After about two months since beginning my major project at the O. Winston Link Museum, I’ve finally completed it. I’ve cataloged and conditioned over 2,400 original O. Winston Link negative photos on a digital database. I then prepared and packaged them in order to be placed into cold storage for longevity. I’ve seen thousands of pictures of trains and noticed patterns, successes, and his perceived failures (usually having to do with his attempts at perfecting lighting) among Link’s brilliant photography. The most challenging aspect of this project has been working with the various materials used for cold storage, and trying to find an efficient and effective way of packaging to maintain the correct humidity needed for the collection. I’ve certainly learned a lot of helpful measures for archival work though. The process of cataloging and conditioning a larger collection is daunting, but certainly satisfying. The seven boxes of negatives that are wrapped in their primary barrier film bag are pictured below.
My next minor task after I completed the negative collection was to find museums of a similar size and email their curators to inquire about how often they rotate exhibits. This provided a good outlet to get some experience researching other small museums and contacting curators for ideas and comparisons.
I also plan to assist in the archives further by helping organize some larger prints. The organization is needed to sort of free up some space in the archives since the museum has a lot of un-cataloged donations that pertain to Mr. Link. Below is an example of the prints that are currently in the archives.
Finally, I’m also planning on spending time over at the History Museum of Western Virginia across the tracks at Center in the Square to get some experience with the program, PastPerfect. This program is software intended for collection management so it’s extremely effective in organizing and maintaining archives, and it’s very helpful to have experience with the program if working in a historical archive. This museum also has some collections that are Link related, so I’m going to be working with those and hopefully getting valuable experience working with PastPerfect!