Can Scientists Learn How to Preserve Daguerreotypes?

Daguerreotypes are the first photographic images, formed by a process Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre invented in 1839. Daguerreotype photography was the only commercially successful method of photography in the United States prior to the Civil War. Daguerreotype quality was outstanding, in some cases producing better black-and-white photographs than do todays's consumer cameras. Sadly, Daguerreotype photographs may be deteriorating before our eyes. No one knows exactly why, or how to save them.

Kathleen McGarvey has published an interesting article about the deterioration of Daguerreotype photograps on the University of Rochester (New York) web site at http://goo.gl/OVTrH.