AIM Pilgrim Trust collections care – Petersfield Museum and Art Gallery

£5,000
Conserving Don Eades Photography negatives

The key aim of the project was to conserve over 100,000 negatives. After seeking professional advice on the best practice for conserving and storing cellulose acetate negatives, it was decided to proceed with 100% cotton envelopes made by Conservation by Design. The grant enabled us to purchase the correct conservation envelopes that would provide long-lasting protection for the negatives. These envelopes are stored in conservation boxes housed in the stores at Petersfield Museum and Art Gallery.

The previous curator undertook the application process and taking on the project was very straightforward, owing to the clear planning and organisation undertaken by the previous curator. Contact with Fiona Woolley, Grants Administrator at AIM was reassuring, and I was able to talk to her about the project and the support of AIM in general when she visited the museum.

The project has been successful in two areas. Firstly, the conservation of the negatives and their secure storage. Secondly, the project has been successful in building a committed and skilled team of volunteers and staff to work together over an extended period to catalogue, re-pack and store a significant collection of negatives. Two key factors to the project’s success are the detailed preliminary research undertaken by the previous curator, with advice from external conservation consultants and the meticulous planning, engagement, and training of a team of 20 volunteers. Their commitment to the project was unwavering and would not have been possible without their participation. They felt empowered and responsible for the success of the project.

The legacy of the project for Petersfield Museum and Art Gallery is numerous. The negatives are now stored securely, and their conservation and care are much improved. The cataloguing and partial digitisation of the images is just the beginning of a broader project to make the Don Eades Photography Archive searchable, connected to the museum’s other collections and relevant to our audience. Next steps include attaching keywords to each image to enable consistency in searching the archive; updating information about events and people in the photographs which have been given by groups and audiences, digitizing more of the collection, and using the collection to create displays within the museum.

Louise Weller, Head of Collections and Exhibitions

Pictured: Storing of Don Eades negatives at Petersfield Museum and Art Gallery