How to Preserve Centuries-Old Daguerreotypes

Опубликовано 25 июня 2026, 14:00

The daguerreotype is the first publicly available photographic process, creating a single, unique image on a silver-coated plate and giving us a glimpse at such historic figures as Abraham Lincoln and even John Quincy Adams. But they're extremely fragile, with air and moisture threatening to erase these images forever. At the National Portrait Gallery, photographs conservator Christina Finlayson walks Adam Savage through the delicate and precise process of preserving daguerreotypes for posterity.

National Portrait Gallery: npg.si.edu
Thomas Ustick Walter portrait:: npg.si.edu/object/npg_NPG.91.6...
John Quincy Adams portrait: npg.si.edu/object/npg_NPG.2017...
What UV Light Revealed in This 200-Year-Old Painting: youtu.be/0sY2rGTwnNQ
Follow on Instagram: instagram.com/smithsoniannpg/?...

Shot and edited by Josh Self
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