Saving Old Photos and Documents

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Cricket Hackmann on July 10, 2009 at 11:27am

Thanks, Tony, for setting up this group. I joined not only to learn about storing my family history paperwork, but because I am part of a two-person team charged with organizing, maintaining and preserving our church's archives. I look forward to learning from the members of this group as it grows!

Permalink Reply by Haden Beardshaw on July 10, 2009 at 11:59am

Hi Cricket,

That's quite a responsibility that you have. I know some people keep village archives over here in England and then there are others who specialise in subject areas such as fair ground images.

How old are your documents?

regards Tony

Cricket Hackmann said:

Thanks, Tony, for setting up this group. I joined not only to learn about storing my family history paperwork, but because I am part of a two-person team charged with organizing, maintaining and preserving our church's archives. I look forward to learning from the members of this group as it grows!

Permalink Reply by Sue McCormick on July 17, 2009 at 10:15am

I have a tiny clipping from the newspaper which is the standard obituary notice of my father's death. How should I preserve this?

My husband suggested scanning it into our computer records, then placing it between lamination sheets. Would this process be acceptable?

Sue

Permalink Reply by Haden Beardshaw on July 27, 2009 at 11:34am

Hi Sue

Lamination is a definite No No when it come to serious archiving. The materials and adhesives are not good at all. Lamination is best used for menus and such like that need to be protected but only for short periods of time.

I would recommend getting hold of some polypropylene (acid free) pockets and perhaps inserting a piece of acid-free card behind the cutting to display it and give it support.

regards Tony

Permalink Reply by Sue McCormick on July 29, 2009 at 7:49pm

I am sorry I did not notice that you had replied to this (there is something faulty in the way I handle Genealogy Wise — but I'm learning).

Thank you for your advice, and also for the following advice you gave to Declan. My husband and I have lots of photos we are working with. We will look into the proper achival pockets for the photos also.

Sue

Permalink Reply by Declan Chalmers on July 25, 2009 at 2:15pm

Hi Tony just joined I live just across the water in Cork Ireland This a very good idea to help not just genealogists but any one dealing with old documents. I founded our local Genealogical Society back in 1984 and though it was said that paper files would disappear with the arrival of personal computing, not only did it not disappear but multiplied. My question is have you any advice as to the best manner of preserving documents.Would you advise copying them on special paper and special folders or any other ideas.

Permalink Reply by Haden Beardshaw on July 27, 2009 at 11:52am

Hi Declan

Welcome to the group. I know what you mean when it comes to paper multiplying. We are probably never going to throw away old documents in connection with old ancestors so my advice would be to scan them so that at least you have a digital copy on file. I tend to only print onto quality acid-free paper when I am producing something to give to a relative. So all my old douments are preserved for the next hundred or more years at least and if anyone wants a copy I have it already for printing. Once the old document is in an archive safe pocket it will never really need to be handled again. The clear pockets are good because they let people read both sides of a document which is particulary useful for old photos where you might want to check the back even if it is just to confirm that nothing is written on it!

You can't beat original documents to get people excited and I always point out that one day somebody is going to value our work and a family tree printed today is unlikely to get thrown away especially when some one in the family come across it in 50-100 years time. I wonder what people will do with a CD when they find it in 25 years time. Not quite so accesible as a paper document. I don't think digital files will have the longevity of paper unless someone takes care of them and keeps moving them onto modern media every 10 years and we all know that that may not happen. When I leave this world (not for some time yet I hope) someone may not take up the family genealogy for 20 years and then digital files may have become unuseable. If I were to give my 12 nieces and nephews a CD with the data on, I bet most would not still have it in 20 years time. If I print a book and put the pages in something like a springback binder with the words ' Family History' on it and give them one each, I would imagine they would still have it in 40 years time. Need I say more in my defense of printing on paper.

Regards Tony

Permalink Reply by Declan Chalmers on July 29, 2009 at 4:16pm

Spot on Tony but printing out a book of say 400 pages acid free wound be very expensive declan

Permalink Reply by Haden Beardshaw on July 29, 2009 at 11:31pm

That's some book. you must have a lot of people in your tree. Yes the paper can be expensive. I tend to wait for special occasions before I print out a book. A birth or a wedding etc. You can get acid-free paper in packs of 500 sheets for under £20 so it's not too bad and don't forget you can use both sides of the paper.

Permalink Reply by Declan Chalmers on July 30, 2009 at 7:32am

Thats not too bad for UK but here we have the € probably more like €40 wheres a good place to buy in UK? What about pockets price wish Declan

Permalink Reply by Sue McCormick on July 30, 2009 at 8:56am

We have found a group of tiny photos (locket size) which we wish to preserve. From earlier posts I know that we need acid-free paper for backing and an archival pocket to hold the paper.

Because these are so small, I feel we should "paste" these photos to the paper (we can transfer any labels on the backs to the paper). My question is:

What kind of paste or glue is safe to use for this purpose?

Sue

Permalink Reply by Haden Beardshaw on July 30, 2009 at 11:06am

Sue

I would go for card rather than paper as it will be stronger and support the photos better than paper. If you key 'Two Way Acid-Free Glue Pen' into Google you should find various suppliers around the World. 'My History' sells it in the UK. This glue is good because you can apply it to the card and then let it dry. It then works like a post-it note except the sticky surface is on the card. You can apply the photo and remove it with out doing any harm. You may still want to store the page in a polypropylene pocket to protect it all.

Hope this is of help.
Tony

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