Monday, December 17, 2012

Document and Photo Preservation Workshop: Enemies of Photographs and Documents

Enemies of Photographs and Documents
  • Dust
  • Direct sunlight
  • Dirt
  • Your hands
  • Direct florescent light
  • Insects
  • Rodents
  • Adhesives---Do not use glues (especially rubber cement) or pressure sensitive tapes to mend photographs or hold them in albums. Most glues contain substances such as sulfur and acids which will cause your photos to deteriorate. Look for special photo-safe glues and tapes in the archival section of your favorite photo or craft store.
  • Sulfur compounds that can be given off by wood or rubber and trigger fading many of the products sold by frame shops and retailers contain materials like high-acid wood pulp and Polyvinyl Chloride that can trigger deterioration.
  • Widely fluctuating humidity
  • Extreme temperature fluctuation
  • Paper that’s not acid-free and lignin-free
  • "Magnetic" photo albums can leave adhesive residues on images
  • Vinyl album pages can give off harmful fumes
  • Ink
  • Rubber bands
  • Paper clips
  • sulfur dioxide
  • fresh paint fumes
  • plywood
  • cardboard
  • fumes from cleaning supplies
  • Avoid cheap photo albums and paper and plastic storage products that aren't specifically made for storing photos. Regular envelopes, ziplog bags and other things commonly used for photo storage
  • Do not take special family photos (wedding photos, baby photos, etc.) to an inexpensive photo developer for processing, especially one hour services. It is important that the film is developed with fresh chemicals and that the negatives are washed sufficiently (for at least an hour) and only professionals usually provide these services. Ask questions and make sure you get what you are paying for.
 
 
 
 
Resources
Image

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lignin

http://www.universityproducts.com/resources.php?m=how_to_detail&id=4

http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~george/preserving_photos.html

http://www.archives.gov/preservation/family-archives/preserving-family-papers.html

http://www.nedcc.org/resources/resources.php

http://www.photographymuseum.com/archival.html#small



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