Wedding Blog
A few years ago, my mom passed down her wedding album. My parents were married in 1979 in a very small ceremony. The reception was held in my grandparents’ backyard and my grandmother’s homemade spaghetti was the only thing on the menu.
Needless to day, it was a simple affair. Her album is similar.
Yes, my maiden name was Seeds. Like you plant in the ground. Blech.
The pictures are surrounded by construction paper, and each page is a different color.
The photos are held to the back of the paper with Scotch Tape. You can see the adhesive eating away at the construction paper.
Over the years, I’ve flipped through this album with fond memories of my parents and their marriage. I’m sad that the album is deteriorating right before my eyes. With the advent of services link Inkubook and Shutterfly, I’ve been toying around with the idea of scanning all my mother’s wedding pictures and creating an album that will stand the test of time.
I’m concerned about destroying the original. I want those photos around, but I’m afraid the damage has already been done.
So, hive, what do you suggest I do with the original album once I’ve scanned the photos in? Should I try to put it back together? Or should I try to reproduce it with new supplies and acid-free adhesives?
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I’m so glad you are going to scan the photos to preserve them! My aunt has recently been doing that with photos for the grandma, it’s time consuming but very worth it. I think after you’ve done that you can put them back together in a similar way, but with supplies that won’t ruin the photos forever. Plus, you’ll have a photobook you make so hopefully you’ll have the photos double protected!
Ah how nice! I’ve been trying to do the same with my great-grandmother’s handwritten cookbook so I’m excited to see what you come up with.
Right now all I’ve done is scan the pages, and since I can’t remove the ink (the acid in it is slowly eating away at the paper), I have the notebook in a acid free paper box. I’m wondering if I need to seperate the pages…..
What a beautiful gesture! I say put it back together with new supplies and materials. Any photos that might be too far damaged, maybe you can have those professionally reprinted so you have the original and a reproduced photo?
I think “upgrading” the albulm is a good idea. You can reconstruct with something similar that will not totally ruin the pictures.
Why not scan each page in the album as is and then do the individual photos? That way you get the photo combinations, layout, and any comments. It’s something I’m thinking about doing with the family album my parents have.
@Lolo7835:
It would be beneficial just to place a piece of acid-free paper between each sheet of the notebook. It might slow down the yellowing of the pages.
I love the idea of reproducing the album with supplies that won’t interfere with the integrity of the pictures!
We just scanned my parents pictures this weekend! Fortunately, it was easy to slide their pictures out of the album and place them back in, not disturbing the original. Then we’re having them printed in a blurb-like book.
I say do an upgraded album through Blurb or whatever so that it’s something that will be around for years, and you can easily print multiple copies!
that’s such a thoughtful gesture. after scanning, i’d try to reproduce the album with better materials like the acid-free adhesives. i’m sure your mother will love it! plus it’ll be able to last a bit longer. good luck!
I work in preservation of collections (though I am not a trained conservator, I deal with the management of an art collection), and this is what I would suggest:
-short term: purchase acid free tissue, and cut to a standard size that fits between each page and store in an acid free box, also lined with tissue
-long term: adhesives are terrible, and 99% of them will leech onto the material that they were first intended to adhere to (ie: the adhesive from the tape will actually impregnate the paper and remove itself from the tape). if you want to spend money on it, a conservator would probably mount something like mylar corners to the paper using a stable adhesive and insert the photos to that. if there is permanent damage to the photos, a paper conservator could try to fix them, but it would be costly!
reproducing the album would be great and help it last longer 
I think creating an ablum (Blurb, etc…) is a great idea. You can still enjoy the photos without handling them. Using a new album is a good idea as well, but it all depends on how you want to preserve and the extent you want to go to. Albums are still not the best photograph preservation method. There are lots of resources online for preservation. The NEDCC and the National Archives, as well as others. There are also companies that sell supplies such as Hollinger and Metal Edge.
Also, write the information on the back of the photographs lightly with a pencil. You know who all the people are, but if you want the photographs for future generations, they may not.
When I was hardcore into scrapbooking years ago, a woman at a “crop” was redoing her baby album with photosafe papers and adhesives. She removed photos using the tried and true “sawing back and forth with dental floss” method, and carefully cut out and saved the drawings her mother had included.
What she ended up with was an heirloom twice over. I mean, this was probably 5-6 years ago, and I saw it once, and it’s burned into my memory. Totally worth the time.
How sweet ~ I love that you’re being so considerate!
I would remove the pictures and scan them (and continue on with your album being made).
Then I would make color copies of each print - putting those back into the original album. You maintain the integrity of the original album and can do a better job of taking care of the original photos. I bet the extra cost for thecolor copies would be less than $10.00
My parents also had a very small wedding (16 guests!) but I’ve always enjoyed admiring their photos. I recently scanned them all and made them a Blurb book for their anniversary. They LOVED it! I recommend taking your album apart to do that for sure. Even if you can’t get the original back together perfectly, you guys will be so thankful to have the new long-lasting versions!
