Presented at the annual Visual Resources Association conference in Kansas City, March 2007

1. I. Developing a Retention Policy

2. II. De-accessioning

5. on recycling slides: “ ...most of the companies said the cost of breaking them down wouldn't be worthwhile, plus, they all want the donor to pay for shipping..... “ take out the film and turn it into sequins for my VR curator's ball gown and matching cape? “

6. “ The New School is planning a new building… There is a proposal that will dismantle and de-access the slide collection in one year, and provide only digital images. Although we have been digitizing for several years now, we have always kept the slide collection (100,000 +) available for instructors. I have made all the arguments; repository for institutional scholarship, university wide technical shortcomings, the removal of a valuable and much used visual collection, etc. etc. The administrative concession may be collection storage.

7. “ I've seen an ice-pick rammed through large stacks of slides (a.k.a. the Trotsky Method). “ It's a little violent, but can be fun if you've been having a bad day.”

8. “ I rather like the idea of a sledge hammer - with safety goggles of course. I offered the bad slides to any student who might want to do a ‘performance’ of de-construction art or some other such activity.“ “ We use a hole punch. “ “ I made weeded slides available to students and faculty in the department, if they wanted to come and browse through boxes of slides. The last few boxes were taken away by an undergrad with an idea for making art with them. A few of the grad students were happy to have even pink, faded or old b/w slides to take to their new job.”

9. “ This was a Homer, once” (from Jenni Rodda, IFA) De-accessioned slides…..

10. For comparison, a digital image of the original Homer courtesy of the National Gallery

11. “ Shirley Plantation - a good example of an image with poor lighting and composition. It's just not a very appealing image and one that will be weeded for sure” from Colonial Williamsburg Foundation from Marianne Martin, Visual Resources Librarian

12. “ Berkeley Plantation's swimming pool with the mansion in the distance - this is a good example of a slide that has faded, plus it has the 'measles‘”

13. Three examples of recent de-accessioned 35mm slides from the Visual Resources Collection in the College of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Washington. Two were in poor shape and could be replaced by color images (digital)....

16. The third example is tragic – the image is printed on the glass, and the glass was broken. The old slide label could not provide a source.

17. III. What will our new accessions be?

18. “ Born digital” material: Site and event photography Copywork Commercial purchase Will acquisitions policies change that much?

19. Donations from retiring professors. Acquiring the digital image, not the slide -

26. IV. Preserving what we keep

27. from “Story of a Patriot,” the orientation film that is shown at Colonial Williamsburg’s Visitor’s Center (1957)

28. Queen Elizabeth II’s visit to Colonial Williamsburg in 1957

29. deteriorating negative in Stage 4 of Vinegar Syndrome

30. Slides singed in an airstream trailer fire….