Brighton Ourstory - Lesbian and Gay History Group

Have you ever spent a rainy Sunday night turning the pages of photo albums full of fabulous pictures of your wonderfully misspent youth, only to find the gorgeous creature with the Dusty hairdo fading away on the page, yellowing and ageing like the picture of Dorian Gray? Or have you perhaps sat down to browse through those letters from your first love in your bottom drawer, only to discover the precious pages crumbling between your fingers? Help is at hand. The precious memories of our lives can be saved for future generations by following a few simple guidelines.

Photographs are soon damaged by exposure to plastic, and by being pressed on to adhesive pages. Inserting photos under plastic covering gradually alters their colours and makes them fade. It is better to preserve photos by mounting them with corner mounts on acid-free paper or by keeping them loose, ideally in acid-free boxes.

It is also good to label photos on the back, with the names of all the people in them: their place in lesbian and gay history can only be assured if future generations know who they are. Use a soft pencil: pen seeps through eventually. It's also useful to date photos and give the location, and get into the habit of doing this with every set you get developed. It's amazingly easy to forget where a photo was taken and not to recognise all the people in it when you look back at it a few years later: yes, even that cute little number you snogged under the mistletoe one Christmas Eve and you wouldn't want to forget her.

When it comes to letters, acid-free folders are best for storage: and again, avoid plastic. Identify who wrote what, and arrange letters in order by date and/or correspondent. Unfold all papers so they lie flat: paper tends, in time, to tear easily where it's creased. Remove staples and paper clips: they rust. Plastic paper clips also stick to paper eventually.

Store precious papers and photos somewhere that's cool, dry, and dark, with a fairly constant temperature. Damp, heat, and exposure to dust and sun encourage paper and electronic recordings to decay. Tapes and videotapes should be stored away from electronic equipment like stereos, videos and computers, which tend, in time, to damage the quality of the recording and eventually to wipe it.

So there you have it: how to build your own home archive, and at little or no expense. For the keen archivist, further advice on acid-free materials and storage is available from Tom.

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