I am now very glad that I started this thread. Initially, I was reluctant to do so for fear of igniting an unpleasant conflagration between opposing camps. I fully expected a vigorous, even absurd, defense of the digital media. Thankfully such has not occurred.

I owe a debt of gratitude to all who have taken the time and made the effort to contribute to a rational discussion of the problems inherent in preserving some visual evidence of our time for the education and enjoyment of future generations.

Many posters have recommended preserving standard silver-based prints. Silver-based prints are among the less desirable preservation methods. Nevertheless, gold chloride toning will remove most of the undesirable characteristics of silver. The gold will tend to coat the silver grains and protect against by humidity, oxygen, UV rays, etc.

Platinum or palladium prints are excellent, both in longevity as well as visually. Older, alternative printing methods, such as carbon, bromoil, etc, are more physical than chemical and thus are more stable in the long run.

If each of us preserves only a tiny part of our photographic output, we will, collectively, leave a valuable record for the future.

Thanks to all who have posted. I hope the discussion continues.

I recently had the pleasure of examining a small private collection of old photographic prints, some of which dated back to our Civil War, 150 years ago.

One group of prints particularly interested me. They were 16x20 inch contact prints from 16x20 glass plates. The prints were dated about 1910. They were over a century old, and most were cityscapes photographed from high elevations. The detail in those old prints was absolutely astounding.

Judy - I also don't trust hard drives, CDs, or thumb drives.
Out of each shoot, I choose the best ones and have them printed.
PhotoTex

The question comes to mind, will our digital images of today be so readily available a century hence? If so, in what form?

Thirty years ago, images were stored on 5½ inch floppy disks. Can anyone read such a disk with today's hardware? Then came the smaller 3½ disks. They are becoming rare and while I still can read them today, what happens when the present equipment wears out?

Then came CD's. But CD's I burned five years ago are unreadable today. The local IT guys tell me the laser tracings have deteriorated. Is the same fate awaiting DVD's?

Many recommend archiving via external hard drives. Will the microscopic magnetic tracings on the disks survive for a century? And, if so, will there be hardware and software available to render the images useful?

Today, I can look at some old photos and see my grandparents as children. Will future generations be able to do the same? Or will our digital images of today disappear like the morning mists?

I am concerned about the obvious ephemeral qualities of digital imagery. I am old-fashioned. I am reducing all of my most treasured digital images to paper prints. For the moment, that is the best solution for me.

I am sure our UHH Forum experts have other opinions and maybe better solutions.

I would like to read some comments.

Boy this strikes nerve with me. The ONLY medium we can be reasonably sure will survive is paper prints. B&W is particularly suited for longevity.

Computers are shipping without CD/DVD drives already. Of course we can buy externals, but the trend is everything from the "cloud."

I see entire family histories being lost due to the stupid and I do mean STUPID idea that digital files are the way to go. Facebook is not your family album and yes, we are learning that CD's burned just few years ago are corrupted.

Did I mention that thinking digital storage will keep images for the future is STUPID. :-)