In October 2003, the entire surviving photographic archive of Ames’ daily newspaper, the Ames Tribune, was permanently deposited with the Ames Historical Society.  Under the agreement of transfer, The Tribune retains ownership and copyright of the archive and the Society assumes custody for preservation, organization, indexing, and access.

The Archive contains photographs (published and unpublished) taken by Tribune photographers to accompany local news stories.  These photos are often the sole surviving originals. As such, they document the community’s accomplishments and failures, business and commerce activities, triumphs and tragedies of the area sporting events, as well as countless examples of individual joy and pain.

The Archive consists of :

· about 13,000 negatives on 4 x 5” black and white commercial sheet film dating from September 1948 to June 1958 (images from the decade of the 1960s are largely absent)

· over one million individual images on 35mm negative strips spanning January 1970 to December 1999

· 20,000 prints

· over 800 color slides

The 4 x 5” negatives suffer from varying degrees of deterioration.  Approximately 2,200 are in an advanced state of emulsion/base separation with consequent wrinkling. Although the film base is cellulose acetate, the thin, adhesive layer binding the base to the gelatin emulsion is cellulose nitrate.  When this type of negative is stored in warm ambient temperatures, deterioration occurs.  The base shrinks and separates from the emulsion in channels, creating random ripples in the film.  Nitrate dioxide in the middle layer combines with residual moisture to form nitric acid, and gas bubbles form that are trapped between base and emulsion layers.

About 11,000 negatives have not yet reached emulsion/base separation, but do exhibit the classic “vinegar syndrome.”  This term is applied to a type of deterioration found in acetate and triacetate safety film. When cellulose acetate replaced cellulose nitrate as a film base for safety reasons around 1951, it was thought that the acetate base would also be less vulnerable to deterioration.  Although this was mostly the case, in the 1980s scientists began researching obvious film base deterioration and accompanying vinegar odor.  Essentially, the chemical reaction which created cellulose triacetate from cellulose and acetic acid occurs in reverse (deacetylation). By hydrolysis, acetate reacts with moisture to form acetic acid with its identifiable vinegar odor.  Once this reaction starts, it cannot be stopped, and in fact, speeds up.  Besides damaging the base, the acid can cause deterioration of the image as well.

It is therefore essential to stabilize the negatives and slow deterioration by lowering the ambient temperature.  Current best practice involves placing affected negatives in acid-free envelopes and boxes, bagging them in freezer bags, and putting them in a refrigerator.  To further extend the life of the film, a “molecular sieve” is included to absorb moisture and acetic acid.  As negatives are sorted, identified, labeled, and given ID numbers, important images will be selected for digital scanning onto working and archival CDs.  The most significant images will be printed.

The collection is in the process of being preserved and indexed as time and funding permit.  All information obtained through examination of the negatives and comparison to any published images will be recorded on worksheets.  Photo headlines, captions, descriptions and index terms will be added and the records entered into a database to be mounted on the Society’s website for access by the Tribune staff and public. Representative images will be scanned and placed on this website.  Users can look forward to seeing long-forgotten images.  Remember Topahollow Inn, Collegiate Manufacturing Company’s stuffed toy animals, Bennett-McDaniel Furniture Store, Rainbow Café, 1953 Gilbert football, Brookside Park Zoo?

Most of the early images lack identification. Volunteers are therefore being solicited to help identify people, places, events, etc. in the images.  Volunteers may personally recognize someone or something in a negative, but can also help by searching the microfilmed Tribune by date and recording captions for corresponding images.  This type of sleuthing is always exciting and rewarding since the results leave a legacy for the cultural health of the entire community, and enhance our sense of place.

Images produced from the Archive are intended primarily for personal use since The Tribune retains sole and exclusive copyright interest in all photographs.  Prints may be made from negatives in the collection by filling out a request form (pdf) here or at the Society’s headquarters.  Photographic processing is done locally on a cost-recovery basis with an additional handling fee of $10.  Format options include prints in various sizes, slides, or digital images.

Commercial use or publication (printing a photo in any other publication, form or medium now known or hereafter devised) may be possible upon request to The Tribune.  Such use must be approved in writing in advance by The Tribune using the permission to publish form (pdf).  If approved, commercial use or publication of a photo may be subject to additional restrictions and fees imposed by The Tribune.  The prescribed credit line will read: “Ames Tribune photo by xxxxxxxxxxxx, courtesy of Ames Historical Society, © Ames Tribune.  All Rights Reserved.”

The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, U.S. Code) governs the making of copies or other reproductions of copyrighted material.

Under certain conditions specified in the law, libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a photocopy or other reproduction.  One of these specified conditions is that the photocopy or reproduction is not to be “used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship, or research.”  If a user makes a reproduction for purposes in excess of “fair use,” that user may be liable for copyright infringement.

The Ames Historical Society and The Tribune reserve the right to refuse to accept a copying order, if, in their judgement, fulfillment of the order would involve violation of copyright law.

Currently, requests can be filled only when an image is identified and publication date is known, usually from a citation or newspaper copy in hand.  This is because the archive is arranged by date and is not yet indexed. Fill out the request form (pdf) and email or bring it to the Society.