About LACMA

LACMA is located on Museum Row of Los Angeles, California and is the largest art museum in the western United States, holding works that span the history of art from ancient to modern and contemporary. The Conservation Department’s staff of 30 supports the museum’s commitment to collect, preserve, study, and share its vast collection. The Paper Conservation Lab where I interned for the summer was led by Janice Schopfer, Senior Paper Conservator. Elsa Thyss oversaw photograph conservation and was my main supervisor.  

Overall, I enjoyed my experience working within a large encyclopedic collection driven by new and exciting exhibitions. LACMA offered a range of project opportunities including the treatment of the Blackburn Collection, treatment and analysis of photographs for upcoming exhibitions, and research days to engage with the many institutions throughout Los Angeles County.  This internship was wonderful as I have long wanted to work at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Elsa and the other conservators and scientists throughout LACMA all helped to expand my understanding of the care of photographic materials. I am immensely grateful for the support the Samuel H. Kress Foundation provided to make this incredible summer possible.

About the Internship and Key Projects 

Eight week summer internship experience at LACMA in Los Angeles, CA. I was involved in various projects, including, but not limited to:

• Treatment of the Blackburn Collection, including replacing the cover glass on lantern slides and treating a variety of print materials
• Treatment of photographs in anticpation for exhibtions and loans including hinge removal, consolidating, humidification and flattening 
• Consultations with Curators for upcoming gallery rotations and photograph identification
• Survey collection items in off-site storage
• Colorimetry and Microfade Testing with Conservation Scientists
• Assist in deinstallation of Another World: The Transcendental Painting Group, 1938–1945
• Toured various conservation labs around Los Angeles

LACMA PAPER CONSERVATION LAB

BLACKBURN COLLECTION OF PHOTOGRAPHY

Description

LACMA acquired the Blackburn Collection assembled by Mark and Carolyn Blackburn in 2015. The Collection contains over 9,700 diverse Oceanic works dating from 1840 to 2016 and includes photographs, stereographs, albums, cartes de visite, lantern slides, ephemera, and even a surfboard. In 2018 LACMA was awarded an IMLS grant to highlight the historical collection and provide greater access to the collection through registration and collections care, digitization, and research. I was very excited to be able to continue to care for these materials as part of my internship this summer.

Lantern Slides

The 55 lantern slides are all neutral, gelatin silver developed-out positive images on glass with black paper masking tape and cover glasses, sealed overall with black paper tape. The photographs consist of a silver image, gelatin binder, and a glass support. The lantern slides are housed horizontally in seven brown paper “Eastman Lantern Slide Plates” boxes. Each box contains 7 to 8 lantern slides.

Each image material is masked with matte black paper. One lantern slide (TR.16873.ARC65.5.124) used a different masking tape which appears more glossy, is slightly textured, and has rounded corners framing the image. All of the slides have a cover glass and are bound in black binding tape. The width and color of the tape is consistent across all slides and appears to be applied in a continuous one-strip method. Additionally, each slide has a paper label adhered along the left edge of the cover glass over the binding tape. On the left of the label is a red circle, on the center is the description of the image in black ink, and on the right is the slide number, also in black ink.

There are red numerical inscriptions written on the top left corner of the binding tape on most slides. The number corresponds to the number written on the adhered paper labels.

The Blackburn Collection was acquired by LACMA in 2015 from Mark Blackburn, dealer and extensive collector of Polynesian Art. The collection contains over 9,700 photographs, albums, and ephemera across the Pacific Islands from the mid 19th to early 21st century. These lantern slides depict people, events, and landscapes across the Hawaiian islands from the late 1930s to 1940s. There is a typed paper description inside Box 5 that reads “Magic Lantern Slides - 136, about 3 ¼ x 3 ⅞, of the Islands in the late 1930s, probably by a military person. There are a couple of military portraits and military reviews; tourist sites; many of agriculture and horticultural interest and 8 at Parker Ranch, Kawaihae of cowboys working and loading cattle, volcanos and local genre scenes. The numbers indicate their should be 137 slides, and there is one duplicate. In their original carring case, velvet lined with wooden sections,”.  

