Safeguard Your Precious Photos with Four Simple Tips
If your most beloved photos are in frames on your wall, they are in danger!
That’s a scary headline. But it’s true! Our intention is not to scare but to motivate you and give you the tools to protect and preserve those priceless memories.
Here are four simple and doable photo safety and storage tips:
Light exposure is the leading cause of photo damage. Display framed pix out of direct sunlight and use acid- and lignin-free paper and UV protective glass.
Digitize your most cherished photos – prints, slides, negatives – to have a copy if the original is damaged or destroyed. Clear and helpful information about digitizing your photos here.
o If you hire out, confirm how they store your photos while in their possession. Your invaluable photos should be kept in a waterproof and fireproof location – sealed in plastic in a firesafe is ideal.
Back up your digital copies both to the cloud and to an external drive that you control. Be sure you can download full-size files easily and without charge from any cloud storage you use.
o Share them with family or friends to create a second level of backup security.
Store your precious originals properly:
o flat
o in the dark
o in stable temperature and humidity (in an interior closet works well.)
o off the ground and away from water pipes (the top shelf of an interior closet is often a great spot as long as it isn’t under a bathroom or laundry water pipe.)
o in acid- and lignin-free materials
o in waterproof and fireproof containers
o more details and links to storage materials here
With hurricane and wildfire realities, we encourage you to think not only about your beloved photos but about your critical documents.
Review this reliable information about safeguarding important pieces in those situations:
· FEMA offers simple, easy to follow advice here about protecting those items.
· New York Times’ Wirecutter has very helpful reviews of fireproof safe options and best practices.
· Our digital legacy blog post gives you simple, doable actions to allow future generations access your critical digital material, including photos
We aim to give you real information and peace-of-mind. We’d love to hear if we succeeded!