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​How to Look after your Family Photographs

Many family historians have family photographs and documents in their homes. Perhaps your collection only includes one portrait of Great Great Uncle George — as a soldier or in his wedding suit or the letters your great-father Henry sent to your great-grand mother Mary whilst fighting in the First World War — but even if it’s just one or a few, you probably want to treat them well...

Save Your Photographs!

Simple Things You Can Do to Extend the Life of Your Heirloom Photographs:

  1. Handle your photos carefully and safely.

Photographs degrade with time, so it is important to store them correctly, so that they can be enjoyed and understood by present and future generations. Have you ever wondered why Archivists wear white gloves? This is to make sure any sweat or dirt from your hands do not transfer onto the photographs. Human hands contain oils and salts that can damage photographs, and cotton gloves are an easy barrier to protect photographs.

If you don't want to wear gloves, just ensure that you have clean hands when you handle them and always handle them from the corners. A few more tips:

  • Ensure you have a clean and clear work area
  • Remove any rings or other jewellery that may catch or snag
  • Use only pencil for note-taking near unprotected photographs
  • Use a 2b pencil to write a description on the back or a chinagraph pencil if glossy
  • No food or drink should be consumed or placed near unprotected photographs
  • Store all original photographs in a cool dark place if possible
  • Do you have original photographs in frames? If yes, remove the original carefully and have a good scan made and replace the copy within the frame.

2. Photograph storage.

Electronic storage:
Photographs can easily last over a 100 years if stored correctly!

For long term preservation, you may wish to scan all your photographs and print a good copy; alternatively, scan and print the oldest or the most vulnerable.

  • ​Keep the images on external media, such as a USB flash drive or an external hard drive. Multiple copies are wise
  • ​Don't rely only on a photo-sharing service online. You will also need to plan for future upgrades with your hardware and software to make sure you can still access the images
  • Use no less than 600 ppi to yield a minimum of 6,000 pixels along the long axis, which is the best practice in many archives.
  • For example, images more than 10 inches in length should have the resolution set to 600 ppi
  • Colour should ideally be saved as 24-bit TIFF and grayscale saved as 8-bit TIFF.
  • TIFF is a lossless format, while JPEG uses lossy compression, meaning a loss in quality when edited
  • These TIFFs will create large files and depending on your needs, a minimum of 300 ppi could work
  • Documents can be saved as PDF/A (A for Archival) or PDF. 300 ppi should result in a good quality file.

Physical Storage:
Photographs are best be stored in polypropylene sleeves, stiffened with acid-free cardboard, and placed in acid free paper envelopes.

Polypropylene sleeves, acid free paper, cardboard and envelopes can be purchased from good genealogical suppliers such as

There are also suppliers who supply professional archives, and are reasonably priced:

All the above suppliers should also be able to provide acid free boxes, envelopes and folders in which to store your photographs, once you have inserted them into polypropylene sleeves.

​What Next?

Do you have a brick wall in your family tree? Not sure how to continue your journey? We can help you break through!

How to Look after your Family Documents

Every family has a history, and over the years, we have helped many people uncover fascinating insights into theirs. Our research options cater for every budget.

You may have in your possession several precious family documents, which can vary in age, condition and type. If you are lucky, you may have deeds written on parchment, wills or other legal documents, family letters, original certificates, newspaper cuttings etc.

The next step is to identify what you have, their condition, and how to preserve the different documents you hold.

Basic preservation: (links to suppliers is provided at the end)

  • Wash your hands before handling anything
  • Don’t have drinks or food near your documents
  • Remove staples carefully, using either a small scissors or a staple remover
  • Use plastic or brass paperclips instead
  • Don’t use rubber bands to keep bundles of documents together, these disintegrate over time and stick to documents: use unbleached cotton tying tape instead – usually comes in a roll
  • If a document is particularly fragile or important, consider scanning it and use the copy, place the original in an archival polyester pocket
  • Use pencils at all times, HB should be fine, 2B if the paper is particularly dark Remove paper clips unless they are made of brass (they rust over time)
  • Never use sellotape to repair documents, see below an example of what happens to the paper after a while
  • If one or several documents are damaged and you would like to have them repaired, you can ask your local archive for help
  • In the UK, Record Offices or Borough Archives often have a Conservator and should provide advice free of charge; they may also be able to offer to carry out the repair for a small fee or recommend someone who can.

For instance, the West Yorkshire Archive Service offer the following services:

  • Conservation of books, paper and parchment documents, seals, maps, prints and watercolors
  • Archival boxes, folders, sleeves made to measure
  • In-house micro-filming, duplication or scanning of documents
  • Advice on archival storage, exhibitions and environmental management.
  • In the U.S.A or Australia, contact your local or State Archives for advice.
  • For very fragile documents, polyester pockets are best
  • Use plastic paper clips to keep loose sheets together
  • Pencils are the best way to make notes, preferably on the folders, although they can be used for brief notes on the actual document, i.e. to mark a reference number, a name or a date
  • Consider placing them in an acid free box
  • Store them preferably somewhere cool and dark
  • Consider digitising the most fragile documents and printing a good copy for handling; if they are particularly fragile, and you are concerned about digitising them yourself, contact your local archives for advice
  • Some suppliers only supply in bulk, i.e. 100 folders, which is more than what most people require. Get together with other family historians to share the cost or offer to sell the surplus to your local family history society.

Do you have photographs in your collections and would like advice on how to preserve these?
Check my last blog 'How to Look After your Family Photographs' which deals specifically with this medium.

Bloodlines Ancestry has many years of expertise helping family historians.

What Next?

Do you have a brick wall in your family tree? Not sure how to continue your journey? We can help you break through!

Links to Resources and Suppliers:
  • Cyndi's List names suppliers and services for UK and USA, butbeware, some links are no longer valid

United Kingdom:

U.S.A.

USA local archives services:

The USA is lucky to have the Regional Alliance for Preservation (RAP), which lists Archives both public and private who offer conservation advice and services (see 'services' section):
http://www.rap-arcc.org/services

Australia

Canada

The Canadian State Archives give a list of suppliers:
https://familysearch.org/wiki/en/Organizing_Your_Home_Base,_Genealogical_Supplies_(National_Institute)

If all else fails, you can always use an internet engine to search for 'Archival supplies' in your country!