Q&A-preserving pop culture

Preservation question from reader "GINA"

I literally started scrapping as a 14 year old when  I would collect photos of popular groups and articles and save them in pages of albums labeled " scrap book".  The pages have aged and so have the photos, but they still mean so much to me in the condition that they are in...Should I remove the scotch tape and or transfer the items to new " af/lf" (acid-free/lingin free) albums, or let them be...I don't think my grand children will be interested in my shots of The Jackson 5ive or Chris Cross and The Fresh Prince, lol!
Gina

Answer:  I do have at least two older scrapbooks that I have chosen to leave "as is".  CLICK HERE to view some pages of an album I made in fourth grade. I don't have a hard fast rule about how to handle such scrapbooks, but I left my handmade albums in tact and didn't remove the items to convert them to a better preservation method because, just like you, I thought they would lose their charm.  However, I have quickly torn apart incorrectly preserved albums of my great-great grandmother as well as the baby album I started for my daughter in 1987.  Why?  Because those are items that I place a higher value on.  Maybe one day my kids will tear my childhood album apart and preserve it in an archival manner, that's their choice, but for right now I like my old albums just the way they are, but I have scanned all the pages into a digital format.

Comments

[Staci]

I love your grade school pages Lisa! They take me back to my own childhood.

[Talisa Mickens]

"I don't think my grand children will be interested in my shots of The Jackson 5ive or Chris Cross and The Fresh Prince, lol!"

Gina, surprisingly, your grandchildren may just find the pics of the Jacksons, Kriss Kross, and Fresh Prince! They'll be shocked that Micheal was once black and Will Smith of Hancock was actually the Fresh Prince! Actually, I'd love to see these shots myself!