Do you have a box full of old photographs you love to pass around each time you have a family reunion? It’s great if you do, because reminiscing about cherished memories and long-gone days is a delight. But here is a piece of advice: you are destroying these unique photographs by storing them recklessly in a shoebox and passing them around in everyone’s hands.

Old photographs are very fragile. Heat, cold, fungus, sunlight, dampness, even the touch of your hands can greatly reduce the life of your pictures. Therefore, great care is to be taken while storing and reviewing them. Fortunately, here are a few things you can do to save your cherished snapshots for ages.

Before undertaking this project, create a clean and spacious workplace. Your study table will serve the purpose best, because you will need ample space to spread the pictures, arrange and label them in chronological order, and insert them into an album or a binder.

A good snapshot is one that remains undamaged through the years. Preserve your collection of pictures with these tried and tested, handy tips

Next, gear yourself for this mission by wearing white cotton gloves. These act as a barrier between the photos and the oils and salts that human hands contain. Oil in your fingers leaves invisible fingerprints on the snaps, which later turn into difficult-to-ignore brown stains. With these preparations completed, you are now ready to save your dear old clicks!

Start the project by sorting your old photographs into different categories, like family, relatives, events and sizes. This will help you decide the most suitable storage option for your snaps. Likewise, classify all the negatives and store them separately, so that if during a mishap your pictures get destroyed, you’ll still have the negatives as a backup. In case you wish to label your clicks, use a pencil only, and avoid attaching newpaper/magazine clippings as acid in the paper will cause them great damage.

This done, decide whether you want to insert your snaps in an album, an accent binder, a ring folio binder box or in a binder-box. If you want to dig out these snaps every time your nieces and nephews come visiting, then it’s advisable to either use an album or a binder. These easy-to-handle files look like scrapbooks, which every child and adult in this century can handle. Also, there’s little chance of any damage occurring to your property, provided you choose the page type carefully.

There are various page styles available in the market, like page protectors, plastic pockets and slide-in binders which will certainly save your pictures from external damage, however, choosing a traditional photo album can be a tad risky. When opting for one, look for an album that has acid-free, lignin-free and buffered pages. Lignin turns paper yellow and brown over time, while buffered pages have a balanced pH (measure of acidity) which prevents any acid in the pages from damaging your pictures.

If you are only interested in stacking photographs in a box, use the one that is Photographic Activity Test (PAT)-certified, confirming if the material of the box will or won’t interact with your photos on becoming old.

For those of you who are fans of framing pictures, consider selecting an acid-free frame, with special glass to filter refraction of light. Avoid using any adhesives as they contain chemicals which might damage your snapshot.

Lastly, store your treasure in a suitable spot — a place that isn’t too hot, wet or dry. High temperatures accelerate the chemical processes which destroy the pictures, and humidity makes good breeding grounds for moulds and fungi, sourcing cracks. Stores and indoor sealed cabinets aren’t good areas to keep pictures as there is hardly any ventilation. Choose a space which has access to fresh air, is relatively cooler in summers and is away from children’s reach. Cabinets built on the hallway roofs, closets under the bed and drawers in the dressers make ideal storing spots for your stills.

Your precious photographs are the only way of reliving your bygone moments. Take good care of them and they will last a long time.

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, December 14th, 2014