Storing Memories: Preserving Photographs

My first camera was a Kodak X-15 Instamatic. A birthday gift from my Grandfather, it used rotating flash cubes. I captured my first images with that simple camera. Sometime later I moved up to a Kodak 110. It had a simple slide and click telephoto lens. It used flash cubes, too, but I upgraded to a battery powered strobe and thought I was quite the sophisticated photographer.

It’s nostalgic to look back on those old photos. There are faces I know. Family members and friends. And there are faces that I have no name for. These pictures have faded over the years. The vivid colors they possessed when I opened the envelope from the film lab have diminished. Faded though they are, they’re part of my life story.

So are there any tricks to preserving these memories?

Let’s start with the old photographs you have. If you have any of them in a magnetic photo book, set them free at once. Magnetic photo books have cardboard pages that contain acid, as does the adhesive on the page. Over the years it will eat away at your photos.

The plastic covers on these types of pages usually contain polyvinyl chloride. While you’ll never notice it happening, this plastic (sort of like my old uncle) releases a gas that will fade your photos and distort the images over time. Claire Maxwell, President of the Taylor Conservation and Heritage Society, is an expert in photo preservation. She says, “Put those three things together and it’s like a pressure cooker for a photograph.”

If you have photos in magnetic albums, get them out. If they’ve been in there a long time be careful as the pictures may be stuck to the page.

Use a thin metal blade to gently lift one edge of the picture, systematically lifting up. Do not grab an edge and pull because you may unintentionally separate the image from the photo paper.

If you must use sleeves to store your pictures, use PVC free and acid free plastic sleeves from your local camera store. Otherwise, a simple box made from acid free material will more than suffice.

If you were going to “store” yourself, where would you put yourself? Would it be in a brightly lit, hot, damp place? Hardly.

Photographs, like medicine, coffee and many foods should be stored in a cool, dry and dark place. Prolonged exposure to light is one of the biggest dangers to photographs.

As a kid, I would go with my Dad to Minnesota Twins games. At one of them my Dad bought for me four flannel pennants that had photos of Harmon Killebrew, Tony Oliva, Rod Carew and Cesar Tovar. For some reason the first three got pinned up on the wall by the window in my room. Cesar was kept neatly in a drawer. Over 40 years later I still have the pennants. Harmon, Tony and Rod have poorly aged. Cesar looks sharp, vivid and young. For people and pictures, too much sun really isn’t the best way to go.

As you store your photos, take time to write down the “who, what, when, and where” of the picture. Everyone who looks at old photos laments when this information is missing. You’ll tell yourself, “I’ll remember who they are.” But 30 years later, if it takes that long, you won’t.

When you do write on the back of the photo, don’t use just any pen. Make the investment in some archival markers. You can buy them at photo shops, scrapbook shops and hobby stores. They are inexpensive, come in a variety of colors and tip widths and use acid free ink that won’t bleed through the paper to the image on the front.

Hope this helps you as you store your important memories. Self Storage is a choice you make. Do it well and be rewarded!