Photograph of Storage of Glass Plate Negatives

Stack area in NSP, housing glass plate negatives.

Twenty wall racks accommodate glass plates, the plates measuring 8x10 (top) to 20x24 (bottom). In NSP there are now some 172,000 glass negatives of which the greater number measure 8x10 inches and smaller. These are filed in metal cabinets, but the older and more valuable plates are stored on shelves in wall racks. The older plates are 8x10, 11x14, 16x20, 17x22, and 20x24, and represent the Brady Collection, the Geological Survey, the Office of the Supervising Architect of the Treasury, the Smithsonian Institution, and the Office of the Chief of Engineers.
Historic Photograph File of National Archives Events and Personnel