[thoughtomator]

If you want to preserve real photographs for posterity, get them laminated. Without some environment protection they will degrade over time and with handling.

[Ancesthntr]

“If you want to preserve real photographs for posterity, get them laminated. Without some environment protection they will degrade over time and with handling.”

---

Another thing to do is to digitize them, then put the entire collection on multiple high-quality CDs, hard drives and thumb drives. Spread those storage devices out among many people in many locations, so that if some are lost or destroyed, the family still has them. Putting them on the web (as part of an Ancestry tree, for example, or a family website with restricted access if you prefer) is an additional safeguard. WRT the electronic copies, I like to wrap them in bubble wrap, then in aluminum foil, and then in another layer of bubble wrap - that way any electrical discharges (including an EMP) will not destroy or scramble the data.

[goodnesswins]

About lamination....I don’t have a laminator. Should I buy one...or have it done elsewhere?

To ALL...thanks for your suggestions. I have been doing some of all (scan, thumb drives, books). I appreciate hearing others thoughts on perpetuation of photos. I agree that REAL photos may hold value later...I even have a few tin types. Now I’m trying to decide whether some silver pieces may have belonged to a former Governor who we think also is the source (purchaser) of a 1721 issue of Magna Carta.