Properly store and preserve your treasured family photo albums in Polyethylene Bags inside acid-free, archival Metal Edge Boxes for future generations to enjoy.
Many family archives include scrapbooks and old photo albums. They pose a challenge to archival storage because they are usually made with non-archival materials, yet part of their history and charm is their handmade quality and how they are organized and notated. For this reason, people sometimes prefer to store them intact rather than removing and rehousing the images.
Another reason people opt to keep the albums intact is because the photos or other ephemera are glued onto the page, rather than attached with photo corners. Removing the photos could damage them. Sometimes it is better to leave these albums intact and store them as safely as possible.
If you decide to go this route you can store the album in a protective Polyethylene Bag inside an acid-free archival Metal Edge Box. You can add Archival Buffered Tissue as an interleaving between pages, but sometimes there’s not enough space for this. It really depends on the binding. Our tissue is thin and strong, but it does gradually add thickness to every page you interleave.
Our Book Storage Kits offer a good storage solution for old photo albums. Each Kit includes two Poly Bags. Tissue can be ordered separately. Box dimensions listed on our website reflect the interior size. You can sometimes fit more than one book in a box. If the Kit sizes will not work for your albums, you can order a Metal Edge Box and package of ten Poly Bags separately. If there’s extra space within the box you can use crumpled Archival Tissue to cushion the book within the box.
Store your vintage photography albums in archival acid-free materials, in a dark, climate controlled environment such as a closet in your living space (no attics or basements!) to help preserve them for future generations. Please call or email us if you have any questions about your archival storage needs.
See also Archivally Preserving Old Books.
