Rehousing Our Glass Plate Negatives

Thanks to support from the Le Roi Community Foundation, we have recently been able to rehouse our collection of glass plate negatives and slides!

Our collection of over 200 glass plate negatives (mostly from the McDonald and Glover families) are some of the most fragile items in our archives. These negatives capture some amazing scenes of Rossland and area during the early turn of the century, such as the building of the Lower Bonnington Dam. Because the majority of these glass plate negatives were still in their original packaging from the early-1900s, they were at risk of breaking due to lack of padding.

Black and white glass plate negative of cribbing at the WKPL Bonnington hydroelectric dam outside of Nelson, circa 1898-1899.

Using acid-free archival enclosures, we rehoused the collection so that each plate is enclosed, protecting the delicate glass and emulsion. Next, we added ethafoam to our archival storage boxes, creating a padded environment for the negatives. A layer of ethafoam was also inserted between each negative to ensure that they were padded on all sides. Because some of the negatives were larger, we had to make custom enclosures, since we were unable to find the appropriate size pre-cut.

One set of glass plate negatives was more fragile than the others - these were found in the old bank vault during renovations to the Stone Block Building (2105 Columbia Avenue). These negatives were not only cracked and broken, but the emulsion was extremely compromised and flaking off. Because of their condition, we had to use a different technique to rehouse these negatives. Our Archives Coordinator, Gwen, made custom sink mattes for the negatives to live in. These provide the support the negatives need without adding extra pressure from being stored upright and having something rigid against the emulsion, which could cause it to flake off.

Rehousing the glass plate negatives and our slide collection (1550 total items) is the latest step we have taken in our efforts to digitize and rehouse the materials in our archives. It wouldn’t have been possible without the support from funders like the Le Roi Community Foundation and Library and Archives Canada. It’s because of their support that we are able to continue to preserve and present Rossland’s history for generations to come.

You can view some of the glass plate negatives on our online collections database —as well as hundreds of other photographs, archival collections, maps, and artifacts.