As part of our ongoing commitment to education and public service, Chard Conservation Services is pleased to be involved in the copy and storage of some of our most valuable local heritage.
"The brilliant diversity and depth of natural and cultural heritage, comes not from our well known explorers, or early politicians or even the great buildings in this country, but rather in the small communities that truly shaped this great nation," says Dean Newitt of Chard Conservation Services.
It is so easy to dismiss the old box of photos stuck on the top shelf in grandma’s garage, but these are the places that the wealth of local heritage is stored. It might be surprising to find that you are the custodians of much of the richest heritage we have today and with that comes the responsibility of making sure that these images can be preserved for future generations.
There are a lot of pro-active things that you can do to protect and ensure the longevity of these precious photos. Ideally, photographs should be stored in an extremely cool dark environment. Store photographs in the coolest place in a home that is not subject to high or rapid changes in temperature and humidity.
Always handle photographic prints and particularly photographic negatives by the edges. An even better option is to wear light gloves made of a lint free material when handling photographic images. Do not expose photographic prints to bright light for extended periods of time unless the negative from which the photograph was made can be found and is properly stored. If a negative is not available, a digital copy file should be made prior to exhibiting (framing) the photographic print.
Because colour negative and some black & white negatives are made using dyes on celluloid, (other black & white negatives are made from silver halides which are prone to oxidation) these will break down over time even when stored archivally. This is not to say that you can not get a print from such negatives but they will not be at their optimum, it is advised to always make prints from your negatives as soon as possible and have them digitized and archivally stored.
All photographs fade over time. Traditionally processed black and white photographic prints may last a century or more but will eventually degrade. Colour photographs, because of the various dyes used to create the colour, are very susceptible to colour change and fading. In particular colour photos that are displayed, even in conservation frames, may experience noticeable colour change after only ten to fifteen years. Instant developed photographs (like Polaroid’s) are also more likely to be chemically unstable and as a result fade more quickly. It seems a necessary precaution is to have the images copied and then stored archivally.
The first place that comes to mind when storing digitized images may seem obvious: on your computer’s hard drive. But that’s the wrong answer. A computer hard drive is fine for temporary storage, but significant heritage or even your favorite pictures should always be saved somewhere other than the hard drive. If that hard drive fails, your pictures could be lost forever, even CD’s and DVD’s are not infallible and ever-changing technology means storage devices and media popular today may be obsolete in just a few years.
"Our heritage is important in understanding our past and who we are," says Dean Newitt of Chard, "And it is important that we have our photos copied and stored appropriately so that they can be past on to future generations.
For more information about the Chard™ Photographic Conservation service go to chard.net.au
