Clean, handle and
identify photos
Cleaning photographs
Clean your photographs as
best you can with a clean, dry, soft art brush. Never use water or cleaning
products. It’s best to do any serious cleaning to a digital copy of the photo
in a photo editing program.
Repairing dirty original photos should be done by a photographic materials
conservator—contact your local museum for a recommendation. This will be
expensive. It may be best to just stabilize your photos so no further damage occurs.
Handling photographs
Handle with freshly-washed
hands or use clean, white, lint-free cotton gloves. Pick the photos up by the
edges and then lay them in your hand for support. Ultra violet light is
extremely harmful to photographs so avoid viewing in sunlight or fluorescent
lighting. Incandescent lighting is better.
How to write safe captions on photos
You may be able to identify
every picture in your family collection, but future generations won’t unless
you identify them. Do it the right way. A ball point pen should never come in
contact with your photos. Use a soft-leaded pencil for older photos. Newer
photos (after 1960) are printed on resin coated (RC) paper that is not as easy
to write on. Use a felt tip film marking pen for these. They are safe and you
can write smudge-free on the backs of your photos. Lay the photo on a hard
surface and write with light pressure on the back along the edge (where there’s
usually a border on the other side).
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Copyright September 2009 Family History Coach. All rights reserved Last update April 27, 2010
