Film,” a common name for acetate-based photographic film. Individual negatives showed different stages of deterioration, with some heavily deteriorated and so covered in wrinkles or “bubbles” that the image was almost unrecognizable. Other negatives in the same stack showed only early stages of deterioration, with minor wrinkles distorting the image. An issue with some of the negatives was that they had been placed in plastic sleeves to protect them, but as a part of the deterioration process, the film had reacted to the type of plastic used in the sleeve, causing the negatives to stick to the sleeves.

     The second box we opened contained deteriorating cellulose nitrate negatives. Cellulose nitrate film first showed deterioration only along its edges, with the image on the film appearing cloudy. By comparing negatives in different stages of deterioration, I could observe the “cloudiness” as it moved further into the center of the film, and in some negatives, completely obscuring the image. I found that some heavily deteriorated negatives had become sticky, with whole stacks of negatives fused together. From these sets of negatives, I was able to observe the effects that the quality of the film could have upon its deterioration. Photographs of people in this box were made on higher quality film, meaning that those negatives showed minor deterioration. In comparison, images that were made for limited use, such as reproductions of books, were made on a low quality film, and showed significant deterioration.  The quality of the film had proven to be a major factor in the speed at which the film deteriorated, as some of the most deteriorated film was newer than film that showed only minimal effects. This was especially interesting to me as I had previously seen cellulose nitrate negatives in the CECOM collection that were one hundred years old, but showed no deterioration at all. Deteriorating negatives are a continuing problem amongst the collections, as negatives were frequently boxed amongst the paper negatives, often without any type of buffering to prevent the two types of materials from reacting to each other.

     As my time at the CECOM Historical Office comes to a close, I am amazed at how much I learned in such a short period of time. In just three short months, I learned more about photographs and negatives, the U.S. Army, and working for the Federal Government than I ever had before. I would like to thank my supervisors and my fellow intern for all that I have learned from them and all the help that they have given me throughout the summer.

Last days (as an intern) at the Holocaust museum

The last few weeks I spent interning at the Holocaust museum were some of the most beneficial days I had there this summer. At the beginning of August we went into Baltimore and visited the Fells Point historical society. We learned about the challenges that they face everyday as an institution who, quite literally, received most of their major collections on a single day. A few years back they had received a message that two members of a former predominant family in Maryland wanted to donate all of their family heirlooms which ended up being a collection that spanned over 200 years! The collection was massive and it was all in a single row home so just the process of moving was an incredible challenge. I got to see first hand the challenges that come with organizing a collection with a limited staff and budget, really makes a person appreciate the place they inter at!

I also worked heavily on the incoming registration of about 200 different files all with separate collections. I had to first make a physical folder for each file and then photocopy all of the correspondence that went along with it, this was not a hard task but an exceptional tedious one. Then after that I had to go into the online museum database called emu and I had to check and see which files had already been registered and had an accession number. If it did not have an accession number than I had to figure out what was missing from this collection that inhibited it from becoming officially registered and accession. For this process I needed to check and see if there was a problem with the Deed of Gift or the Copyright, even something as trivial as checking the description of the collection in emu for inaccuracies was enough to fail a collection for registration. If there were problems I had to enter them into a spreadsheet on Google docs and then email the corresponding curator or collections management officer who worked with that collection and kindly ask them to double check to see if there is a way we can fix the problems with these collections. If I was able to have the problems fixed then the file would go to accessioning and it would be assigned an accession number and I would check it off in the Google docs spreadsheet and fix the file in emu. After just spending a few weeks with this project it is clear that this is a full time job for someone to have.

My time interning at the Holocaust museum was wonderful. I earned a greater appreciation for the field of museum studies and I found out that I really enjoyed museum collections management work. So much so that I have decided to stay on as a volunteer and I am continuing to create and expand my networking circle so that I may someday have a career in collections management. I, most importantly, was treated wonderfully at the Holocaust museum and hold it in the highest regards with any place that I have ever worked at.

Matthew Wilson

Harnessing the Power of Social Media for Public History

Although many of us are familiar with the value of social media for private, individual use, it seems like there is still some uncertainty about the best use of social media in public history. My internship at the National Museum of American History’s New Media office this summer provided many opportunities to see what a powerful tool social media can be for both for history institutions and for public history professionals.

