The Two Things You Need to Have a Print Collection

The first thing is, a box.

That's right, a box. An archival box. It can be a plain box or a fancy box, but you need a box—a box as big as the biggest print you reckon you'll want to include in it.

Here's my print box:
The second thing you'll need is to...take it down and look through what it contains every so often. Show your print collection to visitors. Share it with other photographers. Or just look through it yourself and enjoy it. A box full of prints that just sits there untouched is something you might as well not have. Enjoy your prints! Take the box down and look at the prints you've collected every now and then.

I actually have a bunch of boxes. But this is the "current" one, the one that's actively being added to.

That's it. Those are the two things you need to collect prints. Well, except for...some prints.

Mike

Featured Comments from:

Peter Komar: "Spot on Mike as usual about prints and viewing. I have several of that type of print box you shared, also several other types. I often go back and view them exactly as you noted. It not only motivates me to go out shooting, but it’s a great memory jog for me. Many of my prints are darkroom B&W and mostly were taken 40 years ago. I can still remember the locations of individual prints, camera type (there were many), film type, developer, etc. Once I start not remembering the details I will start to worry about old age and memory loss. I hope with your new B&W camera system you start filling up additional print boxes with prints that bring you inner joy."

Niels: "Any buffer sheet between prints? The few prints in my collection comes from various sources, not always something I can count on being a 'fine archival print.' I don't really know if I should worry about cross contamination from a poorly washed print, for example?"

Kenneth Tanaka: "In answer to Niels’s question, yes you should place an acid free sheet of liner between prints stacked in a box. Museums typically use glassine paper."

Jim Meeks: "When I worked at an art museum, we stored our prints in archival boxes like Mike's. We matted our prints to standard sizes and placed an acid free sheet between the print and window mat while in storage. That sheet was just slightly smaller than the size of the mat board. We also chose to use acid free paper with no buffering for interleaving, vs. glassine. I've read that glassine should be used for 3–5 years and then changed out. We used gloves for the most part, but other institutions prefer washed hands or neoprene gloves. We had a policy (which we recently discussed here) of display and rest. As for temperature and humidity levels, our standard was 70°F and 50% relative humidity. Most households can maintain a fairly constant temperature, but RH is hard to manage unless you have a very sophisticated HVAC system and a well-sealed house. I wouldn't worry about the latter; just store them the best you can."

Comments

[Dean Johnston]

Hi.

"I actually have a bunch of boxes. But this is the "current" one"

Like a playlist?

Peace and all that,
Dean
p.s. my 'current' playlist in iTunes is called "The Very Now"

[Philip Byford]

The third thing you need (or perhaps better to put it in first place) is somewhere safe to store the box. E.g. About 10 days ago part of a ceiling collapsed (apparently due to an unnoticed small but long-term leak from the roof) spraying wet debris in the room. Luckily it missed my print boxes by about two feet, so I'll be keeping them in a good cupboard from now on.
Philip

[Hélcio J. Tagliolatto]

Lineco photo storage boxes are really long term. About 32 years ago I bought some, and they are, internally, in like-new condition, despite having beeing stored in Manaus for 15 years, in heat and humidity.

On print permanence: I have a print from my son that I enlarged on the Polymax II RC 28 years ago. It was a photographic paper known for instability over time. Selenium toned, it's impeccable.
In the same Lineco box there is a print acquired from a Print Offer by Phototechniques, around the same time. Contact printed on FB and processed according to archival principles, it is deteriorated. :(

[Antonis R.]

The question then is how far to take "archival" protocols.

Beyond acid-free interleaving buffered tissue, should prints be handled with cotton gloves? Or set on a similarly archival surface to view? Never exposed to sunlight? How about humidity levels?

Or... forget all that and just enjoy :)

[Ed Kirkpatrick]

I have a mounted copy of every photograph I ever exhibited or presented for sale. I keep them sealed in 16x20 archival clear plastic bags stored in hard archival boxes from Light Impressions. I used to keep multiple copies of these photos but decided to have just one for posterity when we downsized years ago. I too can tell you every detail about an image, even those taken 40 years ago. After I am dead and when I then become famous, someone else can have the fun of reprinting them. These days though, it's all digital and photos only get printed and mounted for display or gifts.

[Jan Kwarnmark]

As Michael Reichmann said: "The print is the proof".

Paper has patience. It just layes there, waiting for you to examine it.

And then it waits, again. For a hundred years or more, if you are careful.

That we know. But what about the digital photos?