Missouri State Archives produces video series on preserving photographs

The Missouri State Archives is offering a YouTube series on preserving photographs.

The seven-part series includes information on how to identify certain types of photography, the inherent preservation challenges with each type of photograph, as well as processes on properly storing, handling and displaying them.

Cape Girardeau County Archive Center director Marybeth Niederkorn said patrons of the center in Jackson often seek help in trying to identify people and places in photographs, but identification is often difficult, and photos can be in rough shape. The video series will help those interested in passing along family and local history with tips on how to keep their images relevant long into the future.

The local archive center, she said, deals mostly with documents, and doesn't typically accept photographs, but photos certainly help tell the history of the region. Among the photographs at the archive center is a collection from Kassel Photography Studio that, Niederkorn said, was rescued by Bernhardt Lang and donated to the center in 2006.

Other historical venues in the area have photo collections and preservation information, including Cape Girardeau County History Center's research annex and the State Historical Society of Missouri's Cape Girardeau research center, Niederkorn said.

But photos don't have to go to an institution for them to be meaningful for future generations.

For photographs to retain historical context over time, they need to be accompanied with dates and names, Niederkorn said.

The video series, among many other things, presents suggestions on the best way to label photographs.

"I am so happy that the secretary of state's Local Records program has this YouTube series as a free resource," Niederkorn said.

Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft announced the program via a news release. The Missouri Archives is a division of the Secretary of State's Office.

"The successful preservation of our photographs is essential to recording our experiences for future generations," Ashcroft said in the release. "This workshop provides an online resource to guide the public in safeguarding these valuable visual records of the past."

Niederkorn suggests that anyone with physical copies of old photos should look to digitize them with either a flatbed scanner, a digital camera, a phone app or through a paid service. She recommends the safe keeping of physical copies, the details and specifics of which are explained in the video series. But digital copies can ensure that photos can be shared more widely and be enjoyed without endangering physical photographs, which become brittle over time.

"I have mine saved to a folder I can share with family members, or that they can add photos to as well," Niederkorn said. "I've gotten a lot of family photos this way, including one of my great-grandmother as a teenager." She said it's important to notify other family members that you are saving photos.

The video program was funded through a State Board Programming Grant by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission.

"Photographs are unique depictions of history frozen in time," the first video narration explains. "They inform us of the past and help us keep it alive. Your goal is for your photographs to last from generation to generation. Our hope is that what we present in these modules will help you do just that."

The first video in the series, which gives an overview of the Photograph Preservation Workshop, may be found at www.youtube.com/watch?v=39MuaObMaDk.