Photographic Preservation Lecture at Maryland State Archives

Photographs have, in the last 40 years, become recognized as a historical source material in their own right, and a preservation problem of great complexity. Every archive, manuscript repository, library and family historian has them, often in great numbers. The issues of media identification, arrangement and description, preservation, and access can seem daunting.  Fortunately, much research has been done on these topics since the pioneering work.  While much remains to be learned, many practical approaches to image collections have been formulated.

Come hear Mike McCormick speak about the fundamentals of photographic preservation on Saturday October 20, 2012 at 10 AM at the Maryland State Archives. Admission is free, but donations to the Friends of the Maryland State Archives are welcome. Seating is limited so please reserve your attendance by contacting Dan Ramirez at 410-260-6411 or via email at dan.ramirez@maryland.gov. The event will take place at the Maryland State Archives 350 Rowe Blvd. Annapolis MD 21401.  

This workshop is not intended to be the definitive source, but, rather, a distillation of those manuals and techniques that McCormick has found helpful in his years as a photographic archivist, both at the Western Reserve Historical Society of Cleveland, Ohio, and in private practice.  Effective preservation is possible, even with limited resources. Much of the general theory of archives and manuscripts is readily adaptable to photos.  Few of the esoteric treatments are recommended or even useful.  Perhaps the most important information that this workshop can impart is the simple assertion that, despite the many subtleties of this record format, a few basic procedures will suffice to greatly extend the life of the image.

Michael G. McCormick has been Director of Reference Services at the Maryland State Archives since January, 2004.  He oversees the activities of twelve full and part-time employees, who manage the Archives’ Searchroom and research requests received through mail and email.  Prior to that McCormick was Head of Manuscripts at the Western Reserve Historical Society in Cleveland, Ohio, from August, 1995 to December, 2004, where he supervised ten archivists in soliciting, accepting, arranging and describing historical records and manuscripts.  During this period he also managed the implementation of the historical society’s integrated computer collections management system, holding records of the Society’s archival, library and museum collections.  From January, 1986 to his promotion McCormick served as the Society’s photographic archivist, managing the photographic collections, operating the library’s photographic program and darkroom, and overseeing the microfilm laboratory.  He began working at the Society as a preservation technician in the United States Newspaper Project pilot program from April, 1983 to December, 1985.

McCormick holds the A.B. in History from the University of Michigan, awarded in 1974, with additional graduate study at the Ann Arbor and Dearborn campuses.  He is an active member of the Society of American Archivists (SAA), the National Association of Government Archivists and Records Administrators (NAGARA), the Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference (MARAC), the Midwest Archives Conference (MAC), the Society of Ohio Archivists (SOA), and the Cleveland Archives Roundtable.  He has served on numerous conference program and local arrangement committees, most notably for the MAC-MARAC joint meeting of 2000 in Cleveland and the Spring, 2006 MARAC meeting in Baltimore.  He has spoken numerous times before SAA, MAC and SOA conferences.  He has also presented papers on issues of cataloging and access before the American Library Association and the Michigan Library Consortium.  He has published articles in the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History, The Ohio Archivist, and Views: The Newsletter of the Visual Materials Section of the Society of American Archivists.