Historic photographic collection

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Basic description Photographic negatives and prints dating from 1890-1940. Multiple source formats:
  • 35mm
  • Nitrate acetate
  • Prints (various types)
  • Albums

    Each format digitised by a separate supplier over the course of 18 months. In theory all the prints were made from a negative which was also digitised, but not necessarily.

    High-res digital images should conform to one of two specifications:
  • Master - TIFF, 48-bit colour, Adobe 1998, 1200ppi - unaltered from scanner
  • Post-processed - TIFF, 24-bit colour, Adobe 1998, 1200ppi - colour level adjusted

    Prints will have only post-processed files.
    All negatives will have master and post-processed files.

    Low-res access images will be created from the post-processed files: JPEG, 400px fixed width
Licensing Low-res versions will be open-access. High-res images will not be available publicly.
Institution London School of Economics
Collection expert Ed Fay
List of issues
  • Consistency through time - within each format, did the supplier apply processes consistently, conform to the specification? Is there variation in the outputs - contrast, colour levels, etc - is it possible to identify where these are the result of post-processing rather than inconsistency in the originals?
  • Consistency across suppliers - did all suppliers conform to the colour space, bit-depth, resolution, etc specifications
  • Metadata consistency - do all digital images contain accurate metadata in the file headers and are fields populated consistently?
  • Digitised negatives should come in two versions (master and post-processed) - are all post-processed files present? Is it possible to identify consistency of the post-processing (were they all subject to the same processes, do outputs conform to the intention of the post-processing - adjusted colour levels, crop to image edge)?
  • Finally, is it possible to identify which of the following cases apply to each image: print with a source negative and vice versa; negative without a corresponding print; print without a corresponding negative?
Issue  
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