Hi Bill,
I remember reducing some photographic spectra for Ed Majden some years ago. Not sure what he did with the results though.
You can get variations in dispersion across the field in objective grating spectroscopy due to geometric distortions caused by the lens optics (eg pincushion/barrel etc) though I am guessing this was not the problem here. It is possible to characterise them (though not so easy retrospectively) by moving a check star spectrum around the frame (This technique also useful for characterising flat field effects which are very difficult to correct for otherwise in slitless spectra)
Cheers
Robin