This came to mind after reading the question about drymounting, leading to discu ssion about life expectancy of prints, standards set by musea etc.

What do we know about the "archival" quality of the fiber based papers we print on, what exactly is fiber based paper, do manufacturers have standards to follow and is a control system in place. Do different manufacturers follow different s tandards? Is paper from Hungary more or less "archival" than paper from France, the USA etc?

I suppose a similar question could be asked about the emulsion.

Discussions or articles about "archival processing" usually focus on the steps f rom developping to washing and then go on to the option of dry mounting or not, using "archival" board. We need to know if the paper we print on is "archival" i n the first place.

Thanks to responders and best wishes for 2002.