We recently digitized some nitrate negatives from the Sylvester Manor collection. In addition to being fragile, this format can also be volatile, and so there’s an urgency to our work.
We’re pleased that these negatives are incredibly sharp (see picture of actual silver grains below):
Our Digital Content Manager, Melitte Buchman, writes: “For me these film negatives are particularly lovely in that they’ve had a hard life, many have abrasion scratches, and chemical stains that although not originally intended are a great reminder of the vagaries of film work. I find the image below particularly lovely. It’s nearly a spirit photograph with a horizontal band of movement (likely abrasions) and stars (chemical involvement?). At any rate it’s something we so rarely see anymore that it seems quite charming.”
Another image has a nearly demonic aspect:
We should be making these images available through the Sylvester Manor finding aid soon.