The Winterthur Library

 The Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and Printed Ephemera

Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum

5105 Kennett Pike, Winterthur, DE  19735

302-888-4600 or 800-448-3883

 

 

OVERVIEW OF THE COLLECTION

 

Creator:         Orraca, Jose                                       

Title:               Jose Orraca conservation papers

Dates:             1970-2005

Call No.:         Col. 849

Acc. No.:        09x43, 12x9

Quantity:        88 boxes

Location:        502 D 1-2, E 1-4, F 1-2

 

 

 

BIOGRAPHICAL STATEMENT

 

José Hipolito Orraca y Perez was a conservator of photographs.  He was born in Puerto Rico in 1938, where his father owned movie theaters, which perhaps contributed to Jose’s interest in photography.  Orraca attended college in the United States.  He was an apprentice in the paper conservation lab of the Library of Congress from 1968-1971, where he worked under conservator Marilyn Weidner.  He began working on photos at the Library of Congress.  He was asked by Georgia O’Keeffe to conserve some photos by Alfred Steiglitz.  In the process, Orraca developed techniques of photo conservation now considered basic in the field.  He then worked at the George Eastman House (the International Museum of Photography) in Rochester, New York.  He taught in the art conservation program in Cooperstown, New York, and in the Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation (WUDPAC), where he developed the first graduate degree program in the conservation of photographs.  Beginning in 1981, he devoted himself to his private practice, but continued to give lectures, seminars, and workshops.  He was known for his process of image enhancement, or intensification, which brings back the image of faded photos.

 

Orraca was a Fellow of the American Institute for Conservation (AIC) and the International Institute for Conservation (IIC).  He served on several AIC committees.  He was awarded the AIC’s Caroline and Sheldon Keck Award in 2000 and honorary membership in the organization in 2009.   He was president of the Louis Pomerantz Institute for the Advancement of the Conservation of Artistic and Historic works from 1988-1989.  He was a co-founder of Apoyo, the Association for the Preservation of the Cultural Patrimony of the Americas.  He was editor of the newsletter Ojo from 1991-1993.  Jose Orraca died on September 14, 2009.

 

 

SCOPE AND CONTENT

 

Papers and treatment reports of photo conservator José Orraca.  The bulk of the collection is comprised of accession books, treatment reports, and slides of treatments.  Treatment reports are filed in three different ways.  Some are filed by client name, and others by accession number.  A third group is labeled “Paid invoices”; these are grouped by year and usually include a copy of the treatment report.  Only a partial index to the treatment reports is available.  Almost all slides are filed by accession number.  The slide collection also includes images of Orraca’s conservation lab, the Winterthur conservation lab, and some images which are not of conservation treatments.  Of particular interest among these are slides of old photos of Puerto Rico.

 

Other files document Orraca’s teaching career and his involvement with organizations such as the American Institute for Conservation (AIC) and APOYO.  The collection includes copies of Ojo, a newsletter published by Orraca.  The collection also includes information about workshops which Orraca held at his conservation studio in the years 1993-2005.  Some papers and treatment reports written by students in the Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation are found.  Correspondence files include both personal letters and business correspondence.  Account books document income and expenses for 1983-1995.  Unusual items in the collection include three photos of child laborers printed by Lewis Hine’s photo studio; several photos of English author D. H. Lawrence taken in New Mexico and Mexico; and a notebook and kit for making bromoil prints, acquired from the estate of Josef Breitenbach.  A little correspondence with Georgia O’Keeffe is also in the collection.  Some of Orraca's camera equipment is included.  

           

 

ORGANIZATION

 

The files are arranged into three series:

I.                    General files;

II.                 Treatment reports; and

III.              Photographs, slides, and camera equipment. 

 

 

LANGUAGE OF MATERIALS

 

The materials are in English and Spanish.

 

 

RESTRICTIONS ON ACCESS

 

Collection is open to the public.  Copyright restrictions may apply.

           

 

PROVENANCE

           

Accession 09x43: gift of José Orraca.

Accession 12x9: gift of Sadako (Mrs. José) Orraca.

