In my master’s thesis, I discussed the aspects of conservation of historical photographs from the 19th century and the 1st half of the 20th century. My conservation work focused on a salt print with preserved framing and two gelatin silver prints from the collection of the Museum of Warsaw.
Each of the photographs was a unique challenge and required an individual approach. Due to technological differences, each photo was subject to a unique conservation treatment sequence.
I limited the interference with the original matter to the minimum, without compromising the discernability of the authentic layers. I analysed the objects from a historical and iconographic perspective and compared them to similar photographs. The analyses and their findings added to the museum’s initial knowledge about the photographs.