If a picture is worth a thousand words, it would a shame to lose that story to degradation over time. Unfortunately, photographs (especially older ones) are extremely time-sensitive and delicate. Any number of environmental extremes can break down the chemicals on a photograph, destroying the integrity of the picture. Many images (like those of distant ancestors) cannot be replaced. If photographs are not properly stored, instead of passing down these physical memories from generation to generation, they can become lost.
But there are ways to fight photograph aging and destruction! The first step is knowing how to care for old photos, something that seems foreign to a generation in which photos are captured digitally. Follow these tips to preserve your old family photographs:
Storage Environment:
Photographs should be stored away from moisture and extreme temperature. Basements are not ideal, and anywhere near vents, heating units, or direct sunlight can cause faster photo degeneration as well.
Storage Containers:
Plastic tubs or sleeves are great for storing photos if you can’t get ahold of acid-free boxes. If you are displaying photographs in albums, make sure the pages are acid-free as well.
Worried about photos sticking together? Though it may seem tedious, photographs should ideally be stored with acid-free paper between them.
What to Avoid:
- Acidic Paper – Why is acidic paper and materials so bad for photos? Acids destroy photo pigment and eventually photo paper. Everything you use to store and display photos should be acid free or “archival quality.”
- ‘Magnetic’ Photo Albums – The albums your parents and grandparents used that have sticky pages and plastic overlay sheets are equally bad for photograph preservation. Photo backs become eaten away by the “sticky” page and a photograph may eventually stick to the plastic overlay sheet.
Photographs found in these conditions require delicate handling and tender love and care. Keep an eye out for an article next month about how to safely remove photographs from magnetic albums.
With so many great memories and family portraits captured in photographs, you don’t want to store them all – you want to display them! But there are proper techniques to follow for framing, just as there are for storing old photos – techniques like matting a photograph to keep it from sticking to the glass and allow ample circulation. Framing old photos is an art in itself, an art that Frame Warehouse has perfected. The expert framers at Frame Warehouse know which matting and framing materials to use to preserve those precious photo gems!