 

 

ACCESS POINTS

 

People:

            Breitenbach, Josef, 1896-1984.

Hine, Lewis Wickes, 1874-1940.

Lawrence, D. H. (David Herbert), 1885-1930.

O’Keeffe, Georgia, 1887-1986.

 

Topics:

            Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation.

            Art restorers.

            Conservation – Study and teaching.

Photographs – Conservation and restoration.

Photography.

Black and white photographs.
            Daguerreotypes.

Photographic prints.

Slides.

Tintypes.

 

 

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE COLLECTION

 

Location: 502 D 1-2, E 1-4, F 1-2

 

 

Series I: General Files

 

Box 1:

 

Folder 1:          Alliance of Baptists

 

Folder 2:          American Institute for Conservation (AIC)

 

Folder 3:          AIC: Committee on Education Affairs

 

Folder 4:          AIC: Photographic Materials Group 

 

Folder 5:          American Photographer: photographs and negatives used for article

 

Folder 6:          American Studies Association

 

Folders 7-8:     APOYO

[Association for the Preservation of the Cultural Patrimony of the Americas]

 

Folder 9:          APOYO: newsletter

 

Folder 10:        APOYO: seminar, 1993

 

 

Box 2:

 

Folder 1:          Buffalo Bill Historical Center, 1986: seminar

 

Folder 2:          Conservation and treatment forms

 

Folder 3:          CIPP: survey questionnaire returns

 

Folder 4:          Consultantships

 

Folder 5:          Cooperstown Graduate Program

 

Folder 6:          Correspondence, 1969-1979

[includes two cards commemorating the dedication of the Churchill Memorial and Library at Westminster College, Fulton, Mo., 1969]

 

Folder 7:          Correspondence, 1980-1989

 

Folder 8:          Correspondence, 1990-2000’s and undated

                       

 

Box 3:

 

Folder 1:          Dominican Republic

 

Folder 2:          Flaherty Study Center

 

Folder 3:          Futernick, Bob

 

Folder 4:          George Eastman House (International Museum of Photography)

 

Folder 5:          Goertz Lenses (trade catalog, ca.1906)

 

Folder 6:          Holography conservation

 

Folder 7:          International Institute for Conservation (ICC): application

 

Folder 8:          Japanese paper: includes samples, bark, and leaves

 

Folder 9:          Job applications (to work for Orraca)

 

Folder 10:        Keck Award

 

Folders 11-12: Lecture notes [continues in next box]

 

 

Box 5:

 

Folder 1:          Lecture notes on coatings [continued from previous box]

 

Folder 2:          Library of Congress

 

Folder 3:          Louis Pomerantz Institute

 

Folder 4:          Mexico

 

Folder 5:          Mixed media survey

 

Folder 6:          Notes

 

Folder 8:          Ojo [issues of this publication]

 

Folder 8:          Ojo: Man Ray signatures

 

Folder 9:          Ojo: number 1: mock-ups and rough drafts; notes and letters

 

Folder 10:        Ojo: number 2 (March 1992): articles and letters

 

Folder 11:        Ojo: number 2 (March 1992): notes

 

Folder 12:        Ojo: summer issue, July 1992: articles and drafts

 

Folder 13:        Ojo: number 3 [i.e. volume 2, no. 1, autumn 1992]: articles, drafts, etc.

 

Folder 14:        Ojo: number 4 (spring 1993): articles, particularly a glossary

 

 

Box 5:

 

Folder 1:          Ojo: number 4 (spring 1993): glossary terms

 

Folder 2:          Ojo: number 5 (this issue apparently not published): glossary and a letter

 

Folder 3:          O’Keeffe, Georgia: correspondence with and about her

 

Folder 4:          Orraca, José: Letters

 

Folder 5:          Orraca, José: Personal art collection

 

Folder 6:          Orraca, José: Photographs

 

Folder 7:          Orraca, José: Résumé and articles about him

 

Folder 8:          Orraca, José: Stationery

 

Folder 9:          Orraca, José: Talks given

 

Folder 10:        Orraca, José: Workshop on mounting, 1993

 

