Rare Book School Experience

This past week I attended Rare Book School at UVA in Charlottesville, VA. I took a course called The Identification of the Photo Print Processes. I really wanted to take this course last summer, but my family planned vacation the same week it was offered, so I was thrilled I had another chance to take the class. It is a week long intensive course, 30 hours in class. My course was taught by James Reilly from the Image Permanence Institute (IPI), of Rochester Institute of Technology, and Ryan Boatright, a photographer that worked with Jim for numerous year at IPI. James also wrote a book over 20 years ago about the identification and structure of 19th century photographs.

So in the class we spent a week, learning about each process' time period it was used, the process to make the photograph, the chemicals and type of paper that was used, and certain characteristics to look for to identify the process of a photograph. I loved that they had so many examples of each type of process, so I got hands on experience with real photographs and see the details for my self. In the beginning I could barely remember the type of processes used. Now I am still unsure, but I know more about each process and can identify more photographs that I could ever before. It was amazing. We also got to create our own Gelatin Printed-Out paper (POP) photographs from old printing frames. Being away from the darkroom for a few years, really made me miss what begun my passion of photography, darkroom B&W printing.

My class had so many different professionals from around the nation. From conservators, rare book catalogers, Art History Professors, and even Rare Book Antiques Store Owners. They were all wonderful people and can't wait hopefully visit their libraries and museums that they work for.


If you have an opportunity to attend RBS I would highly recommend it. I am already am planning on taking another course summer.