Have you ever picked up someone’s photo album and found photos scotch-taped or glued to the pages?  Or stuck in those self-stick magnetic pages?  If they are not already irreparably damaged they soon will be.

Remember those little black triangles you used to mount your photos in?  The advantage of using them was the photo was inserted intact—no glue, paste,or  scotch tape.  Of course, they should be of acid free special paper.  There is a test called the Photographic Activity Test (PAT) which determines whether or not a storage material will cause fading or staining of photographs.  Paper corners used for mounting photos should meet this test.

The way you mount your keepsakes in albums or memory books can help preserve them safely or cause irreversible damage.  Things to avoid include rubber cement, white glue, glue guns glue, scotch tape, films, or staples.

You can place valuable paper items such as birth certificates and old newspaper articles in plastic sleeves or envelopes.