I've been reading the responses. Preservation of photograph images is a complicated project. Long-term preservation of research materials generally depends on the paper on which the information has been printed. Newspaper is the most acidic and short-lived of papers....so as it deteriorates so does the readability or access to the information on it. That's why it is easier in this case to preserve the information by photocopying onto acid- free paper. Photographs however consist of an emulsion base on top of paper. So the preservation of the image will depend a great deal on the paper it is on. If the photograph is in color, then you will also have long-term deterioration of the colors depending on the inks used, storage conditions and the like. Today's laser printers act like color printers. The photograph is scanned to produce the yellow, red, and blue templates. Longevity of laser copies is dependent on the paper used, and since most quick copy places are not using acid-free paper.....the laser copy is no more long-lasting than the paper used. The new generation of home color printers for printing and for photographs--- well, archivists just don't know enough yet about the materials used in these tools to know their longevity. The color inks themselves may be more water based than oil, for example. Perhaps they are soy inks. I noticed that a copy from my HP inkjet printer ran when it was exposed to water....but if it had been a photocopy from an xerographic process, water would not have affected the image. We lose so many family pictures when relative pass away and someone "cleans" out the house....that if it is up to me, I prefer spending a little more and getting negatives and extra copies. Dean Dean DeBolt, University Librarian Special Collections and West Florida Archives University of West Florida Library 11000 University Parkway Pensacola, FL 32514-5750 Tele: 850-474-2213. Fax: 850-474-3338. E-mail: ddebolt@uwf.edu ---------------------------------------------------- Reach me by ICQ. My ICQ# is 14599771 or, * Page me online through my Personal Communication Center: http://wwp.mirabilis.com/14599771 (go there and try it ----------------------------------------------------