What are the best ways to archive historical family photos?

Question

My grandmother has a bunch of photo albums with pictures taken during the 1800's. Since many of the pictures have faded and dried out over the years, I want to get her some new photo albums that will protect and preserve the pictures. What are the best ways to do this?

Answer 1

Tutorials and articles about photo conservation: http://www.net-art.it/photomonitor/html/teoria_tecnica/post-process/conservazione-e.shtml

Answer 2

In terms of a new photo album make sure that whatever you get utilizes acid free paper. My suggestion is to check with LightImpressions http://www.lightimpressionsdirect.com/servlet/OnlineShopping

This place is quite popular with fine art photographers and archivalists who want to ensure the preservation of their images.

As for the images that are fading, it is more than likely that these images were not properly fixed, or are just being subjected to wide fluxuations in environmental conditions. In addition to the new photo album you may wish to get a specialized photo box. Additionally you can save these images if you can have them scanned. Later perhaps you might want to learn about how to restore the images in photoshop. Just go to amazon.com and type in the words digital photo restoration, and you will find yourself some great books on how to easily restore your old family photos. good luck.

Answer 3

If it is still possible have it scanned in the PC to have a copy of it, then find someone who can restore the photos using digital photo restoration. keep the original ones in a much better photo album with better cases. The copies may serve as a substitute if someone would like to see the pictures, instead of the original let them use the copies to avoid further damage to the original photos and make it last longer.