Yes! Scan the pictures then put the album back together. It’s no worse than what’s going to happen if they continue to lay there with the adhesive eating away everything. Btw, so cool to have memories like that!
As an archivist who deals with photos on a regular basis, I would recommend doing a shutterfly (or other similar album), but also removing the photos from the current album and putting them in an acid free album. This way, you still have the original photos and you can also reproduce any text that was in the original album, without the original photographs being destroyed. You can also photocopy the original album to preserve the layout of the original, so that you can recreate it accurately, or at least have a record of what the original looked like.
This sounds like a wonderful idea! Momma Crab Cake will love it.
I also vote for the try to reproduce it with new supplies and acid-free adhesives.
I would say try to re-create with acid-free adhesives or find a similar way to preserve the photos. Either way, I think your mom will appreciate it.
great idea! I would put them in an album with plastic sleeves to preserve. You’re spending so much time putting together a printed book, I think that you don’t need to spend more time re-scrapbooking her wedding album
awww…that is such a sweet thing to do. We’ve scanned and recreated my baby album for much the same reason…the evils of scotch tape in the 70’s. We were just careful to recreate it in much the same way my mom had originally put it together. I agree with tissue between the pages at the very least so the tape won’t end up sticking the pages together.
I’m not sure what type of plastic the pages are created from by the ones in my baby book actually started sticking the actual photos…so you might need to remove the pages from the plastic as well.
I also like the idea of scanning the pictures in and doing a Blurb book. Then you could work on saving the original pics better as well. I need to see what my mother did with her wedding pics.
I think you should recreate it using acid-free supplies, but maybe keep the cover intact, & keep the same feel (the construction paper “windows”). Maybe make 2 copies-1 to gift your parents & 1 for yourself.
My parents’ wedding album (from March 1980) had been looking kinda like this for a while, with the tape holding the pictures in and the pictures looking a bit faded and flimsy and stuff. About a year ago, the album completely broke down due to humidity, damaging some of the photos in the process. My mom took the album apart and put each photo in one of those plastic page protector thingies (the name escapes me right now, sorry) and then she put all the page protectors in a three ring binder. The album used to be so pretty too, and she was so sad that it deteriorated so badly 
So, since my parents’ 30th wedding anniversary is within one week of my own wedding next year, I decided that I’m going to take their wedding photos somewhere that does photo restorations and have them recreate the album with today’s new technologies, restoring the photos to their original color and shine and constructing the whole thing out of good, sturdy, long-lasting (humidity-proof?) materials. After it’s done, I’ll probably put the original photos back in their plastic page protector thingies that mom has them in right now, so that she can still keep them in whatever way she wants while also having the wedding album recreated and restored
It would definitely be worth your time to deconstruct it and scan the photos (ScanCafe). I wouldn’t recommend putting it back together with the same materials though - redoing it with acid free, etc materials in a similar fashion would be nice.
You might do some research though on how to take it apart without doing too much damage to the photos.
I love scrapbooking, and I think that I would make copies of the photos now, and reproduce the original album in a photo sensitive way. It looks like you may have some things hand written on the original paper. If it is a parent or grandparent’s writing, I think that I would clip our the text and put it in place in the new album! I would also use page protectors to better preserve the photos!
Oh, you should definitely leave it as is after you scan! You don’t want to mess with the authenticity of the age and paper and so on. I love that album and the fact that it was passed down. It wouldn’t be the same if you did a redo of it! Would it? Just my humble opinion.
i think making a photobook is a great idea once you’ve scanned all the pictures. I wouldn’t put the pics in an upgraded album, just use acid-free adhesives like you said to help preserve the photos more.
Could you scan all the pages as is in their entirety? That way you wouldn’t have to take the photos off the page and the memories are still preserved digitally. It might be a little more work, but that way you could have the best of both worlds, you know?
I think its awesome that you are thinking about doing this! I would say try to put it back together as best you can, but with better materials.
i say scan it to preserve the pictures, maybe make a new blurb album with more pictures of yr parents, but leave the original as it is, perhaps just store/handle it with greater care?
i love how it is, even though it’s sorta falling apart.
Oh wow…great idea to scan those photos so they aren’t lost! I love the idea of perhaps trying to recreate the album like it was originally, but using some materials that wont harm the photos…a new spin on the original!
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Mrs. Crab Cake, Columbus, GA
Age and Occupation: 25, Registered Nurse
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 31, Director of Education and Living History for a museum
Engagement Date: April 6, 2008
Wedding Date: June, 2009
Blogging Since: November 26, 2008
Venue: Holy Family Catholic Church, reception: National Infantry Museum
About Me: I'm a perfectionist trying to balance two jobs, motherhood, my craft obsession, and wedding planning. I am obsessed with all things wedding, especially creative ideas for saving money and DIY projects. A Southern Belle at heart, I love anything southern, especially sweet tea, grits, afternoon thunder storms, crab cakes, and good old Southern hospitality. Mr. Crab Cake and I are planning a vintage inspired wedding with tons of Southern flare (can y'all say that with a thick Southern drawl?).
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