Elac Miracord 90 Record Player. Photographer Brooke Shannon
In this increasingly digital world, we salute everyone who takes pride in physical collections. For many people, photo albums are one of their most treasured possessions. Others have spent years (and thousands of dollars) building their music and film collections.
For any of these analogue lovers, losing their precious albums/collections is an almost unbearable thought. May these objects outlive their owners and give them decades of enjoyment… but this won’t just happen by magic; collectors need to proactively care for their audiovisual materials.
The NFSA experts employ world-class preservation practices to ensure the national audiovisual collection is kept in optimal conditions. While fully professional preservation is not an option for most collectors, they can certainly learn from the experts.
The Preservation section of our website contains information that will help analogue lovers extend the lifespan of their collections, including how to store, clean and repair them.
Here are some frequently asked questions:
Are my photos safe in their albums?
When choosing an album there are several things you need to be aware of. Avoid self-adhesive albums (also known as magnetic albums) and any products that contain PVC plastics. Use archival quality photo-corners to adhere photographs to pages in non-adhesive albums. Read more about caring for photographs.
