Photographs, Negatives & Nitrate

Photographic collections require specialized care, ranging from the delicate handling of historical prints to the high-stakes management of volatile nitrate film. This resource center provides the essential standards for ensuring their long-term stability, covering proper storage micro-climates, chemical identification, and the use of archival-safe housing materials. By centralizing technical guides from the Library of Congress and the National Park Service alongside instructional webinars, this page offers a practical toolkit for preserving everything from modern color prints to hazardous early film bases.

Care and Handling of Photographs from the Library of Congress

• Handle photographs with clean hands or while wearing clean nitrile gloves. Consider wearing gloves when handling metal, glass, and plastic materials such as negatives, daguerreotypes and tintypes. Recognize that gloves can limit dexterity and become soiled.

• Avoid touching the image area of a photograph. Whenever possible handle the photograph by its edges or its housing materials. 

• Have a clean, dry, organized work area free of food and drink.

• Whenever possible, avoid marking photographs. If absolutely necessary, limit markings and write on the back and near the edge with a soft graphite pencil. It is preferable to mark the photograph’s housing materials.

• Do not use paper clips, rubber bands, or other mechanical fasteners to mark or organize prints.

• Do not use self-adhesive tape, sticky notes, glue, or other adhesives on photographs.

• Be cautious when removing dust from the surface of a photograph. Even soft brushes can scratch or otherwise damage photographs. Use a blower, such as an air bulb, (not canned air) to remove loose dust and debris.

• Use care and patience when moving collections, especially glass and heavy, large, or awkward works.

Management of Cellulose Nitrate Still Picture and Motion Picture Film from the Smithsonian Institution