Glass Plate Negative Preservation Project
Donation protected
UPDATE February 1, 2024 : After the wonderful outpouring of interest and requests to support the work that has been done to save this collection, I have decided to reopen the fundraiser. To those who have already donated to this campaign, thank you so much for your early on support. To those wanting to donate, I appreciate your generosity and contribution. With all that is happening in our world today, I have such gratitude for your gift and acknowledgement of the meticulous work, the amount of time and costs that went into and are still going into preserving this collection. There is still more to do to ensure this collection is shared to it's fullness. I am currently looking to have high quality prints made for an exhibit, and maybe even a book in the future.
If you have a collection you want to donate, please feel free to contact me directly. Thanks again, Terri
Please consider subscribing to my YouTube channel. I am working on a series of tutorials and other content about the collection, preservation and some alternative processes.
https://www.youtube.com/@terricappucci
HISTORICAL IMAGES UNEARTHED - Most images are from Western Massachusetts and several boxes are from Montague, Bernardston, Northfield and Buckland. I can only imagine what treasures are uncovered. The project is titled "Somebody Photographed This".
Hello Everyone,
My name is Terri Cappucci and I am a photographic artist with nearly 30 years of experience as a photographer, an artist and a photo preservationist. Do you remember the story about Vivian Maier? This feels similar, but the images of the project I am working on, are at least 100 years older. I was blown away when I was recently given a 4000 glass plate negative collection full of rich history and striking images. This particular collection is dated around the 1860s to 1930s, from what I have seen so far. They had been sitting in boxes and each inside deteriorating envelopes. I have endeavored on a journey of resurrecting history and art. After several suggestions to set up a campaign for financial support of this project, I have decided to give it a try. This is my first fundraiser, so let's see how this goes. I have a goal set, but it is just for the bare minimum to keep me moving forward. Anything above that will make this a much smoother process and be even more appreciated.
Some of you may not know what a glass plate negative is, so let me explain. Remember using film? The film held the image on the emulsion, but you couldn't see it properly unless you had a print made at a lab or in the darkroom. Well, this is very similar. This process started back in the mid-1800s when the emulsion was actually on glass rather than film. So to see the images on there, they need to be exposed to a different surface. This can be done in a darkroom as well, but technology has made it easier for us to see the image using some digitizing equipment and software. I sure hope that was simple and not too wordy.
I have already spent many, many hours on this project and it is very exciting every single time I pull a glass plate from an old envelope. I have funded this project on my own so far, but I have come across some constraints. The main one is the cost of the archival storage supplies that are necessary to preserve these images for future generations. All the work that I will do is the same practice used by the Library of Congress. I meticulously clean these plates while protecting the emulsion, as my main priority. After properly digitizing a glass plate, it must be placed in a 4-flap archival envelope, numbered and stored in archival storage boxes, made to protect them from chemical deterioration or physical damage. Then there is the work to ad information, keywords and any details that are known about each plate so that it will always remain as part of the metadata of that specific image, once it is digitized. The cost for the archival storage, updated equipment, software fees, database backup and digital storage drives are going to be nearly 10,000 dollars and I could use your help funding this part of this expense. I am donating my time, studio, skill and knowledge. For this support, I thank you so much.
The excitement about this project will be the results of some amazing photographs that have been uncovered from a time that has well surpassed us. Resurrecting the images for this project will serve as rich historical documentation. Another element to these images is a strong artistic element. From the technical attributes and the composition, there is a story being told by a photographer before his/her time.
Along with your support, I am also making a significant contribution to my time and use of my equipment. For example; to process one good-condition glass plate, it takes me approximately 30 minutes from beginning to end. When they are needing more attention from peeling emulsions to cracked glass, that will be a more intensified conservation project for down the road.
My hope is to complete this project and find a way to share this work with the public via an exhibition, possibly in the form of a book and eventually to be housed in the museum. This is an exciting discovery and very important to preserve and archive. I will publicly thank each person who donates through this campaign when it is completed.
Your support is a contribution to unearthing a treasure trove of history in photographs and I am so excited to be able to move forward with this project.
All proceeds from this fundraiser will go toward the project needs to see it through to completion. Feel free to read more about this project below.
**** DONORS. If you would like to receive a gift at the end of this campaign, please, please send me your mailing address to S O M E B O D Y P T at comcast dot NET with the word "DONOR" in the subject line.
I am easily accessible via my facebook link below or through my website if you have any questions.
Learn more about me and this project on my website:
Thank you for taking the time to read about this exciting campaign. Terri
Organizer
Terri Cappucci
Organizer
Turners Falls, MA