Labeling old photos

My wife is working on her family genealogy and has gotten hundreds (maybe thousands) of old photos that have been collecting in boxes for many years.

She's scanning them, of course, with names and other details attached to the scans.

But she wants to label the original photos also (on the back) - legibility over the years is important, but even more important is that the photos not be damaged. Most of these photos are B&W on photographic paper, but a few color photos may be on resin paper.

She knows the hazards of Sharpies and ball point pens and is skeptical that soft pencil will remain legible over the years.

We figure self-adhesive labels might be best, if they can be trusted to stay stuck to the photos.

Anyone have suggestions?

Thanks...

number six wrote in post #17379340
My wife is working on her family genealogy and has gotten hundreds (maybe thousands) of old photos that have been collecting in boxes for many years.

She's scanning them, of course, with names and other details attached to the scans.

But she wants to label the original photos also (on the back) - legibility over the years is important, but even more important is that the photos not be damaged. Most of these photos are B&W on photographic paper, but a few color photos may be on resin paper.

She knows the hazards of Sharpies and ball point pens and is skeptical that soft pencil will remain legible over the years.

We figure self-adhesive labels might be best, if they can be trusted to stay stuck to the photos.

Anyone have suggestions?

Thanks...

just label the back with a felt tip marker?

What about a P-Touch label printer?

To be honest, why not contact a stationary store or something to that location. There are acid free pens made specifically for marking pictures on the back. Or maybe look up archival pens. If you don't have a stationary store locally that you can rely on the workers expertise, maybe visit a local museum and see if someone there can make a recommendation. Or even a library if they have a real librarian on staff and not just some cashier type folks sitting at the front to help you sign out the books.
Just spit balling a couple of ideas.

Thanks for the suggestions, guys. A felt tip (or a Sharpie) can bleed through the paper, so that's out. I'll look into the archival pens - although the only thing resembling a stationery store I see these days is Office Max or similar, where nobody knows anything.

Hmmm. Think I'll check B&H and Adorama...

-js

There are lots of pens that are guaranteed safe for DVDs and CDs, but not many that are specified for photos.

I think I might try this one:
http://www.amazon.com …rking+pen#custo​merReviews

-js

That Amazon pen is listed to “…write on photos, CD's, or any other non-porous surface. The fast drying permanent ink…”

I would not use any PERMANENT method of writing on the photo. Any ink can be absorbed into the paper fibers, and this Amazon pen is for a “non-porous surface”.

I think a soft lead pencil would be safest. Something softer than a 2, and place the photo on a hard surface so as not to leave an imprint on the face of the photo. The pencil can be erased in the future.

seres wrote in post #17382478
I think a soft lead pencil would be safest. Something softer than a 2, and place the photo on a hard surface so as not to leave an imprint on the face of the photo.

That was my thought at first, but many of these have been labeled in pencil many years ago and are unreadable now...

-js

What about this? http://www.adorama.com​/KK9406.html or http://www.adorama.com​/MGPM.html

Back in the day I used to use photo mounting glue for mounting prints on mounting boards. Guaranteed harmless. It should still be available and could be used to attach notes on acid-free paper.

I haven't tried this product, but Printfile sells good stuff in general. Caveat emptor.
http://www.printfile.c​om …ndregpensblack-3pack.aspx

Suggestions from the Federal Archives
http://www.archives.go​v …es/captioning-photos.html

Also, Google "writing on the back of photographs".

Pencil is the safest by far, but it will fade over time, as you say. But time is relative; perhaps by the time the pencil writing starts to fade, someone will have invented a better product.

HelenOster wrote in post #17382528
What about this? http://www.adorama.com​/KK9406.html or http://www.adorama.com​/MGPM.html

Hi, Helen - well, I looked at the Kodak pen but couldn't find any details about its intended use. Primary concern is bleed-through. Same thing for the Adorama marker. I suspect they're intended for use on CDs and DVDs.

If we don't find something we can trust we'll take Elie's advice and use labels with photo mounting glue.

Thanks for the links, Snafoo - I'll check them out.

-js

A few years ago I worked with a company helping to digitize and store old materials such as photos. A large number of photos were dating back to before the First World War, and the standard we used was to scan the document, then generate a file reference number from that. That reference number was then used as the label on an acid-free archival paper folder, along with details about the image and image description.

Folders were then stored in boxes that would ensure they was no excessive pressure on any given print. We avoided marking on the documents and pictures themselves specifically to avoid damage to the originals, and to make 'refreshing' the info pages easy: In 20-30 years if someone goes back through then they can easily retouch the folders or simply create new ones should something become hard to read, and do not have to touch the original itself. (And if the folder ever becomes misplaced, then in theory it can be restored by scanning the doc and searching against the digital copies again to find the match.)

It is however, a major increase in cost and storage space, and I'm not sure if it is really all that much safer than other options. (I was just doing data entry, the person coming up with the system was way above my pay-grade there.)

My wife is scanning the photos now and adding information to the scans, so the computerized result is well in hand. The thing is we want to give the originals back to the family members with details physically attached so they can be stuck in an attic and looked at again in another 100 years.

If you're concerned about archival, either pencil, india ink, or put the photos in real archival photo sleeves or archival photo envelopes with tags containing the relevant information. Seriously, I see this type of thing almost daily. I can check with the conservators, but we don't ever write on the objects; we attach tags (or put the items in museum-grade bags) which we then label with Sharpies. The archivists, who specialize in photos and papers, put them in an acid-free box with a separate "finding aid" which describes the contents.