Posted by Kate Silvia on September 20, 2009 at 10:34 AM
Hi Everybody,
I need some advise on how to preserve some old (World War II) photos that my father has from his dad. They're in an old photo album completely exposed and beginning to curl along the edges. They are in otherwise pretty good shape. They have info written on the back of many of the photos that we'd like to be able to keep visible. Does anybody know of a service or a company where I can order materials to preserve and maintain them...preferably while still being able to view them front and back.
I've attached an image of the photos in their current condition that I took this morning.
Thanks for any advise.
Kate
Posted by Kent Staubus on September 20, 2009 at 12:38 PM
Hopefully you didn't write on the back of them with a regular ballpoint pen. Eventually that could bleed through onto the photo. They make a special pen for writing on prints. I would scan the prints on a flatbed scanner and make multiple print copies on archival media.
Our principle source of archiving supplies is Light Impressions. In your photo it looks as though the period writing was done with a fountain pen (the standard then rather than ball points), so I'm not too concerned about it.
In addition to your measures with archival storage products, I'd go one step further. I'd put those photos on a light table for photographing or a flatbed scanner and build a digital archive. It would be pretty easy to scan them front and back, then prepare a "new" frame that showed both simultaneously. Prints of the digital files would be easy to display and enjoy today, while allowing you to put the originals in archival storage and prevent further deterioration.
We do a lot of this including restorations, and I have to tell you it's not cheap at all to hire out the work. (We charge $100/image to photograph or scan, restore and make a digital print.) Most families face the difficult decision of which images to hire out and which not, simply because treating the whole archive is beyond any rational means, cost wise.
Doing it yourself will take a lot of time, but is very affordable. BTW- In addition to producing contemporary print versions, put disc copies in several safe places. If your family is large and scattered, a disc and prints to each will be greatly appreciated while also spreading the "risk" off loss to widespread geographic locations.
Discussion
2 repliesI need some advise on how to preserve some old (World War II) photos that my father has from his dad. They're in an old photo album completely exposed and beginning to curl along the edges. They are in otherwise pretty good shape. They have info written on the back of many of the photos that we'd like to be able to keep visible. Does anybody know of a service or a company where I can order materials to preserve and maintain them...preferably while still being able to view them front and back.
I've attached an image of the photos in their current condition that I took this morning.
Thanks for any advise.
Kate
Kent in SD
In addition to your measures with archival storage products, I'd go one step further. I'd put those photos on a light table for photographing or a flatbed scanner and build a digital archive. It would be pretty easy to scan them front and back, then prepare a "new" frame that showed both simultaneously. Prints of the digital files would be easy to display and enjoy today, while allowing you to put the originals in archival storage and prevent further deterioration.
We do a lot of this including restorations, and I have to tell you it's not cheap at all to hire out the work. (We charge $100/image to photograph or scan, restore and make a digital print.) Most families face the difficult decision of which images to hire out and which not, simply because treating the whole archive is beyond any rational means, cost wise.
Doing it yourself will take a lot of time, but is very affordable. BTW- In addition to producing contemporary print versions, put disc copies in several safe places. If your family is large and scattered, a disc and prints to each will be greatly appreciated while also spreading the "risk" off loss to widespread geographic locations.