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Michael Castelaz, Don Cline (PARI)

Elizabeth Griffin (Dominion Astrophysical Observatory)

Wayne Osborn (Central Michigan University)

Preserving America's Photographic Heritage - Phase 1

Our shared heritage of some 3 million photographic observations is seriously in jeopardy, and astronomy may well lose vital, unrepeatable data dating back over a century.  A call for preservation of astronomical plates has been made by the international astronomical community.  This project is in response, and aims to establish a national archive for astronomical plates at the Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute that will preserve and eventually digitize selections of the plate collections in North America.  Our poster describes details of the storage, cleaning and cataloging procedures that have been planned, and provides an overview of what is anticipated for succeeding Phases.