PMG-CC Statement of Purpose
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Photographic Materials Conservation Catalog
Statement of Purpose
The purpose of the Photographic Materials Conservation Catalog is to compile a catalog of conservation treatment procedures and information pertinent to the preservation and exhibition of photographic materials. Although the catalog will inventory techniques used by photographic conservators through the process of compiling outlines, the catalog is not intended to establish definitive procedures nor to provide step-by-step recipes for the untrained. Inclusion of information in the catalog does not constitute an endorsement or approval of the procedure described. The catalog is written by conservators for conservators, as an aid to decision making. Individual conservators are solely responsible for determining the safety, adequacy, and appropriateness of a treatment for a given project and must understand the possible effects of the treatment on the photographic material treated.
The ongoing process of creating and maintaining a photographic materials conservation catalog benefits the work of photographic conservators in several ways, not the least of which is the possibility of understanding colleagues' work more clearly and sharing knowledge to advance the expertise of the field as a whole. The process of compiling a catalog provides a forum for information exchange among practicing photograph conservators. At this time, when professional photograph conservation is still a young field, when there is a shortage of published information on actual conservation treatments, and when the behavior and degradation processes of photographic materials are still imperfectly understood, the need for this kind of information exchange is acutely necessary.
At the 1989 Kansas City Winter Meeting, the Photographic Materials Group nominated a catalog organizing committee to survey the membership about initiating a photographic materials conservation catalog similar in concept to the Paper Conservation Catalog (PCC). Committee members, Nora Kennedy, Sarah Wagner, and John McElhone, surveyed the membership to determine if 1) a catalog was desired, 2) if so, were the proposed topics and PCC format acceptable, and 3) would there be volunteers to compile and contribute to outlines. Survey results were presented at the AIC-PMG Meeting in Richmond in 1990. The membership endorsed the idea of starting a conservation catalog, with the understanding that a rigid production schedule could not be initiated due to the limited size of the membership and volunteer nature of the project. The first three topics for which there were interested compilers included Inpainting (Debbie Hess Norris, Kathy Gillis, and Alison Luxner, compilers), Exhibits (initiated by Douglas Severson, transferred to Stephanie Watkins, compiler), and Cased Objects (John McElhone, compiler).