Do’s and Don’t for Photo Storage

Archivist Craig A. Tuttle, author of “An Ounce of Preservation: A Guide to the Care of Papers and Photographs,” (Rainbow Books, $12.95) offers the following tips to ensure you’ll enjoy your photographs for years to come.

1.Don’t store pictures in envelopes or shoeboxes. Neither are ph-balanced or lignin free -- lignin is the bonding element which holds wood fibers together. It causes paper to change color and become brittle, and can adversely affect precious photographs.

2. Don’t be afraid to throw blurry, fuzzy, badly composed or duplicate pictures away. You don’t need them.

3. Don’t expose framed photographs to sunlight. They’ll fade away.

4. Do use frames featuring plexiglass instead of glass -- plexiglass filters out dangerous UV rays.

5. Don’t store pictures in the basement or attic, or anywhere with an unstable humidity level and temperature.

6. Do spend a little more for archival quality albums. Check out www.gaylord.com for an idea of what’s out there or stop by your local photo store.

7. Don’t keep pictures in old magnet photo albums. The acidic adhesive on the back of the plastic will eventually wear through the image.

8. Do write notes on the back of pictures using a soft lead pencil or archival pen, never a felt tip or ballpoint, which can bleed through the image.

9. Do have old nitrate negatives copied. Nitrate is a volatile substance and will degenerate. (Nitrate negs are pre-1960, often have nitrate written on the side, and smell strongly of vinegar).

10. Do organize pictures in categories, such as special events, vacations, people, pets, etc. Then, you can organize chronologically within each category if you like.