At the museum, new media (including both social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and Google+ as well as their blog and website) is viewed as an extension of the Smithsonian Institution’s mission: the increase and diffusion of knowledge. Having a dynamic, easy-to-navigate website is a no-brainer. A searchable database of collection objects and online versions of the exhibitions provide access to the museum’s content for those who may not be able to visit in person—or for those who are planning a trip, or have visited and want to learn more. The blog provides an opportunity to showcase the collections and explore other topics that may not be covered in the traditional exhibitions. NMAH’s social media extends this concept even further. By sharing historical artifacts, documents, and photographs and hyperlinking to additional information on relevant anniversaries and holidays, platforms like Twitter and Facebook are not simply fun distractions, but effective, wide-reaching, and engaging ways for the museum to further its educational mission. Digital platforms provide the opportunity to reach larger audiences, tell multiple stories about a single object (i.e., a “behind-the-scenes” view of an object’s conservation as well as the role it played in shaping American life), update content quickly, and perhaps most importantly, cultivate a sense of engagement.

Beyond providing a virtual facsimile of the exhibitions, social media fundamentally shifts the nature of the traditional museum-visitor relationship. Social media answers public historians’ call for shared—or sharing—authority. Of course the institution remains a sought-after keeper of historical knowledge, but the nature of the conversation on social media is just that: dialogical, not acting only as an expert lecturing to an entirely naïve, passive audience. The goal is not to speak to museum’s followers, but to listen to them as well.

As Katharine T. Corbett and Howard S. Miller argue in their 2006 article “A Shared Inquiry into Shared Inquiry,” public history is “always situational and frequently messy.” The same could be said about social media in museums. It seems to me that the most effective social media managers are the ones who solicit personal stories, encourage feedback, and respond (quickly and accurately) to questions. They seek to be timely and tailor content to their audience. They are aware that conversations about their institution are taking place online—and sometimes become involved in those discussions even though they may not be directed at them. They delve into topics that may be controversial, in order to tell a more complete history. Social media and public history share many of the tenets of shared inquiry as outlined by Corbett and Miller: this work is, at its core, reflective, reflexive, responsive, and collaborative.

I would like to share a few insights that I have gathered from my supervisor, workshops, and my own experiences this summer about best practices and applications of social media for the museum community. Because its form is clear (unlike Facebook’s complicated algorithms and payment structures) and its analytic capabilities are strong, I will focus on Twitter specifically.

For organizations

Serum therapy, medical miracle of the 1890s, is still used in today's outbreaks. Its history: http://t.co/AHJW9v0EOJ pic.twitter.com/XHJ5HhtGwH
— amhistorymuseum (@amhistorymuseum) August 6, 2014

• The purpose of social media is NOT only to broadcast your own content or promote your own events, but to engage with individuals and take part in conversations. Be aware of this two-way relationship. It takes more time to listen and respond than to only post your own pre-scheduled content, but that is truly the best use of social media.
• Before you sign up for a social media platform, assess your intended purpose and target audience. It may be wise to look into the demographic data compiled by the Pew Research Internet Project to see what age groups are using which platforms if you are looking to connect with, for example, a younger audience you’re your typical museum visitors.
• Become familiar with the basics of each platform, and assess how your planned content would perform on each. For example, if you plan to share links to other websites but barely any images, Instagram would not be an ideal choice. You should be able to clearly articulate how your social media presence will support your mission, so be strategic about what kind of content you will be sharing.
• To be a good digital citizen, your organization should update at least once a day on every social media account you’re a part of, YouTube and Flickr aside. It is generally not a good practice to start a Twitter account and then update it only sporadically or post every day but then suddenly stop for a week. Make sure you have the capacity to manage multiple accounts before you register for them.
• I think it’s best to begin with just one or two social media networks, rather than creating a presence on ever platform imaginable. Although you can post the same content on multiple platforms, you should only do this if your followers on each channel are different.
• Understand that social media can be quite a time commitment if used properly. Ensure you have enough staff (or volunteer) time to maintain a hearty, accurate, engaging, and responsive presence online.
• Build a social media editorial calendar that incorporates your ongoing and special programs, events, campaigns, historical anniversaries, etc.
• It’s best to have content of different scales: small, medium, and large. Daily updates may link to objects in your collections, “today in history” anniversaries, or other bits of information that are relatively simple and easy to digest. Medium-sized campaigns may include multiple posts about a single event (i.e., a tweetup about a new exhibition). The largest-scale social media use is usually reserved for very special occasions, such as the opening of a new building or a landmark anniversary of a historical event. I think it’s important not to overwhelm your followers, so be mindful of their varying interests when you have many posts about a single topic.
• Set measurable goals, then identify specific strategies and tactics for accomplishing these goals. An example of these three steps can be found in a Smithsonian-wide social media workshop I attended in July. The goal was to “become the definitive source on Smithsonian history.” The strategy was to “increase engagement with history of the Smithsonian content.” The tactic to accomplish this strategy was to “make SI-history content more findable and measurable.”
• Collect data frequently so you can establish benchmarks and evaluate your effectiveness. Simply listing the number of followers or likes/favorites you have on any given day is not very valuable information—but when placed in context, it can tell a more complete story. Track this information monthly and/or quarterly so you can identify how (and perhaps why) your social media presence or engagement has increased or decreased.
•  There are many tools out there that will help you with these statistics, including Twitter analytics (built into the platform), Twitter Archivist, TrueSocial Metrics, Tweetreach, Topsy, etc.
• Use both qualitative and quantitative information in your analytics. Try telling a digital story about an event by capturing followers’ comments and pictures in Storify, or use a word cloud to visualize what topics were being discussed.

