Working methods

This page sets out the rules the rota follows. They are written for people joining the work, and they explain why the files look the way they do. Anyone reading an entry should be able to work out how it was made from this page alone.

Capture

Sheets are photographed on a copy stand with the camera square to the card. Two daylight-balanced lamps sit at 45 degrees. A colour target and a grey card are placed in every frame. Captures are made in raw at the camera's base sensitivity, and every raw file is kept alongside the masters.

Masters and reduced files

The master is a 16-bit TIFF, uncompressed. A reduced file is a JPEG with its long side set to 2400 pixels, for reading on a screen. A reduced file is never used as a master, and a master is never resaved as a JPEG.

Reference numbers

A reference is built in four parts: FB for the archive, a letter for the collection (S for sheets, C for catalogues), a letter for the section, and a four-digit item number. A file adds a suffix. FB-S-F-0031a is the front of item 31 and FB-S-F-0031b is its back. A file for a loose slip is given the item number of the sheet it belongs to, with the suffix s.

The ledger

Each label is transcribed in full into the ledger before the file is named. A transcription records the text as written, with line breaks, abbreviations and crossings-out. Corrections are made in square brackets, and the original is never replaced.

Handling

No specimen is pressed again, cut or repaired. If a part has come away from the card, it is photographed where it lies and the detachment is noted. Sheets are returned to their folders in the order in which they were taken out, so the sequence of the folder is never broken.

Gloves are not worn for handling, since they make the card harder to hold flat. Hands are washed before each session, and sheets are lifted by the card edge only.