When Digital Print Met Water

Understanding how our collections react to water can ultimately help us make decisions about long-term storage, conservation treatment, and disaster response and recovery. For the Archives, our collections consist of many materials—photographs and negatives, audiovisual materials, and bound materials—that can be negatively affected by moisture. And when I say “moisture,” I’m not just thinking about the total submersion of an item in water. Moisture can mean increased humidity, localized conservation treatment, or an accidental liquid spill. (We’ve all seen those coffee/tea stains on our collections!) 

Back in April 2019, I had the pleasure of attending a workshop on the identification and care of digital prints. During the workshop, we ran a few tests, one of which was water sensitivity. Here’s how our prints faired:

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A digitally-exposed chromogenic print submerged in water, April 23, 2019. Courtesy of Alison Reppert Gerber.

A dye inkjet print on plain paper submerged in water, April 23, 2019. Courtesy of Alison Reppert Gerber.

A dye inkjet print on uncoated fine art paper submerged in water, April 23, 2019. Courtesy of Alison Reppert Gerber.

A dye inkjet print on porous-coated fine art paper submerged in water, April 23, 2019. Courtesy of Alison Reppert Gerber.

A pigment inkjet print on uncoated fine art paper submerged in water, April 23, 2019. Courtesy of Alison Reppert Gerber.

A pigment inkjet print on porous-coated fine art paper submerged in water, April 23, 2019 Courtesy of Alison Reppert Gerber.

Related Resources

• The Atlas of Water Damage on Inkjet-Printed Fine Art, by Megan Connor and Daniel Burge, The Image Permanence Institute
• “I.D. This! Solid Ink Inkjet Print,” by Alison Reppert Gerber, The Bigger Picture, Smithsonian Institution Archives  
• The DP3 Project: Digital Print Preservation Portal, The Image Permanence Institute