The care of material objects is a science unto itself and there are aids to preservation of photos and quilts. I am sure that I know more about caring for quilts, after having investigated the matter as much as possible when I wrote the book, Straight Talk About Quilt Care, in 2002, (now available to view in its entirety, on our website). Photos are another consideration altogether.
Photos, like this one of my son and his dog represent a time that will never come again. The photo is worthy of special care.
Recently, when a family member asked me to find a photo of my mother when she was four years old and still living in Georgia, I began looking through the voluminous pile of family photos, in boxes, and in photo albums. Many of these storage situations I had not visited for a long while. To my dismay, in one album, I found that many of the photos had lightened terribly due to moisture that had collected behind the plastic sleeves the photos were in.
My mother, in Georgia, in 1917. (I finally found the photo!)
In addition, one of my schoolgirl photos was completely riddled with black mold. Luckily, I had a copy in another place, so I just threw away that particular one. I have removed all of the photos from that album and am storing them upright in an acid-free box for photos that I purchased at a camera supply shop. Now, I realize that I should probably do the same with all of the other photos that are in albums.
Quilts That Are Stored
Acid-free tissue is always recommended for scrunching up to place in the folds of quilts to prevent permanent creases. Has anyone ever told you that acid-free paper or even acid-free cardboard is treated superficially, to make it acid-free? Both products will regain acidic property: the paper in 1-3 years and the storage boxes in 10-15 years. Yesterday, in testing some of the so-called acid-free paper in which I’d stored and wrapped some quilts, the testing pen I was using showed them to be outdated.
How did I test the paper? Not long ago, I discovered a special pen called an Abbey ph pen. It is used by making a dot on a piece of paper or cardboard. If the dot stays purple, then the ph is fine. If the dot immediately turns yellow, the paper is now acidic and contact with it is dangerous to photos or quilts.
How can paper be dangerous? Look, paper is derived from wood pulp and that comes from trees, and trees are naturally, acidic. To make wood products not acidic, for a time, derivative products are treated chemically. However, they will revert to their natural state.
The testing pen can be found at Gaylord Bros. Co. who now has their complete catalog available online. I have no affiliation with them except for being a happy customer. I am elated to find this new product, and because of it, was able to determine the status of acid-free paper, currently in use, and consequently, threw a lot of it away and replaced it with new paper I’d just bought. (The acid-free paper may still look fine, and not yellowed, but still have an improper ph level).
There are a number of companies that sell archival products but Gaylord is one of my favorites. Testfabrics sells de-sized muslin, which is another helpful product.
Quilts and photos are worth being preserved. Take a lot at those old paper mats and backings, too. I found two portrait photos in my collection in which the acid from those products has actually leached into the pictures. I was able to scan the photos and doctor them up a bit in Photoshop to preserve the visual information on the surface. Check your collections and make sure you are caring for everything in a proper way. You’ll be glad you did.
Patricia Cummings
Quilter’s Muse Publications
