In the egg, albumen is a relatively pure mixture of numerous proteins dispersed in water. By far, the protein component accounts for the bulk of the solids in albumen. As the water component dries off during albumen paper manufacture, the resulting surface coating is almost entirely protein. After aging, this layer is notably susceptible to a characteristic discoloration and cracking. As a first step towards understanding the properties and degradation behavior of albumen photographs, this paper presents an overview of the involved proteins and their chemistry.
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