(no subject)

[vivien]

Okay, archivist types, I need family photo storage advice. I have several tin types circa 1880 and two glass negative prints circa 1860. What is the best way to store them?

Comments

[indy-go.livejournal.com]

Oof. Um, for the tin types, somewhere cool and well-ventilated is best. Are the others the actual glass plates, or pictures made from them? If the latter, go with cool and well-ventilated as well; if they're the plates, get some acid-free heavy paper sleeves.

[bcgphoenix]

*does the tiny squeak of "ooh, ooh, I know this one!"*

The rule of thumb for storing photographic materials is to keep them cold, dry, and in a low humidity environment. Stuff them in your attic or basement, and I may cry. (As a guest lecturer in one of my conservation classes put it: "Hot, cold, hot, cold, humid, dry, squirrels.") Glass negatives and tin types are both fairly stable formats, so changes in temperature and humidity won't totally destroy them, but with the negatives especially, you cannot get those things wet -- if you do, and if I'm remembering right, the image could slide right off. Tin types can also rust if they're water damaged or the humidity gets too high.

Anyway. Besides that, most of the photographs I saw were stored in acid-free, unbuffered (i.e. a neutral pH) paper sleeves. If the tintypes are cased, don't uncase them; just put the whole thing in a sleeve. Keep those horizontal, and keep the glass plates vertical so they're not weighing on top of one another. (Ideally, I would also be all, "Put the glass plates in individual custom-made boxes before you stick them inside any larger box!" since that would help prevent them from jostling around and cracking, but...that's not really practical on the resources you've got, I'm guessing. *sheepish* Just take extra precautions with them so they don't get banged around.)

...all of which is basically a tl;dr version of, "What indy_go said." Er. But! Yes. Hi.

[vivien]

Excellent. If they need to be inna box, I'll put 'em inna box. They are very small - 2X3, I'd say - so a lil' box will do.

So... where does one get these boxes?

[bcgphoenix]

Gooood question. Um. *sheepish* Try asking the DPL where they get their materials? It'd be a place to start, if nothing else.

[aisforamy]

Instead of storing them, you might consider getting them professionally mounted and framed. A professional framer would know the best way to go about it, and what materials to use to best preserve the quality and integrity of the pictures and show them off to their best advantage.