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Archival description
Historical Photographic Processes Collection Series
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Tintypes

Series contains examples of tintypes, collected from various sources.

Tintypes, sometimes referred to as ferrotypes or melainotypes, are direct positive images created with sensitized collodion on a metal (iron) surface that has been coated with lacquer or enamel. While the process is similar to the ambrotype in that it is essentially an underexposed negative image, the tintype does not need to be mounted with a dark backing to view the image, as the dark coating creates the positive image.

Wet plate negatives

Series contains wet plate collodion negatives, a process usually credited to William Scott Archer , in wide use between 1851 and 1885. The process uses light-sensitive silver halides in collodion on a glass base and the negatives needed to be exposed while still wet. Positive prints of wet plate negatives were usually made using the albumen silver process. The process was superseded by the more convenient dry plate process.