The document discusses the procedures used by the American Academy in Rome Photographic Archive to acquire historical photograph collections and make them accessible online. It describes the archive's process for evaluating potential donations, organizing the workflow to catalog and digitize collections, conserving photographic materials, and making the collections searchable through an online database while protecting copyrights. The archive aims to integrate analog and digital formats to properly preserve the photographic heritage.

1. AMERICAN ACADEMY IN ROME PHOTOGRAPHIC ARCHIVE Lavinia Ciuffa [email_address] design Maria Sole Fabri Procedures in the Photographic Archive: the acquisition of historical collections to making them accessible on the web Visual Resource Association 28 th Annual Conference Atlanta, March 16-21 March, 2010

2. AMERICAN ACADEMY IN ROME - PHOTOGRAPHIC ARCHIVE The Mc The McKim, Mead & White Building In the square, the location of the future Photographic Archive, 1913 The Photographic Archive housed in the Library, 1956-1993

5. Masson Collection Van Deman Collection Fototeca Unione Masson Collection Beato Collection Masson Collection Fellows’ Work Collection Vermeule Collection Parker Collection Berman Collection AMERICAN ACADEMY IN ROME - PHOTOGRAPHIC ARCHIVE

6. From the ’20 s through the ’70 s the Photo Archive has grown without a specific order ... prints, nitrates, glass plates ... were placed wherever in the Library AMERICAN ACADEMY IN ROME - PHOTOGRAPHIC ARCHIVE

7. AMERICAN ACADEMY IN ROME PHOTOGRAPHIC ARCHIVE Designer: Cinzia Abbate & Carlo Vigevano Architects Project manager: Cristina Puglisi (1999)

8. ACQUIRING PROCEDURE This is a preliminary investigation based on the information given in the donation proposal AMERICAN ACADEMY IN ROME - PHOTOGRAPHIC ARCHIVE

10. Organizing steps of workflow In-house Outsource Defining historical context Duplication Inventory IT Support Conservation expertise Digitization Cataloguing Sorting images to digitize Storing digital images Estimate of costs for material and labor involved Organizing staff (roles/implementation ) AMERICAN ACADEMY IN ROME - PHOTOGRAPHIC ARCHIVE

11. Once the donation has been accepted, an important phase of the procedure follows … … professional survey of the photographic materials AMERICAN ACADEMY IN ROME - PHOTOGRAPHIC ARCHIVE

12. Ordering conservation material (sleeves, boxes, folders…) Organizing phases of labor Cleaning, repairing, housing, labelling Storing material preserved Print preservers/paper folders: acid free, lignin-free, pH 8.0-8.5, passed P.A.T. Negative preservers/sleeves: polypropylene (PP), neutral pH, Melinex (polyester) AMERICAN ACADEMY IN ROME - PHOTOGRAPHIC ARCHIVE

13. Space will also be evaluated either for negatives in the climate controlled room and for positives in the consultation room Centro Berselli - www. centroberselli .it Alinari - www. alinarifondazione . it Folia - www. foliarestauro . it Archivio Segreto Vaticano - asv.vatican.va/it/lab/ foto graf.htm AMERICAN ACADEMY IN ROME - PHOTOGRAPHIC ARCHIVE

14. AMERICAN ACADEMY IN ROME - PHOTOGRAPHIC ARCHIVE www. reteurbs . org Cataloguing

17. http:// findingaids.idra.info /

19. Amphiteatrum Flavium, Rome, 2009 Marco Delogu photographer Amphiteatrum Flavium, Rome, 1970 Fototeca Unione A difference is made between Creative/Artistic and Non- creative/Documentary images AMERICAN ACADEMY IN ROME - PHOTOGRAPHIC ARCHIVE

20. Archives as Places of Memory Only the integration between the analogue format and the digital format can guarantee the correct conservation of the photographic heritage The Kunsthistorisches Institute in Florenz has published a document with the Recommendations for the Preservation of Analogue Photographs: http://www. khi . fi . it/pdf/florence_declaration_en . pdf AMERICAN ACADEMY IN ROME - PHOTOGRAPHIC ARCHIVE

21. Photographic Archive Staff Alessandra Capodiferro, Curator Lavinia Ciuffa, Assistant Curator Emiliano Di Carlo, Archaeologist - Cataloguer Giulia Ciccarello, Archaeologist - Cataloguer Maria Sole Fabri, Art Historian - Conservator Antonio Palladino and Paola Tirelli, Administration American Academy in Rome Photographic Archive Via Angelo Masina 5 Rome, Italy www.aarome.org [email_address]