The Stuff of History
It is a simple truth that without records there would be no Archives
of Ontario. And without the Archives we would know far
less about the cultural, political,
and economic histories of Ontario and its people.
The Archives' collection dates from the 18th century
and is comprised of a wide variety of materials and formats ranging
from textual records, maps and
architectural plans to photographs,
documentary art and audiovisual media.
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2003 is our hundredth
year of service to Ontarians and a century of collecting has resulted
in an enormous amount of material. The amount of textual material
alone is hard to imagine but try to picture paper records placed
in stacks as high as the CN Tower (the tallest free-standing structure
in the world at 1,815 feet/553 metres). All the textual records
currently in the Archives' care would result in 137 stacks of
paper that tall. This quantity of records continues to grow by
approximately 15,000 cubic feet annually.
Add to that over 3.5 million photographs, 32,000
maps plus all the other types of records mentioned above,
and you will begin to get a sense of the scope of the collection.
Preserving a collection this diverse and
comprehensive is a formidable challenge and requires knowledge
of a wide range of materials and how they change and interact
with each other over time. |
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For example, an
ordinary black-and-white photographic print is a complex object
that may contain:
- cellulose (the paper support)
- metal (the light-sensitive silver halide suspended in the
emulsion that forms the image)
- protein (the gelatin medium containing the silver)
- plastic (the polyester coating, on contemporary prints, which
gives the glossy finish)
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The photographic formats
in the image above (albumen,
ambrotype, black-and-white cellulose
acetate negative, black-and-white silver
gelatin, colour print, colour slide, lantern
slide, tintype, daguerreotype)
are a representative sample of the collection’s diversity.
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Each is an intricate combination
of different materials which all behave differently under different
environmental conditions, and can interact with each other over
time in ways that are sometimes surprising.
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The Preservation Unit
The Preservation
Services Unit at the Archives is a key member of the
team that holds this cultural asset in trust for the people of
Ontario. The staff members that comprise the Unit are highly skilled
conservators devoted to preserving the physical integrity of the
entire Archives collection including the Government
of Ontario Art Collection which is comprised of almost
2,500 historical and contemporary works of art.
Conservation
itself is a small and highly specialized profession that is taught
in a handful of universities and colleges across Canada. It unites
scientific knowledge about the physical nature of artefacts (especially
how and why they deteriorate) with traditional artistic skills
such as those of painters and bookbinders.
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A conservator removes dried tape
from an original document |
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A conservator carefully brushing dust and
dirt from an original document. These types
of contaminants can be disfiguring, as
well as a source of mould.
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Conservators do not do restoration (i.e. try
to make an old item look new again). Professional conservation
ethics mandate that the story of an artefact’s life should
be preserved as much as possible – this includes evidence
of its use such as bookplates,
scratches, marginalia,
etc.
The primary goal of conservators is to prevent damage to collections.
This is achieved by paying close attention to environmental
conditions, security, storage and handling practices. If items
come into the collection damaged or are damaged during use,
conservators intervene to stabilize them.
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| Follow these links to learn more
about preservation.
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Click here for the text version of this tip
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