QUESTION

I have old photographs that are mounted on  hard-backed paper; hopefully, you know what I mean.  The photos are early 1900s. How can I mount these  in a scrapbook to keep them from being broken?

ANSWER

My first choice would be to have the old photos copied (you should do it anyway) and put the copies in the scrapbook as stand-ins for the originals. Keep the originals in individually wrapped archival envelopes. 

My second choice would be to purchase some archival quality heavy polyethylene photo sleeves for your scrapbook. Make these oversize—i.e., if the photos are 2x3 inches, buy 4x6 or 5x7. Buy some very heavy rag board from your art store and cut this into custom-made photo mounts that fit inside the polyethylene—and the old photos fit inside of them. This gives the structural protection you need (front and back) for your old photos. I usually leave the old photos on the hard-backed paper, but before putting them in the new sleeves, check each one for rot (softening) and other problems, and actually cut away these problems in the boards with a knife.

Digital imaging is already the long-term photographic preservation method of choice. High resolution scanners can convert traditional color or black and white photographs into high quality digital images. CD (Compact disk) and DVD (digital video disk) can provide good short-term storage media for these digital images but don’t trust your special digital photo images to a single disk. Not all CD writing schemes and media are created equal either. Some CDs become unusable within 5 years, while others could last for a 100 years or more.