Folder 11:        Orraca, José: Workshop, 1994: scientific notes

 

Folder 12:        Orraca, José: Workshop, 1995

 

Folder 13:        Orraca, José: Workshop, 1996

 

 

Box 6:

 

Folder 1:          Orraca, José: Workshop, 1997

 

Folder 2:          Orraca, José: Workshop, 1998

 

Folder 3:          Orraca, José: Workshop, 2000

 

Folder 4:          Orraca, José: Workshop, 2001

 

Folder 5:          Orraca, José: Workshop, 2003

 

Folder 6:          Orraca, José: Workshop, 2005

 

Folder 7:          Photos: Puerto Rico, Christmas, 1900 (original photo and copies)

 

Folder 8:          Photos: unidentified

 

Folder 9:          Photos: unidentified conservation lab

 

Folder 10:        Photography: Administration of Photographic Collections (draft SAA document, with notes)

 

Folder 11:        Photography: Analytical techniques

 

Folder 12:        Photography: Cellulose diacetate; cellulose nitrate

 

Folder 13:        Photography: Ferrotypes/tintypes (Griswold’s manual, 1866)

 

Folder 13:        Photography: Manufacturers of equipment and film

 

Folder 14:        Photography: Postcards

 

Folder 15:        Pomerantz, Louis: draft of book about painting conservation

 

Folder 16:        Puerto Rico

 

 

Box 7:

 

Folder 1:          Research project about photographers

 

Folder 2:          Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT)

 

Folder 3:          Rocky Mountain Regional Conservation Center

 

Folder 4:          Seminar: Institute for Museums, History and Secondary Education, 1978

 

Folder 5:          Seminar, proposed: notes, 1991

 

Folder 6:          Seminars and lectures

 

Folder 7:          Slides and slide sets (lists)

 

Folder 8:          Students [interns]

 

Folder 9:          Survey: Walker Evans photos

 

Folder 10:        Teaching notes

 

 

Box 8:

           

Folder 1:          Teaching notes: paper conservation

 

Folder 2:          Training of photograph conservators

 

Folder 3:          Venezuela

 

Folder 4:          Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation (WUDPAC)

 

Folder 5:          WUDPAC: Christensen, Carol: paper and treatment reports (Edward Weston)

 

Folder 6:          WUDPAC: Hamburg, Doris A.: paper and treatment reports (Diane Arbus)

 

Folder 7:          WUDPAC: Photography block

 

Folder 8:          WUDPAC: Student photographs

 

Folders 9-10:   WUDPAC: Student papers

 

 

Box 9:

 

Folder 1:          WUDPAC: Student papers

 

Folder 2:          WUDPAC: Student papers: group papers

 

Folder 3:          WUDPAC: Student treatment reports

 

Folder 4:          WUDPAC: Teaching notes

 

[bound volume]           Accounts, March 14, 1983-September 30, 1986;

                                    Accounts, October 1, 1986-September 29, 1990  

 

 

Box 10: account books and financial records

 

Accounts, October 1, 1990-December 30, 1995 (3 volumes)

 

Records of payments, 1981-1988 (certain clients only)

 

Records of payments, 1984 (certain clients only)

 

Financial journal, 1997-2002 (acc. 12x9)

 

Bills and deposits paid, 1986-1996 (acc. 09x43)

 

Receiving record slips, 2001-2006 (acc. 12x9)

 

 

Box 11: index cards

 

Two sets of bibliography cards

 

Rolodex cards

 

Two sets of cards about clients and treatments

 

Information cards

 

 

Box 12:

 

Outfit to make bromoil prints, used ca.1940-1950, plus a notebook labeled Photo-Vortrage.  The notebook was purchased in Paris, but the notes are in German.  Both the notebook and the note identifying the contents of this box are stamped “Estate of Josef Breitenbach.”

