Magnetic photo albums are not archival. They will accelerate problems.

Do you have magnetic photo albums? Here’s a video from the Smithsonian with a neat trick on how to detach hard to remove photos.  The floss is a good trick/technique but be sure to use weights to hold down the page while detaching the photo, as she has demonstrated. It makes the job much easier!

After the photo is detached and in the interim of doing something long term with the photo, this quick video shows a good next step for cheap, quick, easy archival storage:

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Scott M. Haskins

Do you have piles of important photos, certificates, letters?

What do you do when you inherit a large box of photos and other family history items and you want to protect and preserve them, but don’t have time to get organized, make cute scrapbooks and be “everything you can be”?!

Women’s World Magazine recently interviewed me for information on what can a busy woman can do at home, on her own, really quickly, if she spills her morning ‘Joe’ or a glass of liquid on some photos. I mentioned about the process of writing the article a couple of times on my Facebook Page at “Save Your Stuff.”

Then I got an earnest request from a well-known preservation official in the Dallas City government telling me she had just received a box of family history items after the passing of a parent and what should she do to organize and preserve them? She’s a VERY busy executive with no “down time.”  See my blog post at http://saveyourstuffblog.com/scrapbook/help-i-inherited-a-pile-of-family-photos-and-scrapbooks/

That got me to thinking about writing this blog post article target for busy people who need a fast, easy, even fun way to get things out of the cardboard box, off the garage floor, out of harm’s way with the minimal amount of effort… and expense.

Not only am I going to make your life easier, help you have a warm sense of satisfaction for accomplishing a task important to you but I’m going to be simple in my explanation AND make you a video to see how its done… just for those of you who are more visual. Continue Reading “Inexpensive and Fast Archival Method For Storing Photos, Letters and Certificates the Best Way – 7 Easy Steps, A Video Testimonial and a Quick Instructional Video”»

This question (and answer) is reproduced here for the benefit of all… this is a very common situation that appeals to the heart of family history.

To Scott,

Thank you for the photo archival information that you sent to me as the Preservation Tips that I signed up for on www.saveyourstuffblog.com. It’s been very useful.

I put the info in your book to use recently. I found a ton of photos of my parents from the 1940s on… A lot of photos of my dad’s from WW2. I quickly put them in photo albums to protect them per your recommendation. I, also, found a scrapbook of my Mother’s from the 40s that’s falling apart. She wrote names on the paper pages so I need to retain those mounting pages, but they are disintegrating. The photos are attached with those corner triangular shaped things that the photos slide into. Any ideas?

Louise Elam

Park and Rec Dept. (Care of Public Art Work)

City of Dallas, TX

Piles of family photos handed down from relatives

Louise,

Congratulations of taking action! There are two things you can/should do:

Continue Reading “Help, I Inherited A Pile Of Family Photos and Scrapbooks!”»

Real versus Fake?

Distinguishing a genuine work of art from a counterfeit wannabe stands at the base of every collector’s worry. “Fakes” are not always an effort to deceive.  However, most “fakes” are fraudulent. Here are a few different scenarios to consider:

• An artist’s estate can ethically add an artist’s signature to a piece post mortem in an effort to identify the estate and the artist on artwork that was unsigned originally.
• An unscrupulous art dealer can add a signature to make the artwork more valuable.  Even the counterfeit signature of an unknown name can make the artwork more valuable than an unsigned painting.
• A “new” painting can be antiqued to look old.
• An old painting can be restored ineptly in order  to mask or disguise repairs that it changes the nature of the artwork and the art is no longer an “original.”
• Old artwork, now dirty, can be mistaken for something it is not.  This can be an honest mistake by a collector or dealer.

Here are two interesting examples that recently came into the lab: Continue Reading “Tips for Collectors: Protecting Yourself from Counterfeit and Fraudulent Art”»