For professionals

#twittersorians: anyone doing anything for Panama Canal's 100th? And what's the hashtag y'all are using? Gracis! #panamacanal100 #canal100
— Erin Blasco (@erinblasco) July 31, 2014

•  Twitter can be a very effective networking tool for public historians and museum professionals, as many in this field already use and enjoy this platform. You don’t have to formally introduce yourself to follow and interact with other public historians. It is often easier to approach an esteemed historian on Twitter rather than in person. Sometimes, the connections you make online lead to in-person (or “IRL” = in real life) meetings later.
•  Twitter is an easy way to participate in discussions within the public history community. Whether you would like to ask a quick question (my supervisor Erin asked, “anyone doing anything for Panama Canal's 100th?"), begin an in-depth conversation about a more complex topic (Are there too many house museums?), or discover, share or solicit/provide feedback about projects and programs, Twitter can be very useful.
• Although you may not see a need for hashtags in your personal social media, hashtags are the key to connecting with other professionals. Your posts become instantly searchable and linked to other related content. For museum professionals, hashtags like #ITweetMuseums, #musesocial, and #museumed are popular. Public historians may find #publichistory, #twitterstorians, and #altac to be useful.
• Twitter can enrich conference experiences. Whether you would like to meet fellow attendees in advance, share notes during a session (live-tweeting), arrange outings, or continue conversations after the conference ends, following the conference hashtag is an easy way to do this. You could also follow along with what’s happening at a conference from afar using the hashtag.
• To ensure that you are recognizable to fellow #twitterstorians at a conference, be sure you use your real name and that your profile picture is actually of you and not a historic image, or your pet/child.
• Many job postings, calls for papers, and other professional development opportunities can be found on Twitter. Following accounts such as the American Alliance of Museums (@AAMers), the National Council on Public History (@NCPH) and the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s job directory (@PreservationJob) is an easy way to keep tabs on what opportunities are available.
• Be yourself, not just your institution. Have a personality and share your own unique contributions to the Twittersphere.
• Whether or not you intend to use Twitter as a professional (i.e., listing your affiliation/employer in your profile) or only for personal use, be aware that social media has blurred those identities. It is virtually impossible to separate your personal and professional identities especially on a platform like Twitter, where it’s encouraged to discuss both aspects of your life. Even if your profile is set to private, be aware that anything you post is being broadcast around the world.

CECOM Historical Office Blog

I just wanted to encourage everyone to visit the CECOM Historical Office's blog. I just wrote a short piece for the blog about one of the photos that I have been working with that might be of interest. The CECOM blog also has all sorts of interesting historical images from the office's collections. Check it out when you get a chance!

Historic Photographs, Film, and Negatives

     In addition to my work with digitizing photographic prints at CECOM, I have been learning about photographic negatives and the special techniques required when working with these materials in an archive. The care and preservation of film-based photographic negatives can be challenging because the common types of film all behave differently from each other, even when kept in the same environment. Deterioration of photographic negatives is a serious concern as it can affect not just the negatives themselves, but other items within the archive as well.

     To properly care for film-based negatives, it is important to know the history of the film negative. In 1889, the first photographic film, a replacement for fragile glass-plate negatives, was developed by Eastman Kodak. These early negatives were made of cellulose nitrate, a substance that proved to be extremely flammable. Although a 1903 refinement of the film made the negatives sturdier and less flammable, nitrate-based films continued to be a major fire hazard throughout the first part of the 20^th century. In 1909, a major fire at a Pittsburgh film warehouse led to the development and implementation of regulations for the safe storage and handling of nitrate-based films, which remain in place today. Cellulose nitrate sheet film was in common use from 1889 until 1930, but nitrate-based films remained in use for rolled and motion picture film all the way until the 1950s, meaning that it is a common find in many archival collections.

     Safety film, which was developed as a replacement for cellulose nitrate film in 1923, solved the flammability issue by changing the film’s base to cellulose acetate, and in 1937 to cellulose diacetate. In 1947 diacetate was replaced with cellulose triacetate, which remains in use today, became the common base for safety films, improving issues of shrinkage, discoloration, and brittleness. The most stable film base, polyester (polyethylene terephthalate) was introduced in 1955. Although now considered the best film for permanent archiving, this film was never in wide use because of difficulties in its manufacturing and engineering.

