Lens Media Lab Collection, Institute for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage, Yale University

Type Collection

Summary Description: The archive contains samples of photographic paper classified by date, manufacturer, brand, and manufacturer descriptions of key visual attributes, including texture, reflectance, base color, and paper thickness. These key attributes have been measured for each sample. Material enters the collection either in original manufacturer packaging or in manufacturer assembled sample books.

Extent

Geographic Distribution: Australia; Belgium; Czech Republic; France; Germany; Hungary; India; Italy; Japan; Russia; United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland; United States of America

Statement of Significance: The collection is probably the largest of largest of its kind in the world. With samples from 110 manufacturers, it contains all possible variants spanning over 100 years of manufacture. The collection is fully catalogued by manufacturer, brand, and date. There are measurements made for the key visual and physical properties of texture, reflectance, base color, and paper thickness. The collection is used for the purposes of authentication and for studies that support photographer expressive aims and spheres of influence. Beyond these uses, the collection preserves and makes accessible the material history of black and white paper, a fundamental medium of 20th century visual culture and now increasingly obsolete.

Type of users: Historians of art, industry, visual culture. Conservators, photographers, teachers, and students.

Keywords: Art History
Conservation
Conservation Science
Education/Didactic
History of technology
Library
Preventive conservation
Reference collection
Technical art history
Treatment

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