It’s christmas time, and I’m doing a mitzvah for my parents. My father’s side of the family has been in the country for quite a while, and we’ve managed to accumulate some oddities. One of them is the family portrait collection. We’ve got photos which are about a hundred years old. Probably older… my grandfather is 95, and we’ve got pictures of his father’s father, so… assuming marriage at fifteen, we’re looking at the late 1800s… possibly older. There are some ‘photographs’ of a… herm. Style that is not a photograph as I know it. I’m working off memory, unfortunately.
I’ve decided to create electronic versions of these family relics, but I’m a bit nervous about just sticking them under the scanner. (We have one, flatbed, 24 bit, very nice).
What are the risks of exposing them to the bright light? Are there professionals who will do this? Money, while not no object, can be dealt with. The priority is not damaging irreplacable family heritage.
You should be just fine, as far as exposing any paper artifacts to light is concerned; flatbed scanners today are much less bright than earlier generations of photocopiers. If you were scanning a photo often (like several times a week), then you might get some degredation over time (months, probably).
The real risk of damage to artifacts is not the scanning itself, but damage through handling the item to and from the scan bed. If the photo or paper clipping is fragile, you might want to use something to support it to and from the scan bed (even another piece of clean, fresh paper–acid-free paper and art paper can be found at any good crafts store). And I know I don’t have to remind you not to eat or drink while doing this sort of work!
There are pros to do this, undoubtedly, but I suspect that the cost would be pretty high; besides, as long as you are careful, and take your time, you’ll be fine. It will mean more to family members that you did this yourself!
What you’re doing is great, by the way–you can make as many CD-ROMs as you want of the finished album, so everyone in the family can share (and preserve) family history, and you can scan all sorts of documents and artifacts on a flatbed (things like medals, certificates, etc. come out nice on a flatbed, and add colour to the “album.”
It’s free, and runs as a PHP script on the web-server. (Very easy installation, and works right out of the box on most systems.)
Just follow the guidelines given by Rodd, and you should be fine. Be prepared that it will take quite a long time to scan more than a handfull of photos. Don’t expect it to be done in an evening!
The software you referenced puts the photos on the web, and it looks like a nice package. The Flip Album software lets you create a on-PC album that can be distributed on the CD-ROM. Both are useful. Perhaps I should not have used the term on-line in referring to Flip Album
Note: please discourage friends and family from using those sticky-page photo albums. After only a few months, the adhesive transfers to the photo, ruining the image.
A lot of people had their personal photos printed with postcard backs; a great way to date these (even if not postally used) is here:
And Squink made an excellent point about 19th-Century photography; there are many different technologies represented, and many different materials used. I should add that tintypes were in use for a long time (especially in rural or overseas countries); I’ve even seen a tintype circa 1920, from India, of British troops!
You might be able to get a pro answer to this from a curator at something like the Smithsonian Gallery of Art or any museum that handles photos. Maybe there’s one local to you.
IMHO a single scan is no problem, natural daylight would be of much great concern because of the UV.
Also, I suggest you wear latex gloves when handling the old photos to protect them against oils and acids from your hands.
