Preserving photographs and documents

~2009 NYSLAA conference report~

written by: Heidi Jensen, PLSHQ

Preserving Photographs and Documents
Presented by: Amy P. Rupert


Ms. Rupert taught Social Studies at the middle school level in central New York before pursuing graduate study in archival administration. She has been the Assistant Archivist at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute since 2002.

First I’m going to talk about photographs.

This class was interesting in the fact that it was about preserving the photographs and documents – not on restoring them.
Pictures that were taken before 1880 used something called long fibers to print the pictures on. It gives the picture a different texture. After 1890 – prints were made from pulp which contained acid.

Storing photos is important in trying to keep them for any length of time. Here are a few tips to remember –

• Photographs should never be laminated.

• They should not be stored in magnetic pages (remember the old photo albums that you pull the thin sheet of plastic up and the pictures just magically stay put). If you can’t get your pictures back off a magnetic page – try running dental floss between the picture and the album.

• Light is not good for photographs.

• Store photos in a photo safe box.

• Don’t store in a basement (too damp)

• Don’t store in an attic (too much heat)

• Oils from your hands will damage the photos

• Store photos on a metal shelf. Wood shelves give off chemical that can damage the photos.

• Prints from the 60’s & 70’s will fade to nothing over time. Duplicate them to an acid free paper.

• Don’t store in a PVC sleeve (the albums that have a plastic sleeve to slide your photo into)

• Store photos that you wish to view between Millar that is acceptable for photographs.

• Label all photos with names and dates. You do need to use a photo safe pen. Most inks do contain acid which will deteriorate your photograph.

This is a lot to remember when storing photos but your co-workers/ family will be thankful someday when they have beautiful quality photograph to look at.

The other part of this class was about preserving documents.

News print was never made to be saved. It was/is a temporary media. Don’t save newspaper clippings. If you wish to keep the information from the newspaper article – copies should be made. Another suggestion is to have the newspapers you are saving scanned and stored on microfilm.

Most of the tips used for photographs also apply to documents.


The last few minutes of the class were used to talk about digital files.
Everything needs a backup. You can use CD or DVD but even those don’t last forever. Another form of digital back up is – print. Print the items you need to keep long term.


Over all, I would say this was a great class. I will never look at photographs the same!