"How To" Guides > Storing Images
Storing Paper Photos and Documents
Tips for Storing Original Photo Prints and Documents
Photographs are typically composed of three layers of materials. In addition to paper, chemicals and inks used to represent the image on the surface are adhered to the paper with a binder. The exact composition depends on the era of the photo and the developing and/or printing process used. Regardless, each layer can react to a given environment differently and at different rates of deterioration.
Tips for Storing Original Photos Include:
□ When you receive photos developed from film, segregate the prints from the negatives. The materials are different and subject to different chemical reactions.
□ Place the prints in archival acid free envelopes rather than the potentially acidic envelopes that come back from the developer.
□ When storing and organizing prints, always try to manage the acid content of storage materials that come in direct contact with the prints. If you use envelopes, albums, or boxes for storage, these should be "archival quality".
□ Avoid using common tapes or glue in your projects, as these are a leading cause of damage. These are inherently reactive and often the cause of rapid deterioration.
□ Take a good look at your existing albums, and seriously consider upgrading to archival quality albums or printed photo books, if appropriate. Many albums sold in the past were not made of archival materials and have damaged many pictures. The many albums sold with black paper pages are very acidic, and the laminated look "magnetic" albums are notoriously bad for photos. If the photos in such non-archival albums have not already been damaged beyond hope, it may be worth the effort to try to scan or remove photos in these albums.
Tips for Storing Original Documents
Common family and historical society documents include letters, journals, legal papers, newspaper clippings, and other items consisting of paper and inks. Chemical compositions vary widely based on materials available and used at the time of document production.
Paper manufacturing for many uses shifted from high rag content to wood pulp in the late 1800s. Unfortunately, common papers made of wood pulp exhibit rapid deterioration due to high acid content. Therefore, many original documents dating from the late 1800s can be expected to deteriorate more rapidly than many documents from previous periods.
It is also quite easy to see the differences in aging and discoloration between certain types of modern papers. Newsprint is an obvious example due to its low cost processing and resulting high acid content.
Tips for Storing Paper Documents Include:
□ Attempt to avoid mixing paper qualities in storage. Newspaper clippings, letters, books, and other types of documents should be segregated as much as possible. Storing newspaper clippings in a book or among letters will simply allow the high acid content of the newsprint to migrate to the other paper.
□ When possible, documents should be stored flat and unfolded, as folding and unfolding simply causes additional wear.
□ If a particular portion of your collection is showing rapid deterioration, the chemical properties are probably poor, and this portion of your collection should become a priority for duplication on archival paper or digitizing.
□ As with photos, avoid using lamination, glue, and tape.
□ Note that scrapbooks often include a wide range of materials (clippings, photos, announcements, ticket stubs, glue, tape etc.). Therefore, if you have scrapbooks, you should balance the importance of using original items in the scrapbook and the higher risk of rapid deterioration. It may be that re-organizing the items or scrapbooking with duplicate images makes better preservation sense.
□ Archival quality storage materials are
readily available at a number of sources including
Dick Blick Art Materials
and
Archival Methods.
