Removing Your Photos From Sticky Family Photo Albums
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By The Tree Shaker-
The Magnetic page photo albums are highly acidic and it slowly eats away at your photos as they sit on the shelf over the years. Also, as the glue dries over time it can become very aggressive in the bond between the paper of the album and the photo, which makes it very difficult to remove. Avoid using sharp objects when trying to remove the photos.
The best thing really that you can do to start in restoring these photos before they get damaged is to scan them digitally to protect them from the forces of nature. If you are trying to remove the photos from these magnetic pages do not force them. Dental floss can help remove those photos. Get the waxed floss, and gently slide under the photo from corner to corner. To give the floss a boost you can use a hair dryer. Make sure the hair dryer is set on low and aim the war air between the photo and the page with a sweeping movement. You don’t want to keep the warm air on one spot for too long. Do not overheat the photo.
According to the International Museum of Photography, it is advisable to simply leave photos in their albums if they are older than 60 years old. After that amount of time, the deterioration of the photos has already occurred and removing them without damaging them will be nearly impossible.
If any of you have questions regarding genealogy research submit them to [email protected]
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The Magnetic page photo albums are highly acidic and it slowly eats away at your photos as they sit on the shelf over the years. Also, as the glue dries over time it can become very aggressive in the bond between the paper of the album and the photo, which makes it very difficult to remove. Avoid using sharp objects when trying to remove the photos.
The best thing really that you can do to start in restoring these photos before they get damaged is to scan them digitally to protect them from the forces of nature. If you are trying to remove the photos from these magnetic pages do not force them. Dental floss can help remove those photos. Get the waxed floss, and gently slide under the photo from corner to corner. To give the floss a boost you can use a hair dryer. Make sure the hair dryer is set on low and aim the war air between the photo and the page with a sweeping movement. You don’t want to keep the warm air on one spot for too long. Do not overheat the photo.
According to the International Museum of Photography, it is advisable to simply leave photos in their albums if they are older than 60 years old. After that amount of time, the deterioration of the photos has already occurred and removing them without damaging them will be nearly impossible.
If any of you have questions regarding genealogy research submit them to [email protected]
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