HELPING YOU PRESERVE TODAY’S MEMORIES FOR TOMORROW’S GENERATIONS.™
Photographs are the windows to our memories. From little Bobby’s birthday party to Grandma Mabel’s box of family pictures, photographs are treasured heirlooms you’ll want to preserve for the future. The fundamental guidelines for preserving photographs are similar to documents, after all photos are basically paper, but there are some added guidelines for photographs to insure long term stability.
- Keep a moderate storage temperature, below 68°F is preferred. Attics or near furnaces are obvious locations to avoid.
- High humidity can cause mold, especially as it approaches 70%. A relative humidity level of 30% to 40% is best.
- Water can ruin an entire collection. Keep pictures away from hot water tanks, garages and the like. Avoid water damage by storing them up off the floor and not in a basement.
- Avoid extended exposure to light, especially natural sunlight and fluorescent lights, which can cause fading from the UV rays. This is especially troublesome for color prints. A work around for this is to display a copy (with the original safely stored), or if you must display a one-of-a-kind original, have it framed with UV protection glass.
- Place your most valued photos in plastic archival enclosures made from polyethylene, polypropylene, or uncoated polyester. These allow viewing of the pictures, while protecting them from fingerprints during handling.
- If you must handle a valuable original photograph, wear cotton gloves. Although you may not see your fingerprints when you touch a picture, you're leaving a residue that might show up eventually.
- Store your enclosures and albums inside acid free, lignin free archival boxes. This protects them from dust and dirt.
- Avoid “magnetic” albums, with the self-adhesive plastic page protectors. They are usually not acid free and could damage your pictures. Mount your photos using photo corners on paper placed inside page protectors. Make sure all items are acid free.
- If you must write on a picture, do so on the back with pens designed for this purpose. Never, never write on the picture side. An alternative is to write on the paper next to the picture..
Photograph Preservation