 

 

 


Series II: Treatment reports

 

Box 1:             Accession books, 1981-2007

 

Box 2:             Worksheets, 1981-1983

[arranged in accession number order]

 

Box 3:             Worksheets, 1984-1985

[arranged in accession number order]

 

Box 4:             Worksheets, 1986-1988

(1988 continues in next box)

[arranged in accession number order]

 

Box 5:             Worksheets, 1988-1990

(1988 continued from previous box)

(1990 continues in next box)

[arranged in accession number order]

 

Box 6:             Worksheets, 1990-1991

(1990 continued from previous box)

 [arranged in accession number order]

 

Box 7:             Worksheets, 1992-1993

(1993 continues in next box

[arranged in accession number order]

 

Box 8:             Worksheets, 1993-1996

(1993 continued from previous box)

(1996 continues in next box

[arranged in accession number order]

 

Box 9:             Worksheets, 1996-1998

(1996 continued from previous box)

[arranged in accession number order]

 

Box 10:           Worksheets, 1999-2002

[arranged in accession number order]

 

                        Worksheets, partially filled out [in order by owners’ names]
Worksheets of intensified photographs

                        Work forms and form letters

 

 

Box 11:           Paid invoices, 1992-1995

                        Note: treatment reports are usually included with the invoices

 

Box 12A:        Paid invoices, 1996-2000

                        Note; treatment reports are usually included with the invoices

 

Box 12B:        Paid invoices, 2003-2005 (acc. 12x9)

                        Note; treatment reports are usually included with the invoices

 

Box 12C:        Paid invoices, 2006-2009 (acc. 12x9)

                        Note; treatment reports are often included with the invoices

 

 

Box 13: treatment files, by client name

 

Folder 1:          292 Gallery and A’s

                        [see file folder for names]

 

Folder 2:          American Museum of Natural History

 

Folder 3:          Art Conservation Associates

 

Folder 4:          Astoria Motion Picture and Television Foundation

 

Folder 5:          Ba-Be

                        [see file folder for names]

 

Folder 6:          Bi-Bu

                        [see file folder for names]

 

Folder 7:          Block Island Historical Society (Rhode Island)

 

Folder 8:          C

                        [see file folder for names]

 

Folder 9:          Carey, Marty

                        [includes vintage photos by Lewis Hine, stamped on back: Hine Photo Company]

 

Folder 10:        Chicago Historical Society

 

 

Box 14: treatment files, by client name

 

Folder 1:          Christie’s

 

Folder 2:          Citibank

 

Folder 3:          Cook, Scott

 

Folder 4:          Corkin, Jane

 

Folder 5:          D

                        [see file folder for names]

 

Folder 6:          De Carava, Ray

 

Folder 7:          DeLellis

 

Folder 8:          de Menil, Adelaide

 

 

Box 15: treatment files, by client name

 

Folder 1:          E

                        [see file folder for names]

 

Folder 2:          Edison National Historic Site

 

Folder 3:          Equitable Life Assurance

 

Folder 4:          F

                        [see file folder for names]

 

Folder 5:          Flaherty, Monica (Flaherty Study Center)

 

Folder 6:          G

                        [see file folder for names]

 

Folder 7:          Gottheim

 

Folder 8:          Greenburg, Howard (Photofind Gallery)

 

Folder 9:          H

                        [see file folder for names]

 

Folder 10:        Harvard Club

 

 

Box 16: treatment files, by client name

 

Folder 1:          Hawkins, G. Ray (G. Ray Hawkins Gallery), 1988-2000     

 

Folder 2:          Hertzmann, Paul M.

 

Folder 3:          Hoffenberg, H. L.

 

Folder 4:          Houk Gallery

 

Folder 5:          I-J

                        [see file folder for names]

 

Folder 6:          International Center of Photography

 

Folder 7:          K

                        [see file folder for names]

 

Folder 8:          Kiss Photography

 

Folder 9:          Klotz, Alan (Photocollect)

 

Folder 10:        Koch, Fred

 

Folder 11:        L

                        [see file folder for names]

 

 

Box 17: treatment files, by client name

 

Folder 1:          Lehr, Janet

 

Folder 2:          Lunn Gallery

 

Folder 3:          Ma-Mc

                        [see file folder for names]

 

Folder 4:          Me-Mu

                        [see file folder for names]

 

