Financial Photography

How do I remove old photos from the old stickyback albums without ruining them?

I have inherited some very old photo albums, the ones that hold the photos in place with preglued pages and the photos are starting to turn brown. I want to transfer all the photos to an acid free photo album but can not get the photos off the backing board. How do I remove the photos without damaging them?

Public Comments

1. Though I haven't tried it myself, I've heard that you can use a piece of dental floss to stretch behind the photo and gently "saw" back and forth to help the pic separate a bit at a time.
2. Test with a less important photograph. Peal the sticky-back & photograph away from the core cardboard. Soak the two in warm water (no warmer than body temperature) and hope they'll separate. It make take overnight. If some of the backing comes off ot the photograph, you'll just know that the method is still possible if you're *very* careful. Dry wet photograph on saranwrap or similar with a weight on top to keep 'em flat. Examine dry photograph to see if the method will suit your purposes. Alternatively, I've heard of using hair dryers or heat tools to loosen the adhesive. I'm more reluctant to suggest this method. It's easy to fry the photographs. Test with one you don't like first.