Hi, I have a problem with a project that I started and don't know how to finish.. I want to do the right thing but I am not sure what the right thing is. The project involves a scrapbook that belonged to my mother from the early 60's. This scrapbook contains a lot of photos, some movie ticket stubs and a few newspaper clippings. Alot of the photos are attached to the pages with small staples, some of the photos that were attached at one time have fallen off as well as the movie theater tickets and newspaper clippings. I was wondering what is the best way to approach this. I already scanned each page that has pictures on it as is and saved the images in tif format.. But now what should I do with the loose pictures and other items, Should I reattach them and then scan or should I take all of the pictures off the pages and then reattach everything in a way that will preserve them safely. I was thinking acid free mylar film for everything but I am not sure.. I want to keep everything in the original scrapbook, but the staples are issue. I can see what seems to be rust spots forming around them. Please help. I want to finish this and put it away in a safe place. Thank you, Michelle

Interesting problem. We had a similar issue with a scrapbook that was kept by my husband's grandfather - our problem was mostly solved when the book itself fell apart and we had no choice but to scan the things that were in it (almost all of the items were newspaper clippings). There are programs out there that will let you set up a scrapbook-type page with photos and other scanned images, and that might be better than trying to keep all of the originals with the scrapbook pages. My concern is that the rust that's already on the pages due to the staples would migrate to anything stored with those pages. But with a program that would allow you to recreate the look of the scrapbook would be a good way to preserve the essence of the book. You could then store the pages separately from the items that had been attached to them. You might also want to check to see if there are any scrapbooking or paper preservation newsgroups - the people there might have better solutions for your problem. Good luck, Cathy Michelle, Sabrina's Mom wrote: > Hi, > > I have a problem with a project that I started and don't know how to > finish.. I want to do the right thing but I am not sure what the right thing > is. The project involves a scrapbook that belonged to my mother from the > early 60's. This scrapbook contains a lot of photos, some movie ticket > stubs and a few newspaper clippings. Alot of the photos are attached to the > pages with small staples, some of the photos that were attached at one time > have fallen off as well as the movie theater tickets and newspaper > clippings. I was wondering what is the best way to approach this. I already > scanned each page that has pictures on it as is and saved the images in tif > format.. But now what should I do with the loose pictures and other items, > Should I reattach them and then scan or should I take all of the pictures > off the pages and then reattach everything in a way that will preserve them > safely. I was thinking acid free mylar film for everything but I am not > sure.. I want to keep everything in the original scrapbook, but the staples > are issue. I can see what seems to be rust spots forming around them. Please > help. I want to finish this and put it away in a safe place. > > Thank you, > > Michelle > >