Aquil Agility News Blog

Everyone who is researching their family trees will eventually come across some old photos that are precious and usually quite delicate. Old photographs don’t last forever and once you find some of your ancestors, you should take the time to maintain them properly. Knowing how to store and care for your vintage photos means you will be able to pass them along to the next generation.

First of all, never use those albums with sticky pages. They will ruin any photo that touches them, particularly old and fragile ones. Any materials that are going to come into contact with your photos should be archival quality. If you are going to use a scrapbooking method to keep them, all the paper must be acid-free (most scrapbooking supplies will have this labeled as such). There is a low level of acid in typical paper that will slowly discolor your photographs over long periods of time.

The simplest approach is to just store your family tree photos loosely in an acid-free cardboard box. It should not be a clear box, to protect against UV light exposure. You can easily organize each box to represent a branch on your family tree. This method will protect them while being stored, but then they are open to damage when being handled.

So a tougher approach may be worthwhile for very old family tree photos. Individual plastic sleeves are available in many different sized to accommodate the various sizes that you can find with old photographs. By keeping each photo in its own rigid plastic sleeve, you will save any wear and tear on the pictures and you can also then add labels to the outside of the sleeve for easier family tree identification. Needless to say, you really should never write on or stick labels directly on the photographs.

These sleeves should be made from polyester, polypropylene or polyethylene. You can get them at many craft stores, photo supply shops, archival supply stores and places that sell supplies for collectibles and memorabilia. Anyplace that sells sports cards usually as a good selection. Just make sure they are acid free and ideally made from the materials listed above.

Once you have your old photos protected, you should scan them so you also have a digital copy on your computer as well. This way you can view them without having to get out the originals, which helps to keep them out of the light as much as possible. Also, you can attach them to the pertinent individuals within your family tree software. Digital copies can also be touched up a little if there has been damage or discoloration on the originals. Making reprints from your digital files can also provide excellent duplicates for framing or sharing, while leaving the originals safe in storage.

Nothing adds personality and depth to a family tree like photos, so you should do your best to preserve the ones you have. Talk to close and distant family members, and see who may want to contribute a few pictures to your growing genealogy archive.