You’ve all seen them. Those faces staring out at you when you stroll the aisles of an antique store. No, it’s not the security guard or the anxious owner checking to see if you are actually going to buy something. I’m talking about the faces you find on the photographs that wind up displayed on a sales rack at your local antique shop. The faces are nameless. No one knows who they were or what family they belonged to.
You probably have some of those nameless faces in your own family photo collection. You think they might be ancestors, but you are just not quite sure. Maybe they are just photos that someone sent to one of your ancestors: a former beau, the neighbor’s son who went off to war, the picture of a friend’s new baby? You don’t know, but you don’t want to discard them just in case they really are important to your family.
No doubt these photos are sad and frustrating. Sure, you can try to see if an older family member knows more than you do, but most of the time, you are stuck with the nameless faces. The more time has passed, the less likely you are to find someone who can identify the people, places or events depicted in the photographs. So I strongly encourage you to take the time to label all of your photos—those of long-ago times and those from yesterday. Yes, you know who they are, but there is no guarantee that the next person who looks at them will.
How should I label my prints?
We’ll talk about how to label digital photographic files another time. But here are some tips and best practices for labeling your physical photographs.
Before you get started.
Even if your hands look clean, it is always a good idea to wash them well to remove oils or dirt you can’t see. Make sure you don’t have open food or drink near your work surface. If the photos are old, you might want to even put paper on your table to catch some of the bits of corners and other photo crumbs. Make sure you have space to spread out.
Do I need to wear those little white gloves?
There is some disagreement, even in archives circles, about this. Undoubtedly, they do provide protection, but they also can be clunky and make it difficult to handle the prints.
What should the label include?
I’d include all the information you know: names, date of the photo, location, and event, if known. If you know who took the photograph, include that too.
Grandma? Whose grandma?
Try not use “Grandma” or “Junior” or “Uncle Joe.” Try to include full names (including maiden names for women) when possible. If someone has a nickname that they always used, it’s good to include that in the name as well. Sometimes, you might also include birth and death dates. So “Mary Margaret “Maggie” Smith Johnson (1912-1999)” is better than “Nana.”
Where and how to I place the labels?
There is some disagreement on the “best” way to do this, so I’ll provide some good options.
Write on reverse.
NEVER write on the image itself. Always write on the back, preferably along the side, in case your writing bleeds through or leaves an impression. If possible, I would recommend using a soft #2 pencil. Don’t press hard, you don’t need to. Write as small as legibly possible.
Sometimes the finish on the print makes pencil impossible. Then move to an archival or acid-free pen. It is very important to keep the description on the side of the image’s reverse—you don’t want the ink to bleed through so it can be seen on the front. When you use a pen of any kind, though, make sure that the ink has dried before you stack photos. The last thing you want to do is transfer ink to another image. I suggest blotting every time you use ink or maybe even sliding a piece of acid-free paper between prints.
Using plastic sleeves.
Acid-free, archival sleeves made of polypropylene are a good storage option for your photo collection and can also help with labeling. If you want to write directly on the sleeve with an archival pen, that’s fine—just remember to take the print out of the sleeve first so you are not writing on top of it and possibly causing an inadvertent impression.
Some people like to use acid-free labels and attach them to the sleeve. Just be aware that labels often don’t stick forever.
You might find it better to write the label on a slip of acid-free, lignin-free paper and slide it behind the image, against the photo’s reverse side, and facing out so it could be read. Again, never write directly on the print itself. Make sure the sleeves are not so loose, though, that the paper with the description could easily fall out. The photos themselves should fit comfortably as well—not too tightly so it is hard to get in or out, but not too loosely that it could fall out.
Using paper sleeves.
You may want to use archival paper sleeves, folders or envelopes. The advantage to this is that you should have plenty of space to write a long description for the label. Just make sure that the photographs don’t fall out, especially with folders that are open on three sides. You might want to write abbreviated descriptions on the prints as well as using the longer description on the paper sleeve, just in case the image gets separated from the paper jacket.
Use some kind of identifying system.
In the long run, you might decide to use some kind of number or identifying system for your physical images. You can write the identifier on the image (using pencil or archival pen along the side) and then choose paper or plastic sleeves for a longer description. You can also create an index of sorts as a back-up system. The same identifier can also be used for your digital photographic files, providing consistency for your entire photo collection.
Labeling is essential.
However you choose to do it, labeling your photographs is essential to creating a useful photographic collection. If you take the time now, your descendants will thank you many times over, and your photographs will not end up as nameless faces on an antique store shelf.