So this would not be called archival anymore, as it is not removable, right?
You'll see EPIC debates about this if you hang out in any framing forums... Epic on the order of RAW vs. JPEG, Canon vs, Nikon, Mac vs. PC...
that kind of discussion. Basically there are good arguments on both sides but what I've gleaned from doing a bit of research is that mounting does not mean something is not considered archival anymore. It used to be that museums wouldn't accept anything mounted, blah blah blah but that's not the case anymore. I think care must be taken in the selection of the mounting material you use, but even more so in the adhesive as that is more likely to do damage than anything else. There's a number of products out there designed for archival mounting (and yes, it's still open for debate as to whether or not it's archival) that are certainly better than others. The BEST flame wars are when they start talking about mounting to masonite. SOOOOOOooooooo much misinformation out there.
They kind of go like this:
But blah blah blah is not a proper archival technique, the sky is falling.
Yeah but Ansel Adams used to glue his prints to clipboards. Those clearly aren't archival but they've held up quite well.
Yes but Ansel Adams was an experimenter and liked to use the best techniques possible, had he known then what we know now, he'd be using different materials and techniques.
But but but....
Both sides continue on... some with very good points, others with information they clearly pulled out of their butts and of course for every rule someone is always willing to point out an exception. Shortly after that a black hole forms and everyone still participating in the discussion gets irreversibly sucked past the event horizon. Shortly thereafter they are compressed into a quantum singularity.
For me I think it comes down to this...
If I make a print, is anyone going to be looking at it in 100 years? For anything I do for
myself... yeah, I'm definitely going to mount it. The improvement in display from having my image flat by far overrules my desire to have said print around in 100 years because... I'll be dead. For my clients, the best thing I can do is educate them as to the pros and cons of mounting. When you look at the archival argument I think that for MOST consumers, the argument is blown out of proportion. People are taking arguments that concern Museums and applying them as if everyone should have those same concerns and that's not always going to be the case. YMMV of course.
Cheers, Joe