     In order to house photographic negatives within an archive, it is necessary to identify the type of film used. This is most easily accomplished through a study of the negative and any background information about the photograph itself. Information about the subject, photographer, and date on which the photograph was taken can first be compared to the history of film-based negatives to determine which type of film would have been most common at the time. A visual examination of the film can reveal the manufacturer’s identification markings. Notches in the upper right hand corner of sheet film are used to identify the type of film. These notches and their meanings differ from company to company, so it is important to compare them to guides from the most common film manufacturers, such as Kodak, Agfa, and Ansco. Labels along the edge of sheet film and filmstrips are also useful in the identification of film type. Words such as “Safety” denote cellulose acetate, “Nitrate” denotes cellulose nitrate, and “Estar” or “Cronar” denote polyester. The use of edge markings to identify the type of film can be tricky, however, as negatives can be reprinted onto new film, meaning that a newer negative may say “Nitrate” on it because the original copy was printed on nitrate.

An example of a notch code guide from 1954, showing film from Ansco, DuPont, Eastman (Kodak), and Gevaert.

     If visual methods of identification are inconclusive, chemical and physical tests may be done to the negative in order to determine its make-up. These types of test should be used as a last resort, as they will destroy the negative, including the image on it. Destructive identification methods should only be completed by people whom are specially trained in the use of these tests, as they all use potentially dangerous substances such as trichloroethylene (a known carcinogen) or sulfuric acid.

     As I continue to work on my project at CECOM and continue to read more about the subject of archival preservation, I hope to learn more about how to properly care for different types of historic items. 

Works Cited:

Image. Code Notches for Sheet Films. 1954. U.S. Camera: November 1954. From: Photo.net Classic      Camera Forum. Accessed July 27, 2014. <http://photo.net/classic-cameras-forum/00S1f0>. 

Messier, Paul, "Preserving Your Collection of Film-Based Photographic Negatives," Conservators of      Fine Arts and Material Culture Rocky Mountain Conservation Center (1993). Accessed July 19,  

    2014. <www.cool.conservation-us.org/byauth/messier/negrmcc.html>.

U.S. National Park Service, Identification of Film-Based Photographic Material, by Karen L. Bennett      and Jessica S. Johnson, Conserve O Gram (Washington D.C., September 1999). 

Interning at the Holocaust Museum #2

The second month of my internship with the Holocaust Museum was more of an eye opening experience about what it is like to work at a museum in the collections management division. I finished up my first project which dealt with using the nine database to update the records and conditions of a pending collection. This month I started a new project where I had to take a collection, this one in particular had 114 three dimensional objects along with a manuscript collection, and I needed to enter all of the data from the condition report into the database and take sure all of the measurements matched up. Once I made sure all the measurements, condition reports, and people involved were properly entered into the database I then had to rehouse all of the objects into different boxes and bags that were better fit for preservation.  I also learned how to check and make sure if an object is ready for the accessioning process so that it can be assigned a number. I learned the rules and regulations when it comes to making a proper check on the deed of gift description and I learned how to properly identify if there is an issue with the copy right of a donation. If there was a problem I had to email someone who works as a curator and get the proper description or papers to complete the process, overall the entire accessioning process is very specific and requires a lot of work from a variety of people. If an object did pass and received an accession number I learned how to properly record and enter the number in the museum database. This is an exciting project because of all of the history involved and I find it exhilarating to learn how to properly manage and organize all of it. On a side note I also spent a day learning how to properly construct the boxes that the objects go to when they are shipped off to another museum for a loan or for when we return an object, it was fun and interesting to learn everything from the photo process for condition reports to actually putting a box together to ship the object.

While the amount of work and people involved for every part of the collections management process is certainly an eyeopener the most revealing aspect of museum and collections management life revealed itself to me when we visited the National Capital Radio and Television Museum in Bowie Maryland. This museum was founded by people who just loved to collect and restore old radio and television sets. While I did learn an extraordinary amount of information about the history of television and radio and its impact on our country the management of the museum and its means of collection management really showed me the contrasting nature of how museums all run differently. At the Radio and Television museum almost all of the staff were volunteers who took their own time to make the place run, they have one paid staff member on hand with a budget that is almost made up entirely of donations. Their collections division consisted of an offsite facility that was much smaller and less sophisticated than the one I have been interning at there was no climate controlled multi-floored environment but they still found ways to make their preservation methods work. This experience showed me just how different the collections management division can be at another institution, these men and women were able to make an incredibly place to work and properly preserve and manage their objects even though they had a lack of resources, it was truly astounding to see just how different this place was. It was also a fantastic place to visit and I highly recommended it to anyone remotely interested in Radio and Television.

Next moth will bring more challenges as I am beginning a new project on incoming collections which will encompass all of the skill I have learned so far while adding new ones. It is an exciting place to intern at and really has me interested in looking into a career in collections management.

Matthew Wilson