A CONSERVATION CASE-STUDY OF POLYRAMA PANOPTIQUE PAPER VIEWING SLIDES

Princeton University Library's Graphic Arts Collection has a large col lection of optical amusement toys. Among these is the Polyrama Panopti que collection. The collection consists of 24 paper viewing slides and a show box in which the slides are viewed. The slides use reflected a nd transmitted light to create an illusion of day and night and changi ng scenery before the viewer's eyes. This paper discusses the conserva tion of severely damaged and unusable Polyrama Panoptique slides. Stra tegies, techniques, and materials related to the treatment of slides a re reviewed. Two slides whose conditions were representative of the co ndition of the collection were chosen for the initial phase of conserv ation. The procedures developed in treating the slides will be applied in large measure to the overall conservation of the collection.