More on Photo Albums

Photo album week continues at Preserving a Family Collection!

I’m trying to keep the technical language to a minimum on this blog, but I thought it might be useful to follow up the past two entries on photo albums with some more in-depth information.

First, a comment on interleaving from Mary Schobert, Senior Paper and Photograph Conservator at the Conservation Center for Art and Historic Artifacts:

"Remember when you are proposing storage housing for photographs that the surface that touches the print surface should be a paper that is specifically made for this purpose, not 10- or 20 pt board, corrugated or ragboard.   The concern is abrasion, and many materials that have a fine chemical composition are not especially non-abrasive.  Two papers we have that are suited for this are Renaissance and Microchamber interleaving."

The National Archives really plunges into the nitty-gritty of photo album preservation here:

http://www.archives.gov/preservation/family-archives/album-types.html

And here’s some in-depth background on that Photographic Activity Test I mentioned Monday, courtesy of the Image Permanence Institute:

http://www.archivaladvisor.org/shtml/testing.shtml

The two sites referenced above – the United States National Archives and the Image Permanence Institute – are among the most reliable sources your could ask for in this field.

An Open Invitation:  Please feel free to share in our Comments section about your experiences with preserving your family collections or to ask preservation questions about items in your care.

© 2010 Lee Price