It is an amazing experience to be able to look back on your family history and see pictures of your grandfather as a child or, if you’re lucky, your great-grandfather’s grandmother as a child. If you haven’t already, you probably will inherit old family photos at some point in your life. These photographs represent your family heritage and all of the big and small life decisions that were made in order for you to become the person you are today. Preserving these photos, as well as your own new photos, is important so that other members of your family can have the same experience generations from now. That is why it’s important to know about all of the different archival storage products that are out there to protect your family’s memories.

Common mistakes of storing photos

Unfortunately, there are some bad habits that have developed when it comes to keeping and storing old photos. Many people will either put the photos in a three-ring binder or make a photo box out of an old shoe box. These do little to protect the images. Worse yet, they might put the photos in the attic or basement. Doing this can actually cause damage to the photos beyond repair. This is because both a basement and attic are prone to highly fluctuating temperatures and humidity, which can cause discoloration or warping of the photo.

Another bad practice of photo archiving is displaying photos in a simple frame. This exposes the important paper or photo to both visible and ultraviolet light, which causes darkening, fading and other types of warping over time.

Proper storage techniques

A way to guard against these situations is by investing in archival storage products. For example, if you really want to display your photos or family papers around your house, find an ultraviolet filtering glass or a frame made with acrylic. Try to display these photos in an area of your home that doesn’t receive a lot of sunlight such as a hallway or back room.

Another archival storage process is to display copies of the original papers and photos. This way, you can store the originals in archival photo drop front boxes or archival photo binders for safe keeping. One way to ensure that you will always have these photos is by making digital copies of them. This is the best way to ensure you will at least have copies of important photos or papers in the event of a fire or flood. By creating copies, you ensure you’ll never risk losing them forever.

We understand how important it is to keep your family’s memories preserved. That’s why we offer multiple types of archival storage products that will fit your needs and desires from display to binder options. Call us today for the best in archival storage products.