Comments on: Queries and Answers:What’s the Worst Photo Album?

By: Maureen Taylor

Maureen Taylor — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 15:01:27 +0000

In the older magnetic albums all three of the components-plastic, paper and glue–are bad for photos. Even if the newer ones say the pages are acid free, the glue isn’t safe for pictures.

By: Jan

Jan — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 20:07:47 +0000

What about the newer magnetic pages that say they are acid free?

By: Nancy Heifferon

Nancy Heifferon — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 21:40:14 +0000

Amen, squared. I looked you up today, hoping you would offer a solution to this very problem. My dear grandmother, who treasured family history, committed two "sins" regarding photos. First, she made "magnetic" photo albums for all her grandchildren, five of us, divvying up family pictures among us. I needed to pry one off today to scan for a blog post, and used your dental-floss suggestion, and it worked. The second mistake, she didn't label the photos! I don't know who some of the people are so I can't inform my children. Thanks.

By: footnoteMaven

footnoteMaven — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 19:25:18 +0000

Amen!

Have tried the dental floss and it worked, but had to be very careful. It was the suggestion of the Archivist for NARA (Washington, D.C.)in a lecture I attended.

As always, thanks for the good advice.

-fM

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 13:53:44 +0000

You can also warm the pages slightly to make the glue softer before using the dental floss. Then, make a new copy of the photo as soon as possible. The glue on the original photo will continue to destroy it.

By: Valerie C.

Valerie C. — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 13:45:47 +0000

My mom's side of the family used these albums. We've inherited them and, based on advise similar to this that I've read over the years, I've tried to convince her to change albums. But, these are albums that her mom put together, so they have sentimental value. She's extremely reluctant to put them in another album.