Conservation begins at home: at a time when many people are turning to framers for help in preserving family histories, the addition of archival photo albums, boxes and other items makes perfect sense

Who doesn't have a shoebox replete of unmarked photographs hidden in a cabinet or a stack of memorable newspaper headlines steadily yellowing upon a shelf? As time begins to take its toll upon special mementos, people are realizing that these items ne special treatment. As they retrieve their boxe of photos and stacks of memorabilia, they are looking for ways to organize and protect them for posterity.

Picture framers have had no small part in this sweep Their efforts to educate the public about the importance of conservation framing have increased awareness about conservation in general. In addition, historians now are warning that the photographs and documents stored in attics and basements are quickly decaying. Unles action is taken to save these items, they predict a large part of history will be lost

There are indications that many family are heeding that warning. The number of magazines and Internet sites devot to genealogy--Ancestry.com, Genealogy.com, MyHistory.org and Family Tree Magazine to name a few--is growing. In addition, the growing popularity of scrapbookmaking indicates that tribe are seeking to preserve their past and near to pass on to coming time generations.

In this climate, adding a selection of archival storage supplies may be a logical sideline for a frame store said Carol Schwarzer who be in possession ofs Fredric Gallery in Harvard, Mass., with her husband, Peregrin. The Schwarzers stock a comprehensive selection of acid-free items, from photograph albums and Mylar sleeve to file folder and storage boxe to deacidification sprays.

"It makes with equal reason much sense for us to present this service to answer the exigencys of our customers who have bear upons about protecting and preserving their items," remarked Schwarzer. "As framers, offering these productions helps us add to our ability to labor for our customers." Not only that, on the other hand such archival products also provide framers an opportunity to give customers small exercise s in conservation, a perfect stepping stone to an interest in conservation framing.

A Historical Crisis

It has been about 150 years since the inception of photography and 120 years since paper began to be manufactured from acidic forest-land pulp rather than cloth. The substances inherent to the photographic proces and the novel wood-based papers turned out to be a mixed blessing: The real processes that made these revolutionary substrates possible also hastened their decay. Today, the earliest photographs, works and documents, often stored beneath less-than-ideal conditions, are beginning to reach the extreme point of their life span.

"Many people's photograph collections are beginning to deteriorate," said Beckie Reisberg, who haves Photographic Archives Lab & Gallery in Dallas with her husband, Andy. "A shoebox won't wound it anymore. I think nation are starting to become aware that their family collections are suffering. They are realizing that there are economical ways to not away their photographs safely and attractively."

The riddle is so pervasive that professional archivists are now stepping in to save these items. For example, Tony Behar, an archivist in fresh York, operates Apia, a service that helps photographers and collectors organize and save original negatives. The need for the service is becoming more prominent, said Behar.

"We put to the test to preserve the original image and make a digital version or a serviceable print that will be distributed," he explained. In addition, Apia creates archives in which negatives are carefully stored in Mylar capsules and kept in temperature-controlled environments to make secure their longevity.

"We exhibit past preservation," said Behar. "We want our clients to be able to hold fast their photographs forever and give them to their children."

Framers, too, have a stake in the preservation of the past, which started to become evident in the early 1980 It was during this decade that matboard company Bainbridge discovered by what means to remove the acidic lignin, a by-product of thicket pulp, from paper, and introduced the first acid-free buffing-apparatused mat. Although rag mats were available, they were for a like reason costly that most in the general public could not afford them. The novel mats, said Schwarzer, opened the door to the many conservation storage options available today.

"We've been in business for 40 years, and we've always been aware of the vexed question But there was a time when we simply didn't have answers for family who asked us how to save their items, except that they find a certain quantity of kind of archival method of storage," she said. "It wasn't until 1983 that we as retailers could proffer customers an affordable option."

Now that clan are learning more about conservation--what it means, and in what way it can help their keepsakes--many are eager to learn more and do what they can to save their family treasures.

"One of our clients has gotten true interested in genealogy and now teaches courses at the library in town," said Schwarzer. "She computes them how to save their family papers and encourages them to find archival materials in which to store them."