Creating a Digital Archive of Treasured Photographs and Documents

Old Documents and Photographs: Priceless Family Treasures

We have all seen the heartbreaking news clips . . . a woman is being interviewed in front of a house wiped out by fire, tornado, or other natural disaster. Have you ever noticed that people who have just faced such a devastating tragedy always say the same thing? They first say that they are thankful that their family got out alive, and then when they talk about what they lost, they always talk about the family pictures, photo albums, and family documents. They never mention the plasma big screen TV, or the Persian Rug. No, they talk about what they now realize was the most valuable. They talk about what can never be replaced.

While we unfortunately see this tragic scene played out over and over on the evening news, few of us take the time to consider whether we have an adequate plan to protect our most treasured family pictures and documents. Even without a natural disaster, this material is slowly degrading, becoming yellow and brittle, as time passes. The photograph above captures a number of the problems in some of my own vintage family photographs. Note the one photograph has darkened over time to the point the original image is almost completely lost. The train ticket used by my Great Grandfather when he moved to Texas has yellowed, become brittle, and is about to crumble. The photograph of my Great Grandparents has a very large stain developing, partially covering my Grandmother's face. It is clear that if something is not done soon, this material will be lost forever.

In order to ensure that you do not become a victim, we have prepared the tutorial below on creating a digital archive to preserve your vintage photographs and documents. We hope you find this information useful.

Creating a Digital Archive: Why Scanning is not enough.

Most of us feel that scanning photos to our hard disk, and then maybe burning a CD and DVD is adequate to protect our vintage photographs. In this section, we discuss why this is simply not enough.

The first thing that must be realized is that it is not a matter of IF your hard disk will crash, but WHEN your hard disk will crash. Any material stored on your computer's hard drive should be considered TAUHD, (Temporarily Available Until Harddrive Dies). The hard drive should be considered a temporary storage used to hold your photographs while you are creating a more permanent archive.

Burning a CD, or DVD is incrementally better than a hard drive, but by itself is not a complete solution. The first issue with CD's or DVD's is the question of where you store them. If they are stored in your desk drawer, then if your house burns down or blows away, your digital archive is lost, along with your originals.

The second thing that must be understood is that file formats are constantly changing. Hardware and software standards are changing at a dizzying rate. If in 1984 you had created a digital archive, it would likely have been stored on 8 inch or 5 1/4 inch floppy disks. It would be extremely difficult, if not almost impossible to find the hardware and software needed to open files on these disks today. Your data is on the disks sure enough, it is just that you can not get to it. Even if you archived an old computer along with the disks, you might be able to open the files, but then the question arises as to how to get the files off the old computer onto some modern platform.

These are just some of the issues that must be considered in creating what we call  "A Hundred Year Archive".

Creating Your Digital Archive:

In this section, we describe what we call a "Hundred Year Archive". We call it this to emphasize that we are thinking about the issues that would affect the long term storage and access to the images. You will need a good PC, a quality flatbed scanner, and, if possible, an archival grade printer. Note that we very much recommend that you use a high quality flatbed scanner. Some people use a digital camera to photograph old pictures and documents. This introduces a number of problems and distortions. If the camera is not perfectly aligned with the image, keystoning occurs, leading to a distorted image. In addition, lens imperfections lead to other non-ideal optical effects. The bottom line is that digital cameras, even very good ones, were simply not designed to archive two dimensional material like photographs and documents.

Digital Scanners: Which One is Right For You?

Scanners are very affordable these days, and we have reviewed a number of scanners. Personally, I prefer the Epson line of scanners and printers. If you already have a scanner, it will probably be suitable for creating a digital archive. If you don't I recommend the Epson V200. It is very affordable, easy to install and use, and produces exceptional results. You can purchase one from Amazon using the button at right.

If you need to scan 35 mm slides or negatives, as well as photographs, then you need to consider the  Epson V500 Digital Scanner. This scanner not only does an excellent job in scanning photographs, it can also scan your slides and negatives. This is particularly important, as many of your older 35 mm slides might already be beginning to degrade. This scanner has special holders that makes scanning slides and negatives a breeze.

If you are only interested in scanning photographs, this scanner is probably overkill for you, and you would be better served with the Epson V200 shown above.

With your scanner installed and ready to go, you are now ready to begin the process of creating the digital archive. We recommend you read this complete article before beginning, as that will allow you to better plan the project.

I) Gather Your Documents and Photographs

The first step is to gather together the material that you intend to archive. You will likely end up with a very large stack of material, and possibly more than you have the patience and resources to archive. As such, an important part of this step is to prioritize the material. Simply go through the photographs and documents and create a priority order for the material. Then create a plan, and goals. For example, if you have 250 photographs to archive, set a goal of scanning 10 a day. This would allow you to complete the archive in about 1 month. If you don't create a plan with goals, you will likely not get the job finished.

As you get organized to create the digital archive, this is also an excellent opportunity to better document your photographs. You might know that the man in the old tintype wearing a Confederate Uniform is your Great, Great Grandfather, but would your kids know that? Will the next generation know what you know about who the people in the pictures are, and what there story was? I suggest creating an ID number for each photograph, and then creating a word document. For each picture ID, include what you know about the picture; who is in the picture, where was the picture taken, when was the picture taken, and then any little thoughts or details about the people in the picture. You might know little anecdotes about the people unknown to anyone else. Take this opportunity to write down what you know. It does not have to be a big deal . . . don't worry about making it eloquent, just record some facts you might know.

II) Create High Resolution Digital Scans

With your collection together, the next step is to scan the photographs. I recommend that you scan the photographs at the maximum resolution supported by your scanner. Creating the archive is a lot of work, and you are working with priceless family documents and photographs, so don't skimp on storage.

