Every genealogist knows the value of a photograph. Pictures help bring ancestors to life. Many tell stories about the lives our ancestors led. For many of us, finding a family photography is every bit as rewarding, if not more so, than finding any other vital record. Records verify family links, but photos tell the real stories, photos bring people back to life. How and why certain family photographs have survived over the years, handed down generation to generation, is often a story in itself.
Photography is a science. In its 150 plus years the means, methods, and processes used to take, develop, print, and/or produce photographs have been in a state of constant evolution. Which each new method or standard of photography, including digital, historians and genealogist alike continue to ask the same question, “how can I best preserve this photograph to endure for generations?”
Maureen A. Taylor, author of Uncovering Your Ancestry Through Family Photographs, helps answer this basic, yet critical, question in her book Preserving Your Family Photographs: How to Care for Your Family Photographs from Daguerreotypes to Digital Imaging. Taylor is a recognized expert in historical photography. She is known for her ability to study photographs for the historical clues that tell stories about the people and events portrayed in the images. Maureen has been featured many times in print and has even appeared on The View, Martha Stewart Living, and The Today Show.
In Preserving Your Family Photographs, Taylor provides the information each family historian needs to maintain and preserve their own family photograph collection. Right on the back cover she outlines what this book will help the reader learn:
- “Identify the types of damage already done the photos in your collection.
- Take care of all your photos going forward, so that damage is a thing of the past.
- Preserve your digital images – for you and future generations.
- Select a conservator to repair damaged photos and protect them from more deterioration.
- Select a restoration expert to restore damaged photos using airbrushing, digital manipulation, or photographic enhancements.
- Create a stunning scrapbook that will endure, using archival quality guidelines.
- Properly handle cased images such as daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, and tintypes.
- Explore techniques to share your images.
- Understand the legal aspect of family photography.
- Take advantage of low-cost alternatives to traditional photo preservation techniques.”
This book is full of helpful ideas and straightforward information every genealogist needs to preserving their collection. Even non-genealogist who only wish to keep their own digital family photographs will benefit from the information and guidelines set forth by Taylor in this volume. Whether you are a novice or an experienced archivist, you will likely learn something new from this book.
Table of Contents
Preface
Introduction
Chapter One: Stories Worth Saving
Chapter Two: The Preservation Facts
Chapter Three: Cased Images
Chapter Four: Photographic Prints
Chapter Five: Photographic Albums
Chapter Six: Negatives
Chapter Seven: Color
Chapter Eight: The Digital Age
Chapter Nine: Duplicating Photos
Chapter Ten: Professional Help: Conservation and Restoration
Chapter Eleven: Sharing and Displaying
Chapter Twelve: Safe Scrapbooking
Glossary
Bibliography
Appendix
Index
Order a copy today of Preserving Your Family Photographs: How to Care for Your Family Photographs from Daguerreotypes to Digital Imaging from Family Roots Publishing; Item #: MT02; Price: $24.49.