Abstract

We describe a method for obtaining master versions of historical photographic negatives that are highly representative at the tonal level of their originals from captures made with easily accessible and affordable devices for any cultural organization. We also address the process of creating historic positive virtual copies that can be used to disseminate iconic content according to rigorous technical and historical criteria. The methodology has been applied to a sample of photographic negatives from the Skogler archive (1936-1939). We devised and implemented corrective processes for defects of non-uniformity or dynamic range introduced by the capture devices that do not result in the alteration or loss of the original tonal information.