The Waller Photograph CollectionThe Waller Photograph CollectionThe Waller Photograph Collection

The Waller Photograph Collection documents life in southern Mississippi,

particularly Hattiesburg, from the mid-1940s through the 1970s. The col-

lection is located at McCain Library & Archives at the University of

Southern Mississippi.

The Waller collection is over 130 linear feet in size, with an estimated

20,000 images. It consists primarily of negatives dating from 1947-1977.

The collection contains a variety of different types and sizes of negatives,

including 2¼ x 2¼, 3 x 5, 4 x 5 and 5 x 7 black and white cut sheet nega-

tives, 35mm black and white strip negatives, 2¼ x 2¼ color negatives, and

slides. The collection contains few prints, most of which are 4 x 5 proofs.

The collection is organized according to Waller’s original filing system,

and includes the following series: portraits, weddings, commercial photos,

aerials, copies, color photos, wrecks, 35mm negatives, 5 x 7 negatives, and

slides. Some of the series contain subseries according to dates. Waller

maintained an index for select series in several ledgers, and the paper

sleeves housing the negatives contain a number that corresponds to the

index. Each paper sleeve also has a brief title, and sometimes a date.

Digitizing & Providing Access to Damaged Acetate NegativesDigitizing & Providing Access to Damaged Acetate NegativesDigitizing & Providing Access to Damaged Acetate Negatives Laura CapellLaura CapellLaura Capell

Digitizing the Damaged NegativesDigitizing the Damaged NegativesDigitizing the Damaged Negatives

Eighty-three damaged negatives were digitized in the McCain Library &

Archives digital lab using a scanner designed to handle sheet negatives.

They were scanned at 1200 ppi, 8-bit color in a grayscale color space.

The images were processed using Adobe Photoshop CS3. The scans were

cropped and rotated, and the levels were adjusted as necessary.

Master images were saved as 1200 ppi uncompressed TIFF files, and ac-

cess JPEG images were created at 200 ppi with no resizing.

The images were uploaded into CONTENTdm and they are available

online via the Southern Miss Digital Collections website at:

http://digilib.usm.edu/index.php

Signs of DeteriorationSigns of DeteriorationSigns of Deterioration

Vinegar odor caused by off gassing acetic acid.

Embrittlement as negative loses flexibility.

Shrinkage of the film base (up to 10%), causing it to pull away from

the emulsion layer.

Channeling (grooves) in the negative as a result of shrinkage.

Bubbles (crystalline deposits) in the emulsion layer.

Blue or pink streaks as dyes used in processing break down.

Deterioration of Acetate NegativesDeterioration of Acetate NegativesDeterioration of Acetate Negatives

The deterioration of acetate negatives is often referred to as “vinegar syn-

drome,” because the negatives have a distinct vinegar odor.

It is an auto-catalytic process that starts slowly, but gains speed as acetate

in the negatives breaks down and releases acetic acid.

The rate of deterioration is determined by temperature and humidity.

Once the process begins, it can be slowed with proper storage conditions,

but it cannot be reversed.

Why Digitize?Why Digitize?Why Digitize? During processing, the archivist discovered negatives so severely damaged

that they were unusable. Before discarding them, the archivist decided to

explore digitization to preserve and provide access to the images.

Digitization is widely accepted as an access tool for archival materials, but

it is not universally recognized as a preservation reformatting method be-

cause of digital preservation concerns. However, in certain cases, digitiza-

tion can be the best option for preserving content, due to the difficulty

and expense of salvaging images using traditional methods.

This was the case for the Southern Miss Libraries, which did not have the

ability to perform traditional reformatting methods, such as copy photog-

raphy, in-house. The Libraries also did not have resources for outsourcing.

Microtek ScanMaker i900 scanner with negative tray.

Cub scout baseball team, 1947.

Southern Miss football player, 1946-1947.

Tire balancing machine, 1954.

Waller image in the Southern Miss Digital Collections.