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After scanning old photos, archive in a box or trash?
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Jul 12, 2018 08:08:56   #
Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States
 
jerryc41 wrote:
I keep them. Two copies are better than one.



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Jul 12, 2018 08:38:53   #
dbfalconer Loc: Salida CO
 
My issue with scans of prints is that they don’t capture the notes on the backside—-names, dates, places! I’m overwhelmed at the thought of naming every scanned image with that critical info. But keeping originals and cross-referencing to the scans?! I’ll have to really be selective to tackle such a task. Life is too short!

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Jul 12, 2018 08:46:14   #
gerdog
 
If you have ever run across an old box of photos in a relative's attic after they've passed away, you will remember the smiles they put on your face as you go through them. Leave that treasure chest behind for someone else to discover. Even old photos of strangers are art that shouldn't be destroyed.

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Jul 12, 2018 08:50:14   #
Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States
 
dbfalconer wrote:
My issue with scans of prints is that they don’t capture the notes on the backside—-names, dates, places! I’m overwhelmed at the thought of naming every scanned image with that critical info. But keeping originals and cross-referencing to the scans?! I’ll have to really be selective to tackle such a task. Life is too short!



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Jul 12, 2018 08:50:21   #
Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States
 
gerdog wrote:
If you have ever run across an old box of photos in a relative's attic after they've passed away, you will remember the smiles they put on your face as you go through them. Leave that treasure chest behind for someone else to discover. Even old photos of strangers are art that shouldn't be destroyed.



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Jul 12, 2018 09:57:03   #
Ted d Loc: Green Valley, AZ.
 
I have digitized my old pixs some were taken by my dad when I was a child, priceless memories, After they were digitized I edited them in On1 and then posted them on shuttlerfly were they can be seen by everyone.

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Jul 12, 2018 11:11:20   #
John_F Loc: Minneapolis, MN
 
Some of those old photos will be compellingly important. Can one still buy those transparent sleeves that help preserve the photo surface. Ordinary plastic is said to be injurious to photo emulsion. Experts weight in on this.

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Jul 12, 2018 11:20:18   #
JohnSwanda Loc: San Francisco
 
John_F wrote:
Some of those old photos will be compellingly important. Can one still buy those transparent sleeves that help preserve the photo surface. Ordinary plastic is said to be injurious to photo emulsion. Experts weight in on this.


You can Google "archival photo storage" and find plenty of resources.

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Jul 12, 2018 11:22:10   #
JD750 Loc: SoCal
 
dbfalconer wrote:
My issue with scans of prints is that they don’t capture the notes on the backside—-names, dates, places! I’m overwhelmed at the thought of naming every scanned image with that critical info. But keeping originals and cross-referencing to the scans?! I’ll have to really be selective to tackle such a task. Life is too short!


Scan both sides?

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Jul 12, 2018 11:47:52   #
Stardust Loc: Central Illinois
 
John_F wrote:
Some of those old photos will be compellingly important. Can one still buy those transparent sleeves that help preserve the photo surface. Ordinary plastic is said to be injurious to photo emulsion. Experts weight in on this.
Continued storage of photos, unless they are being kept in dark, acid-free, unstacked museum quality drawers at 50 degrees and 30-40% humidity, will continue to deteriorate. And, a real threat is the handling of them as they become more brittle or flattening rolled corners, etc.

As my final thought on this subject, with most now shooting digital, is I can envision this same discussion on UHH 20-30-40 yrs from now but it will be like "I have 5-6 flash drives, each a petabyte, and should I make a print of each to store?" For me, I'm going out on a beautiful day to enjoy some shooting. Seize the day!

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Jul 12, 2018 11:48:04   #
russelray Loc: La Mesa CA
 
Longshadow wrote:
What do most people do with old photos that they scanned? Archive them in a box or throw them out?
I have many that are over 50 years old that I will be scanning. Scans are backed up in three places and in the cloud.
My primary reason for scanning them is to have a digital copy and also make them available to family.
It appears that they all will fit in one copier paper box.

Thoughts and opinions?

I always had so much stuff that I was saving for posterity that I always had to buy a house with one extra bedroom.
Then I decided to scan it, or photograph it (photographing it actually went much much faster than the scanner, and with better results, too), and make it available to whomever wanted it.
Everyone wanted digital stuff; no one wanted paper stuff. Ergo, a room full of paper stuff went into the recycling bin.
That was 5 years ago. No one has said a word, and the digital files are sooooooooooo much easier to work with, i.e., catalog.

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Jul 12, 2018 11:50:56   #
therwol Loc: USA
 
Longshadow wrote:
Thanks everyone, you all confirmed my initial thoughts about keeping them.
(I have a hard time getting rid of books also.)


I have no problem with getting rid of books that will never be read again, but photos? I never get rid of them. Scans are fine for passing down to others, but the photos are a different kind of memory for me. I can touch them. They take me back in time in a different way. Hard to explain.

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Jul 12, 2018 12:00:02   #
Bill_de Loc: US
 
My first thought was to get rid of the paper. But then I wondered where all the pictures are today that people archived on 3 1/2 floppies, Zip drives, Jazz drives, or any other media that is now defunct. After you're gone even stuff in the cloud could disappear for one reason or another.

But don't necessarily save every faded image of people who you don't even know. If there is too much the folks you are leaving it for may never get to the good stuff that you really hope they would enjoy.

--

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Jul 12, 2018 12:28:53   #
robertjerl Loc: Corona, California
 
dbfalconer wrote:
My issue with scans of prints is that they don’t capture the notes on the backside—-names, dates, places! I’m overwhelmed at the thought of naming every scanned image with that critical info. But keeping originals and cross-referencing to the scans?! I’ll have to really be selective to tackle such a task. Life is too short!

When I scanned a bunch of my Mother's pictures to send to my brother I flipped all the ones with notes on the back and scanned the back with the two as a pair filed next to each other.

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Jul 12, 2018 12:33:09   #
billgdyoung Loc: Big Bear City, CA
 
Longshadow wrote:
What do most people do with old photos that they scanned? Archive them in a box or throw them out?
I have many that are over 50 years old that I will be scanning. Scans are backed up in three places and in the cloud.
My primary reason for scanning them is to have a digital copy and also make them available to family.
It appears that they all will fit in one copier paper box.

Thoughts and opinions?


My recommendation is to KEEP the old photos in a protected environment... there are still some folks who want to see the real thing and not just a digitized version on a tablet or TV. Sure, you can print the digital form again for those folks, but "it just ain't the same"... and so what if the box of old photos/slides/movies takes up a couple of cubic feet in the attic? The important thing is that you've protected the old photos for ever. My mom was 90 when she passed, and she loved to hold the photo of her 1931 high school basketball team... it gave her great comfort. (the photo she held was a printed version of the original, but she didn't know that).

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