Folder 5:          N-O

                        [see file folder for names]

 

Folder 6:          Nash, Peter

 

Folder 7:          New York Public Library

 

Folder 8:          New York Public Library: Schomberg Center

 

Folder 9:          P-Q

                        [see file folder for names]

 

Folder 10:        Prakapas Gallery

 

 

Box 18: treatment files, by client name

 

Folder 1:          R

                        [see file folder for names]

 

Folder 2:          Reader’s Digest Association

 

Folder 3:          Robert Miller Gallery

 

Folders 4-5:     Roosevelt-Vanderbilt National Historic Site

 

Folder 6:          Sa-Se

                        [see file folder for names]

 

Folder 7:          Sh-Sw

                        [see file folder for names]

 

Folder 8:          Studio Museum of Harlem [continues in next box]

 

 

Box 19: treatment files, by client name

 

Folder 1:          Studio Museum of Harlem [continued from previous box]

 

Folder 2:          T

                        [see file folder for names]

 

Folder 3:          Tiffany & Co.

 

Folder 4:          Time-Life

 

Folder 5:          U-V

                        [see file folder for names]

 

Folder 6:          Ukrainian Museum

 

Folder 7:          UPI-Bettman Archive

 

Folder 8:          W

                        [see file folder for names]

 

Folder 9:          Wadsworth Atheneum

 

Folder 10:        Wadsworth Atheneum: Amistad Survey

 

Folder 11:        Y, Z

                        [see file folder for names]

 

Folder 12:        Yale University, Divinity School class photo archive project


Series III: Treatment slides and photos; other photos and slides

 

 

Box 1: Photos

 

This box contains an assortment of old photographs, probably used as examples for classes.  Included are ambrotypes, daguerreotypes, tintypes, stereo cards, photos printed onto ceramic(?) supports, a circa 1900 photo album, and examples of other kinds of photographs.  Two photos are from the Exposition Universelle des Chiens of 1863, and one photo was taken by the E. E. Allen (misidentified on back of photo as one of the Allen sisters).

 

 

Box 2: Treatment photos

 

Folder 1:          1985 treatments

 

Folder 2:          Harvard Club

 

Folders 3-4:     Koch, F.: prints and negatives

 

Folder 5:          Lieberman

 

Folder 6:          Missouri Historical Society

 

Folder 7:          New York Public Library

 

Folder 8:          Roosevelt-Vanderbilt National Historic Site

 

Folder 9:          Album: “Seven Mile Funeral Cortege of Genl. Grant”

 

Folder 10:        Album: unidentified

 

 

Box 3: miscellaneous slides

 

Slides of texts and a book, old ads, printed photos (i.e. photos printed in magazines and newspapers)

 

 

Box 4: miscellaneous slides

 

Anni Tomasette treatments;

Treatments of Orraca collection;

Identification samples and comparison slides;

Items not treated;

Walker Evans photos;

Slides with numbers which don’t fit into Orraca’s accession number scheme;

Slides without numbers, but these were filed with 1997 treatments

 

 

Box 5: miscellaneous slides

 

Nitza Luna treatments;

Slides which are especially dirty – need to be cleaned

 

 

Box 6: miscellaneous slides

 

Old photos of Puerto Rico;

Old photos, probably of Puerto Rico;

Re-photography project;

Miscellaneous slides;

Slides from a slide carousel

 

 

Box 7: miscellaneous slides

 

Orraca’s conservation lab, and people at work;

Winterthur conservation lab;

Treatments by WUDPAC students;

Binn treatments

 

 

Box 8: miscellaneous slides

 

Photo processes;

Post-mortem photos;

Condition photos and treatment;

House of Books talk;

Photos of stereo cards

 

 

Boxes 9-10: slides

 

Unnumbered treatment slides

 

 

Boxes 11-13: slides

 

Treatments for Adelaide de Menil, 1983-1988

 

 

Box 14: slides

 

Treatments, 1978-1981

 

 

Boxes 15-52: slides

 

Treatment slides, 1982-2001

 

 

Box 53:

 

Orraca’s camera and camera equipment