How to Remove Pictures from Old Albums

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Do you love your old photos and have lots of them?  If so, then you probably have at least some of your pictures stored in old fashioned albums.  At one time these albums were the best way to organize your precious memories.  Today, we now know that storing our photographs in these sort of albums will eventually do great harm to them...
Let's look at some the of old fashioned albums, and if you think your photos are stored in one of these types of albums you may want to consider an alternative that will keep your photographs looking great indefinitely.

The first album type that we will look at is the magnetic album.  This type of album has pages that are covered in strips of sticky glue that hold the photo to the page.  The pages are then sealed under a sheet of clear plastic made from Mylar or polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic.  What makes this type of album so damaging is that the glue is highly acidic and, over time, when combined with the chemicals in the plastic become very destructive to your photographs.  This type of album should not be used, especially for long-term storage of precious family keepsakes.


Another album commonly used to store photographs is a scrapbook type album.  The older scrapbook/photo albums were made by simply gluing photos directly onto a heavy weight (construction) paper.  This type of album makes photo removal extremely difficult.  To be completely safe and not destroy any photos during removal, I suggest that you scan your photos directly from the album and then store the album in a safe place.  If you still want to try to remove your photo after you have scanned it, try using the dental floss method to carefully loosen the photo from the page.  Simply hold a piece of dental floss taut and slide it underneath one corner of the photograph. Gently move the floss back and forth while pulling down until the photograph separates from the adhesive.  You can also try to soften the glue by using a hairdryer.  Set the hairdryer to the lowest air flow setting and carefully warm the back of the page that the photo is glued to.  This should help loosen the glue and make the dental floss cut through easier.  


Next time we will discuss how to neutralize the acid within the photographs and why doing so will prevent further damage. 


Thanks for reading! if you have any suggestions or topics you would like to see let us know in the comments! Remember if you need your photos professionally restored or altered in any way visit www.shoeboxphotorestoration.com

Restore, Share, Preserve!

Adam