A Preservation Plan for the Balch Collection of Photographic Prints and Archives

FAIN: PG-50627-09

Fairbanks Museum and Planetarium (St. Johnsbury, VT 05819-2248)
Isobel Patricia Swartz (Project Director: May 2008 to September 2010)

A preservation assessment of a photograph collection of the Vermont naturalist and photographer William E. Balch (1854-1919) that includes more than 600 glass-plate negatives and prints mounted in albums.

The Fairbanks Museum and Planetarium seeks $6,000 to support an assessment and preservation plan for a collection of works and archival materials of William Everard Balch. The Museum proposes to engage conservator Mary Jo Davis to conduct a condition assessment of these materials; produce a report and recommendations for their future housing, conservation, and exhibition; and demonstrate for Museum staff and volunteers re-housing standards for those photographic prints removed from exhibition frames for assessment. Consulting conservator Mary Jo Davis will examine the photographic works, negatives, and documents for signs of deterioration and assess their conservation treatment needs. Part of her assessment will include, for thorough inspection, temporarily removing from their frames those works that were on display for several years. A selection of these will be re-matted and returned to their original frames after inspection.