Tips, Sugestions & Ideas
Where to start?
Start with the last roll of film you pick up after it was developed. Don't try to tackle years of photos yet, get the current ones into an album first, then work back. Work on first getting all of your photos and memorabilia into one place. Look in the garage, attic, drawers, files, closets, old and new albums, frames around your house and letters from family members. If you know that there are family members that have photos you want, now is the time to ask for copies.
Purchase archival quality photo boxes (NOT photo safe) for all your photos. Decide on a negative storage system and buy a negative storage system before you begin. Investigate albums and purchase the album/ albums that you will need to start your project. Decide on the type of album(s) that you will be completing. Are you doing one larger family photo album with everyone's photos in it or will you be completing an album for every child? Will you be doing vacation and Christmas albums or will these events go in your family albums. Make these decisions now, before you sort.
Plan an evening of sorting or a month of sorting, depending on your situation and just sort through all of the old photos and memorabilia. You will sort first by decade and then year by year. If you are sorting for special holiday or vacation albums keep that in mind as you sort.
Safe Scrapbooks
Scrapbooking is a unique craft /science hybrid. The science of photography is rapidly changing and the longevity of our photos is being increased even as I write this, which is good news. The bad news is that sometimes it is hard to know what products are safe and which products are not safe for your photos. Most scrapbookers feel that there is more to making a scrapbook than just making cute pages, scrapbookers really want to ensure that they help they photos look good for as long as possible.
In order for your photos to stay looking good, they need to be surrounded by materials that will not accelerate their aging. Many materials that have been used in photo albums in the past were actually damaging to the photos in the albums.
- Materials to Be Avoided:
- Paper containing acid or lignin
- Adhesives used in magnetic albums and adhesives that are not archival quality
- Adhesives that are not permanent (Paper Cement, Rubber Cement, Glue Sticks)
- Photo corner, plastic overlays & pocket pages containing PVC (Poly Vinyl Chloride)
- Ballpoint pen and felt tip pen inks
- Anything that is not photo safe/archival quality
Why:
- Acid in paper causes the paper itself to deteriorate & the acid also migrates to contribute to the deterioration of photos and memorabilia
- Lignin (the material that holds wood cells together) Paper will turn brown with age. Eventually the paper will crumble and disintegrate.
- Many adhesives are caustic and will eventually eat away at photos and memorabilia. Acids contained in the adhesives damage the photos they adhere to and can migrate to other items in your scrapbook.
- The PVC chlorine gas causes photos to yellow. Photos may become sticky and may be difficult or impossible to remove.
Other things to remember:
Unsafe storage practices, it needs to be noted that you can damage your photos by tightening the strap hinge on them too tight which causes the photos to be damaged by pressure, or by letting the strap hinge become too loose which can cause abrasion. Because of the perils of the strap hinge, many conservationists prefer a three ringed binder.
Also do not store you albums laying down, they should be stored upright in a cool dry place. Do not store your albums on an unsealed wooden shelf (the wooden shelf will contain lignin.) Mixing too many adhesive products in your albums
Even though all the products may be safe, you do not want to mix too many types of adhesives in your album. the result could be a damaging chemical reaction even if the individual products are safe.
Do not use regular inks in your scrapbooks. Many are acidic or contain solvents. Please use pens that are labeled as acid free, permanent and water free.