A key matter in scanning the images is to not damage the photographs or documents as you make the scans. Flatbed scanners are pretty harmless, but the problem comes in the cases where the photograph is in an old album or frame. As I mentioned in an earlier article, old photo albums and framing material could very likely be acid-based, and are damaging your old photographs. In order to create a high quality scan, you will need to remove the photographs from the frame or photo album. This can be tricky, and you must be very careful in order to not damage the photographs. Because of the questionable acid-content of old photo albums and framing material, this would be a good time to replace with modern archival grade albums or frames.

Another important point to consider in creating the digital scans. You should store the scans in an industry standard format, such as .tiff or .jpg. Do not store the images in a format proprietary to the scanner or the image correction software you are using. This will likely maximize the "shelf life" of the digital scans.

III) Digitally Restore your Vintage Images

I believe that you should store one "edition" of your vintage photographs exactly as they looked when you scanned them, with no photo-correction work. I think, however, that a second "edition" of the photographs should be restored. Today, software can be used to greatly improve the condition, clarity, and visual appeal of your scanned vintage photographs. I think that Adobe Photoshop is the best software tool for restoring old photographs. Photoshop is a fairly expensive program, and might be outside the budget of some enthusiasts. I would suggest a possible solution would be to buy a used copy of an early version of the software from Ebay. I was able to find some legitimate copies of Adobe Photoshop 7 on Ebay for a fairly reasonable rate. Note that in purchasing from Ebay, you want to ensure you are purchasing a legitimate, legal copy of the software. Check the sellers feedback carefully.

Below I show some examples of what can be done in Photoshop to restore vintage photographs. If you click on the examples, it will take you to a step by step Photoshop Tutorial for restoring vintage photographs.

Just as a reminder, when you store the original image, and the corrected image, store as .tiff or .jpeg files. Do not store in a format proprietary to your scanner or your photo correction software. This maximizes your flexibility should you need to gain access to the images at some point in the future.

IV) Create Multiple Backup Copies on CD

With the photographs scanned, corrected, and safely (Ha) stored on your hard drive, the next step is to create a more permanent copy of the digital files. I prefer to to burn the images onto a CD. Even though a CD has less storage capacity than a DVD, I feel there are fewer subtleties in the CD format. I have always been able to read any CD on any computer. I have run into a situation before that DVD's burned on one machine, can not be read by another. I feel the CD is the most versatile format for long term storage of the Digital Archive.

In burning the images to CD, I suggest creating two copies of each. One copy to be kept at home for easy access, and one copy to be stored off-site, in a bank Safety Deposit Box.

V) Create Archival Grade Prints

Unfortunately, simply creating digital scans on CD is not a complete archival solution. In considering creating a long term archive, you must consider that computer hardware and software changes very quickly. If you tuck a pack of CD's away in a safety deposit box, when you might need to access the archive at some time in the future, there is no assurance that CD's will still be the standard. Also, whatever file format you stored the images in might no longer be used. For example, remember the ZIP drive? If you stored your images on ZIP drives, it made sense, since it was a nice removable media. The problem is, these drives are not used any more, and will quickly become more and more difficult to find. Similarly, consider the 5.25 inch floppy disk. If you had archived your photos on this format, you would be hard pressed today to gain access to images on these disks, as the hardware and software to read these disks is no longer around.

Creating CD's does offer a short to intermediate term solution to archiving your images. I feel that a robust long term strategy will include creation of Archival Grade Prints of the digital scans. If an Archival Grade Print is produced, this will eliminate the risk associated with changing hardware and software formats. You will have a good, old fashioned, hardcopy of the images. In creating a print, it is important to use a State-of-the-Art printing and ink system, to maximize lifetime and longevity of the prints. Many ink-jet print technologies have a lifetime of between a few months and and a few years. Even traditional photographic prints have a limited lifetime. In my research, I have concluded that one of the best printing options at this time is the Epson K3 Ultrachrome ink system, and related print media.  While Epson does not guarantee print longevity, I believe that this system will create prints, that when properly stored, should last better than a hundred years. Again, there is no assurance that this will be the case, but remember that the archival grade prints are one aspect of a multi-prong strategy that we are describing here. In creating the archival prints, we suggest printing 8X10 prints at maximum resolution. The prints should be stored in an archival grade acid-free box, and stored in a Bank Safety Deposit box, along with the digital CD's.

VI) Have Off-Site Storage of at Least One Copy of Digital CD and Archival Prints

As we have alluded to earlier, the best, most complete digital archive and set of archival grade prints do you no good if you have them stored at home, and your home falls victim to fire, theft, or natural disaster. The final level of safety comes from storing one set of the backup CD's and one set of archival prints off-site. We suggest a bank Safety Deposit Box. If you save one set of the prints and CD's in a Safety Deposit Box, then you are pretty much completely protected. It is an important step, and one most forget to do.

VII) Create and Follow an Archive Maintenance Plan.

Once you have a set of CD's and Prints created, with one set stored off-site in a Bank Safety Deposit Box, there is one final step, and that is to create an Archive Maintenance Plan. The plan should ensure that periodically you review your collection of photographs and documents, and review any that need to be added to your archive. In addition, you should periodically review the file format, and hardware format you used to digitally store the images.

I do this the following way. Once a year, the Bank sends me a bill for the Safety Deposit Box. When I get the bill, rather than mailing in a check, I go into the bank in person, and pay for the box. Then when I am there, I get in the box, and check the condition of the archival prints. At the same time, I review the format and storage media used to store the images, and consider whether both the hardware and software are readily available to access the images. If there are new hardware of software standards, I consider transferring the archive to the new media or format standards. I also use this time to consider any images I may have acquired in the last year, and consider if anything needs to be added to the archive. I think that this should be done at least once a year.