This morning we met by the fancy metro stop on the Place Collette and proceeded from there to the Bibliothèque Nationale de France. We assembled in the Chambre de Mazarin where conservator Patrick Lamotte of the Département des estampes et de la photographie had set up a selection of very interesting photographic items from the collection of the Bibliothèque Nationale. This included a stunning album of Gustav Le Gray seascapes, a box of daguerreotypes by Girault de Prangey, two albums of oversize Baldus albumen prints, some wet-collodion negatives transferred to paper, Patrick was assisted in his display by two assistants, conservator Damien Plantey and intern Catherine Blum from a Paris library and archives school.The Gustay Le Gray album was a series of his salt print prints. The prints are an astounding technical and artistic achievement, and were even more so when they were made in the 1850s. Printed from paper negatives many of them use combination printing from two negatives to achieve properly exposed sea and sky.
The Girault de Prangey daguerreotypes were from his travels around the Mediterranean in the 1850s. A wealthy amateur photographer with a love of the daguerreotype, de Prangey often photographed with quite large plates. Many of the plates we saw were a special format made by cutting an approximately 8 inch x 10 inch plate in half across the long dimension. He used a custom-built rotating camera back with the large plates to make the exposures on each side. After development the plates were cut in half to create the unique size. Some are panoramic scenes such as a photograph of the temple of the rock and surrounding landscape. He also used the format vertically such as with architectural views.The Baldus albums had been made for Napoleon III and another family member and have been rarely viewed since deposited in the library in the 19th century. The albumen prints are very large, were contact printed from wet-collodion glass negatives, and were in extremely good condition exhibiting deep rich purple tones and excellent detail.
The afternoon was spent at the Centre de Recherches sur la Conservation des Documents Graphiques (CRCDG). Housed in the Muséum national d’histoire naturelle, this civil institution is devoted to conservation research and analysis. Started in 1963, it has been led by its director Bertrand Levadrine since 1989, when he took over from founding director Francoise Flieder. After a brief introduction, Martine Gillet gave a tour of the photograph department showing examples of the research she has done in recent years on topics such as inkjet print fading, the deterioration of gelatin silver prints, and the development of a light dosimeter for museums. Following that Cecile Heraud showed us the microbiology lab where they do research and analysis of mold. Francoise Vienot shared her research on the testing of the color rendering of LEDs for use in museum lighting. And Véronique Rouchon showed us her work on the analysis of treatments for iron-gall ink induced paper deterioration. We were also shown research on solid-phase micro-extraction for the detection of book condition by the analysis of vapors being emitted by the decaying paper. All in all, an information-packed afternoon that left us exhausted and ready for refreshments. The mini-pastries and juice were just what we needed. Nothing like Entenmann’s we might add. This is Paris after all. They do these things right.
Then we hobbled back to our hotels, to re-bandage our feet, and prepare for a night of walking the city. Rachel and Gawain headed for Notre Dame where we met up with Patti Doyen, a good friend and fellow resident of the Eastman House this past year, where she was studying film preservation in the Jeffrey L. Selznick School of Film Preservation. After chasing down some fine vegetarian food we began our longer-than-anticipated walk to the Eiffel Tower. It was a lovely walk down the Seine, and we arrived at 11:30, tonight apparently for ascending the tower. “La Tour Eiffel Est Fermee” read the large and bright screen. We took a few pictures, caught the last metro before it closed (which only took us part way home), and laid down to sleep. Exhausted. 
