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Storage of originals

Piql offers comprehensive support to make sure an optimal type of storage products is chosen for the purpose of securing original documents, books, photographs and other objects in their physical form. We provide consulting, free samples of storage products, and develop custom made solutions for a given collection.

THE CHALLENGE

transferred to another carrier, but also as physical objects that enables us to remember and understand more about the past. It is a task for archivists, librarians and museum experts to make sure that these originals are stored in the best condition possible and carefully preserved for future generations to enable not only research and learning, but also the physical connection to the past. It is a sad fact that cultural heritage in its physical form is subject to the processes of aging and deterioration. These natural processes can accelerate considerably due to exposure to unfavourable conditions, such as unsuitable temperature and humidity, sunlight, acids causing disinte- gration of paper fibres, moulds, fungi and insects, dust and dirt, or damage caused by human activity such as moving the objects or displaying them at exhibitions. There is also a risk of permanent damage, losing of some of the objects, sometimes even losing complete collections to the ele- ments of fire or water.

Centuries-old cultural heritage has been saved and stored on physical carriers, such as parchment, paper, or film neg- atives. Priceless collections of documents, books, pho- tographs or films bear witness to our past and help build identity of communities and individuals alike. They are our civilization’s heritage and reflect its attainments, such as creating a system of written language, inventing photogra- phy and film, as well as contributing to science, culture and art throughout the millennia. Digitisation of archives greatly improves their accessibility and facilitates browsing through the collections to an ex- tent unimaginable before. However, caring about the origi- nal copies should not end here. To a great extend it will be these original copies that are, and will remain, our cultural heritage. In many respects they are invaluable – not only as the carriers of the content, which can be extracted and

USECASE

We provided boxes specially designed to store a few hundred thousand glass plate negatives to Fratelli Alinari in Italy, which is the oldest photography archive in the world. We suggested an initial idea of the construction of the boxes, which, during the course of cooperation, was modified as to the minutest details according to the client’s wishes – the archive received and had an opportunity to sample over a dozen prototype boxes. We suggested boxes with compartments, which are a great choice for vertical storage of fragile glass negatives – a few pieces at a time in separate compartments. The boxes were made from top quality solid board, dedicated specially to the purpose of long-term storage of valuable collections. The design of the boxes was consulted with, and approved by, representatives of the culture ministry of Italy. As a result of this cooperation, we provided an optimal storage solution for over 300,000 unique negatives.