Preserving Your Family Photographs: How to Organize, Present, and Restore Your Precious Family Images [Paperback]

Maureen A. Taylor (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1558705791 | ISBN-13: 978-1558705791 | Publication Date: January 2003

Interest in genealogy often begins with a stack of old photos. Genealogists and non-genealogists love old photos, and many have collections of photos of their ancestors, but sadly are unaware of how to organize and properly care for these precious heirlooms. Preserving Your Family Photographs shows how to organize and store photographs so future generations can enjoy them. All genealogists, family historians and anyone with a desire to gather and preserve family photographs in an album will benefit from this book Readers will learn to care for photos, how to identify different types of damage and learn basic conservation techniques, how to buy the proper storage materials, how to organize the family photo archive, and how to safely display photographs. This book is a strong follow-up to Uncovering Your Ancestry Through Family Photographs, which discussed how to identify types of old photos and how to interpret family history information in them.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Maureen Taylor is the author of Uncovering Your Ancestry Through Family Photographs and Through the Eyes of Our Ancestors. She is a frequent lecturer at genealogical conferences and workshops across the country on the subject of photo identification, organization and preservation, and was the director of Library User Services for the prestigious New England Historical Genealogical Society in Boston.

Product Details

• Paperback: 246 pages
• Publisher: Betterway Books (January 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1558705791
• ISBN-13: 978-1558705791
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #629,138 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #42 in Books > Arts & Photography > Photography > Darkroom & Processing

More About the Author

Maureen A. Taylor is an internationally recognized expert on the intersection of history, genealogy, and photography. She has been featured in top media outlets, including The View, Martha Stewart Living, and The Today Show. Maureen is the author of a number of books and magazine articles, as well as a contributing editor at Family Tree Magazine. In 2007, The Wall Street Journal called her "the nation's foremost historical photo detective."

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

43 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent for do-it-yourself photo preservation, July 22, 2002

By 

Michael K. Smith (South Louisiana) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Preserving Your Family Photographs: How to Organize, Present, and Restore Your Precious Family Images (Paperback)

For me, studying old photos is one of the more fascinating aspects of family research, even when I'm not related to any of the people whose faces appear. The military uniforms, hats, parlor furniture, automobiles, urban scenes, and especially the faces and their expressions, are like a kind of time travel, allowing you to peer back into someone's past. Taylor's previous book, _Uncovering Your Ancestry Through Family Photographs,_ investigated that process. But how to protect the photos you already have tucked away in albums have so future family members will get the same pleasure (and information) from them? And how to rehabilitate those you discover to whom the years and the elements have not been kind? This time, the author outlines the steps you can take to see that your photographs have the best chance of survival and describes the methods conservators and restoration experts follow when the task becomes too much for you. She also guides you through the process of creating a meaningful scrapbook of archival quality, discusses the use of computer enhancement and electronic archives, and points out the legal aspects of posting photographs on a web site. Most of the chapters end with checklists and answers to frequently-asked questions, and there are many sidebars and brief marginal comments regarding further reading and useful Internet resources on the subject. Keeping in mind that the technical aspects of photographic restoration and preservation continue to evolve rapidly, this is an excellent beginner's guide and reference handbook.

34 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Information Vague and Contradictory, May 1, 2004

By 

cursedtongue (Chandler, AZ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Preserving Your Family Photographs: How to Organize, Present, and Restore Your Precious Family Images (Paperback)

Taylor may give readers a good place to start in their efforts to preserve family photographs, but offers information that is both contradictory and vague.

She gives a basic explanation of the "enemies" your photographs are facing, even breaking down information on particular types of photographs, tintypes, Polaroids, etc. But does not bother defining some basic terms in the glossary such as lignin. Nor are many of her suggestions for which supplies are appropriate specific enough. Eg., what kind of brush should I use to clean photos? I know that Nylon brushes are probably not soft enough for treasured photos. Even worse she says polyethylene is a bad material to store your photos in, but a few pages later suggests using polyethylene freezer bags for freezer storage of items.

Taylor includes lengthy lists of resources for, and more information on preservation. But some of the web addresses she lists no longer exist.

While she has some good suggestions for long-term storage of photo collections, I would not recommend this book to anyone trying to learn about photographic preservation.

45 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The lyrics of the song are wrong., July 7, 2001

By 

Mark Howells (Puyallup, Washington State, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Preserving Your Family Photographs: How to Organize, Present, and Restore Your Precious Family Images (Paperback)

Mama won't take your Kodachrome away, it is time and the elements which are attacking your treasured family photographs. Your Polaroid snapshots are fading as you read this. Those "magnetic" photo albums with the adhesive pages are gassing your family pictures to crumbs. Your digital images may not be viewable by your great grandchildren. But don't give up hope - take action. Maureen Taylor's "Preserving Your Family Photographs" tells you how to take charge and protect your family's photographic history. "Preserving Your Family Photographs" shows you how taking some simple steps now will slow down the aging process of your photographs. And its doesn't require a chemistry set. The book further discusses how and when to choose a professional conservator, concerns about digital photography, how to organize your collection, and even how to safely place your treasures in a scrapbook. This book takes up where "Uncovering Your Ancestry Through Family Photographs" leaves off. After you've identified your family photographs, "Preserving Your Family Photographs" tells you how to keep them for generations to come.