Condition

Treatment

1. Removed paper label using 5% methylcellulose poultice over barrier layer of Hollytex in combination with mechanical action.
2. Reduced adhesive on verso of paper label using water on cotton swabs in combination with mechanical action.
3. Mechanically split the black binding tape using microspatulas and scalpels. The original cover glass was saved as is and rehoused in a separate paper envelope.
4. Removed the black binding tape on glass using a sharp blade inserted between the plate and the cover glass along the edges.
5. Cleaned the lantern slide  and new cover glass using 50:50 water-ethanol mixtures on cotton swabs and buffed with soft microfiber cloths.
6. Reassembled lantern slide package with a new borosilicate cover glass and new microchamber paper spacer, bound using two layers of P90 Filmoplast tape. The binding tape was applied in a one-strip method. The first layer was plain white P90 binding tape and the second layer was using a strip toned before application using Carbon Black Golden Acrylics diluted with water. The color was matched to the original binding tape.
7. Rehoused in a 4-flap enclosure made from folder stock.

Prints

In addition to working with the lantern slides in the Blackburn Collection, I also worked with a selection of 24 print materials. These included albumen, silver gelatin printed-out, and silver gelatin developed-out photographs of the Pacific Islands. I had the opportunity to closely examine each print, determine treatment priority lists, make treatment and housing recommendations, and preform remedial conservation treatments on six of the prints. Treatment included tear repair, tape removal, consolidation, filling, humidification, and flattening.

Description

Condition

Treatment Proposal

1. Surface cleaned the recto using soft brush, soft microfiber cloth, and ethanol applied with cotton swabs and
2. Surface cleaned verso using finely grated vinyl erasers and Staedtler Mars block erasers.
3. Humidified print in a humidity chamber and flattened under polyester webs, blotters, and weights for two weeks.
4. Consolidated lifting emulsion using 2% warm gelatin solution and consolidated paper fibers using 5% methylcellulose solution..
5. Mended tears using wheat starch paste and supported mends with light-weight Kozo paper adhered to verso with wheat starch paste and dried under hollytex, blotter, and weights.
6. Housed print in a Mylar L-sleeve with 2-ply mat board backing.

Description

Condition

Treatment Report

1. Surface cleaned recto of print using soft brush and finely grated vinyl erasers.
2. Surface cleaned verso of print using soft brush, finely grated vinyl erasers, and Staedtler Mars block erasers.
3. Removed tape carrier on verso using microspatula and reduced adhesive residues using toluene applied with cotton swabs working under fume hood. Continued to mechanically reduce adhesive residue using a scalpel.
4. Locally humidified flap on bottom right corner using water applied with cotton swabs. Added wheat starch paste in paper fibers to consolidate the fold and set under hollytex, blotters, and weight to dry.
5. Consolidated lifting emulsion using 2% warm gelatin solution and consolidated paper fibers using wheat starch paste.
6. Mended tears and reattached fragments using wheat starch paste applied with brush and supported mends with light-weight Kozo paper on verso adhered with wheat starch paste and set to dry under hollytex, blotter, and weights.
7. Housed print in a Mylar L-sleeve with 2-ply mat board backing.

OTHER PROJECTS

Exhibition and Loans

I had the opportunity to work with a small collection from the Vernon Collection of Photography that will be going on view in the Geffen Galleries at LACMA in 2025. The treatment of the five silver gelatin prints involved surface cleaning, hinge removal, edge consolidation, mold remediation, humidification, and flattening. It was very exciting to work with these prints by Walker Evans, Lewis Hine, and Gertude Kasebier.

Scientific Analysis

LACMA’s research facilities are state-of-the-art and I had Access to analytical equipment such as Colorimetry and Microfade Testing, which I was able to use alongside the Conservation Scientist Laura Maccarelli. Both of the works analyzed will soon be on exhibition and it was important for the conservator at LACMA to track an anticipate any changes that may occur to these photographs while on display.

Lab Tours

While most of this summer was focused on learning about photograph conservation in the museum setting, I was also able to meet with additional conservation professionals outside of LACMA on scheduled museum visits with Elsa. These opportunities allowed for both additional learning and networking opportunities. With Elsa and other members of the Paper Conservation Lab, we visited labs at the Academy Museum, UCLA Libraries, Getty Research Institute, and the private practice Los Angeles Art Conservation. Additionally, on my days off I very much took advantage of the city and visited the exhibitions at The Getty Villa, Autry Museum of the American West, Griffith Observatory, and The Huntington Library.