Storing hundreds of photos

[Jane Eden]

I have read the links for conserving old photos. I am lucky becuse after raiding Mums loft and the rest of her house I have a wealth of old photos. The Victorian ones need wrapping and storing correctly.

The problem is I have hundreds of 'family snaps' from the 1920s to the present day. I can't help thinking that these are the ancient photos of the future but it is not practical to 'conserve' all of them. The ones that are most illustrative for my records I am scanning and combining with my family history. But what about all the others. If I do get the correct boxes do I need to put acid free paper between each photo or can I just pile them in the box one on top of the other. Can I just leave them in the paper wallets with the negatives as they came.

When I say I have hundreds I bet it is over 1000. 5 large storage boxes full and these only go up to the 1970s.

Do negatives need to be stored in a different way?

At the moment I am sorting them into families and putting many of them loose in large white acid envelopes!

Help please

Jane

[deadants]

Gee Jane I really don't know what to say. I have to let this question go to someone with a bit of knowledge in the area of storing. PrueM may be able to help you here or maybe your local library. But defiantly in a dry, cool dark storage place sounds like a good start. I do remember Prue touched on this previously.

Be wary of the term "acid free" - it doesn't always mean what it says.  It simply means that, at the time of manufacture, the product was not acidic.  It doesn't mean that it won't become acidic in the future.  A better way to judge what is appropriate storage material is to look for "archival" or "photo safe" products.
I personally use photo safe polypropylene albums, boxes and sleeves to store all my photographs, from the oldest albumen prints (the ones from the 1860s -80s that some call "sepia" prints) to the snaps from my last holiday.  Another good plastic is polyethylene.  DEFINITELY avoid PVC!!  There are so many formats and sizes of archival storage products today and prices are generally very reasonable.  As you are in the UK I would suggest that you have a look at http://store.preservationequipment.co.uk/store/show-category.cfm?cat=4 for some ideas.  It is best not to skimp on storage of photographs - they are sensitive things and as they get older they need to be taken care of, just like us!

[PrueM]

Hi Jane,

deadants is right - cool, dry and dark is a good storage place.  Even if you can't do anything else, this will be a good preservation measure.
Conservation of photos (and documents come to that) is not expensive nor complicated, so don't be put off by all the information out there!  As quoted above in deadant's post, I recommend the use of polypropylene albums and sleeves for photographic storage.  Sleeves can be bought in all sorts of sizes and configurations to suit a wide range of photographic sizes.  I've attached a couple of pictures showing products made by the Australian company  "Albox", to show you the two styles I have at home.  The National Archives of Australia also uses the "tray and cover" system for photographic storage.  You can store photographic prints as well as negatives in these kinds of systems, and can mix and match the sleeve configs to suit however many photos you have.  They can all then be stored upright on a shelf, which means that there is no pressure on any of the photos as there would be if you kept them all in a stack.

Any more questions or ideas you need, just ask me!  Happy to help.

Cheers
Prue

[deadants]

Hi Prue,
  The question that comes to mind is cataloging with this form of storage. is their some form of index on the boxes?

[PrueM]

The plastic sleeves come with inserts that you can write on, and which then slip into little pockets on each sleeve.  Most have one insert for each photo space, depending on the size of the photos - for things like negatives, there will usually be a strip at the top of each neg sleeve which can be written on.

[Ninatoo]

Prue, where in Australia do you purchase those?  Name of a shop or whatever please .  I am in Melbourne.

Nina

[PrueM]

Hi Nina,
You can get them direct from www.albox.com.au.  There is also a shop called Zetta Florence in Melbourne (http://www.zettaflorence.com/html/store_home.html) and they sell exactly the same kind of thing, except not Albox brand.
 
Prue

[Jane Eden]

Prue

Thanks. I will investigate.

Jane

[newbie]

Anybody have a link for this type of storage products here in the UK?
Newbie