HOW TO PRESERVE

• Video and Film (Movies) - Coming Soon
  
• Photographs and Slides
  
• Documents and Paperwork
  
• Audio Tapes - Coming Soon
  
• Other Objects - Coming Soon

The first step is to identify what the pictures show, because only photos that are identified and labeled are worth preserving. Sometimes it’s best to start with your most current photos and work backward in time. Note what’s going on in the picture, who’s in it and where the photo was taken.   Date the photo as closely as you can. Write the information on the back of the photo with a soft 6B drawing pencil, which is available in art-supply shops.   Be sure to use people’s real names if you know them, not just associations like mother or grandfather.

 For home movies, write the identifications on the leader.   Note when it was shot, by whom and what the event is.  Home movies can be very difficult to identify.   If possible, sit down with the person who made the movie, ask them to narrate it and take notes.

 Many people have old photos in their collections that are often unidentifiable.  You often can’t say with certainty whether the person shown is a family member. Set the pictures aside and work on them last.   Put your energy into the ones that can be identified.

After you’ve identified the photos, work on storing them properly.   There are two primary ways to store photographic prints- using a filing system in archival boxes or using photo albums.

Use file photos in archival boxes if you have a lot of photos to arrange. You can organize the pictures in files by subject, person, or year.   Once the pictures are organized, you can pick the best and put them in an album.   It’s important to use acid free folders and boxes.  The acids in paper products can be harmful to photos.

Albums allow you to display pictures more easily, but also tend to be more expensive than filing.  Some of the best pre-made albums are manufactured by Webway, a Minnesota company.   Again, seek out acid-free papers and notebooks made from archival board.   Or you can buy clear plastic pages made from polypropylene and insert the photos.   Do not use vinyl pages or notebooks.  They emit harmful vapors and shorten the life of photos.

In general, don’t take apart existing photo albums.   They’re like diaries and scrapbooks; they have a personal story and order to them.   Often they contain the handwriting of the person who made them.  If the photos in an old album have become loose because of detached or missing photo corners, replace the photo corners.   The exception to the don’t take apart rule is magnetic photo albums.  They contain a sticking material that is detrimental to photos, and they need to be taken apart.  People buy them because they allow you to easily arrange photos on a page, but photo corners allow easy management too.

Slides can be stored in boxes or carousel trays if you keep the lid on; they are very susceptible to dust.   Non-vinyl slide pages can also be used.  And if you have slides, photo CDs, home movies, or home videos, be sure to save the hardware that you’ll need to view them.  You’ll need that equipment to enjoy your images, when the technology becomes obsolete in the future

It’s very important to save your negatives. Many people think negatives are a nuisance, but they are the originals and they’ll allow you to make new prints if a print is destroyed.  Negatives last well if they’re not handled.  Keep them in polyetheline or polypropylene sleeves.

Exposure to light can hurt photos.  Locate framed pictures on the least sunny walls in your house.   Better yet, make a copy of the photo and keep the original in dark storage.   Metal frames are preferable to wood.  Use a 100 percent rag matte board and remove any wooden backing used in old frames.

Dark storage is especially important for color photos, such as children’s school portraits.   Some studios do not process them properly, making them more susceptible to color changes.   Since they come in multiples, display one and keep one in storage. If it changes color, have a black and white photo made.

The absolute best film to use- if you want your pictures to be around for your grandchildren and their children- is black and white.  Most color photos fade over time. If black and white pictures don’t seem appropriate or possible, then take color prints or slides. Prints have the advantage of being easier to view, and they don’t accumulate dust as much as slides. Instant pictures are good for parties and games only.  They’re likely to disappear in 10 years, so when you’re going to document an important event, leave your instant camera at home.

Copy photography is the way to save the images on torn or defaced photographs.   A basic rule in photograph preservation is to leave the original just the way it is. The copy photographer uses retouched copy negatives or copy prints to bring back the image.

The first step is to decide what should be saved.  Not everything old is precious, and many recent items will become precious with time.  Material commonly considered to warrant preservation as part of a family’s papers are:

• Letters with family and friends

• Noteworthy letters, reports, minutes, newsletters and the like relating to an individual’s business or professional work

• Diaries

• Scrapbooks

• Autograph albums

• Photos and photo albums, if identified

• Newspaper clippings about family members

• Citizenship, land grant, and military documents

• Birth and marriage documents

• Genealogical information (sometimes contained in family bibles)

• A broad category called ephemera (which includes such things as commencement programs, wedding invitations, programs from school plays in which a family member starred, materials from student conferences, etc.)

Less likely to warrant preservation are such things as receipts, bills, canceled checks, check registers, newspaper clippings on state national or world events, greeting cards, what is now commonly referred to as junk mail; unidentifiable fragments of letters; unidentifiable account books.

 The next step is to organize the papers.  This is not as complicated as it might seem at first, even if your collection includes papers from several generations of family members.  Letters should be organized first by recipient, and then either by sender or by date.   Official documents, newspaper clippings and ephemera should be organized by the family member named in them.  Diaries, scrapbooks, and autograph albums should be organized by creator. Genealogical material should be kept together as a set.

 After you’ve organized the papers, work on storing them properly. The two most common causes of deterioration for papers are 

1. Overexposure to light

2. Poor storage environment 

Papers should, therefore, be stored away from light-  this can be accomplished by placing them in boxes, but open containers or framed items should be shielded from light as much as possible.  Papers should also be stored in a space with the same environmental conditions – temperature, humidity, lack of accessibility to mice and bugs- as your living quarters.  The worst places to store papers are unfinished basements, attics, garages, mini-storage rentals, barns, and sheds.

 The best way to store papers is in archival-quality folders within archival-quality boxes (archival-quality folders inside metal filing cabinets is an acceptable alternative). Archival quality refers to material that is free of the acids and lignin normally found in paper and cardboard, and impregnated with an alkaline buffer (magnesium or calcium) against the acids in the papers you will be storing. Archival quality materials are not available in most office supply stores and cost somewhat more than regular folders and boxes, but they will help preserve your papers for generations to come.

 Folders should not be overfilled, and should be labeled with the general contents (for example: “John Jones correspondence, 1890-1925).   Do not use nicknames, family relationships, or free standing first names to identify contents: Uncle Pao’s letters, tiger’s scrapbook, or Mai’s photo album may not mean anything to your great-great-grandchildren.   Because removing and reinserting letters into envelopes causes deterioration over time, it is best to store letters flat and attached (with a plastic or stainless steel paper clip) to its envelope.  Torn or damaged items should not be repaired, except by a professional conservator.  Virtually all tapes, glues, and other mending supplies will damage items in the long run.  A badly damaged item an be safely stored in a folder by itself.   Newspaper clippings should never be stored in contact with any other form of material, because they are highly acidic and  will damage whatever material they come in contact with.   They can be stored in their own folders, or, for more permanent preservation of the information they contain, photocopied (and the originals disposed of).