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Guides to Photo and Document Preservation and Sharing for Families and Community Historical Societies

The Importance of Preserving Historical Photos and Documents

By R. Anderson - 11/2009

Connections to our past are important to developing and maintaining our sense of place, a sense of personal and local identity, and often add to our individual sense of purpose.

Why Preserving Images of the Past is Important

At some point in our lives, most of us will come to realize that our lives are more closely connected to generations past, present, and future than we may have believed when we were young.

Sense of Place Reflected in Photos and Documents 

Local histories, natural features of a given landscape, and a local and/or regional cultural heritage all combine to provide a person in a particular location with a somewhat unique sense of place.

This unique sense of place, and a clearer understanding of how our family ancestors influenced our thinking and our personal history can help create a satisfying sense of belonging and connectedness.

This is why locations and eras are given names for their uniqueness, and this is why nearby towns and cities develop curious sports rivalries.  We simply tend to identify with a location and a group of people who share a culture, heritage, and the same sense of place and identity.

Regional architecture, such as white houses with green shutters in New England, is as much about preserving a regional sense of place as it is about conforming or utility of design.

Preserving the Past 

Preserving our sense of place is at the heart of why it is important to both preserve and share images of our family and community history and heritage.  Family and community photos and documents reflect our heritage, and help us to better understand the uniqueness of our family and local history, heritage, and culture.

The better we understand this uniqueness, the stronger is our sense of place and personal identify.  Preserving and sharing photos and documents of historical significance provides future generations with the opportunity to best understand their family and community heritage as well. 

Why a Focus on Photos and Documents 

Family photos and documents are often the most valued piece of a family's history because they provide an image link.

At the same time, local historical societies are often the most important guardian of a community's history, and the photos and documents in their collections provide important background about the development of the community's unique identity.

Even if properly stored, original images will deteriorate over time and perhaps be lost to future generations, if not preserved by duplication.  Clearly a desired goal is to extend the useful life of original photos and documents. 

However, in the long run, the historical image is more important than the paper on which the original image was placed.  Today, inexpensive and "user friendly" technology is available to easily create duplicate digital images of photo and document originals.  These digital files are then available as long term backups and provide a broad range of image sharing possibilities.

Conservation of Photos and Documents

When discussed in the context of land, conservation is most often thought of as responsible use, such as limitations on logging activity.

Conservation, when applied to discussions of historical artifacts, is most often associated with activities that prolong an artifact's life in its original state.  Therefore, conservation of historical photos and documents relates to proper storage and handling of originals. In many cases, this emphasis on the useful life of the originals would limit the ability to share the images by restricting public access.

Preservation of Informational Content

hen used in the context of land, preservation normally suggests keeping land as it was found, which may include invasive species.

When applied to photos and documents, preservation is most often associated with activities that "preserve" the informational content of the original.  This may include duplication of the image information in a different format.  An example would include scanning photo prints to create digital image files.

In preservation activities, there is an implied recognition and acceptance that the image is perhaps the most important artifact, not necessarily the paper on which it was originally printed.  Duplication and reformatting are generally acceptable preservation activities.

Restoration

Restoration is typically associated with activities that "restore" an artifact to an appearance of a prior state.  Restoration, for example with furniture, may involve adding or substituting materials.  As restoration applies to photographs and documents, one might edit a digital image to correct blemishes.

Conserve and Preserve Historical Images

In the case of family and local historical society photo and document collections, it is likely that there will be two objectives:

1.)  As conservationists, you should continue to properly store and handle original photos and documents to maximize the useful life of the originals, in their original format.

2.)  As preservationists, you should seek to capture photo and document informational content in the most convenient ways, including alternative formats, to preserve the images beyond the expected useful lives of the originals.

LocalArchiver.Com advocates a digital approach to photo and document preservation projects and activities.  Digital backups are a flexible and inexpensive means to create an archive and to dramatically expand the ability to share the most treasured images.