Passing along your family memories has never been easier or harder. It is now possible to digitize family memories and share them without generational loss that was the problem in years past. The challenge is holding on to those memories without losing them.

Interestingly, old prints seem to be the most stable. I have family images that date back to the late 1800’s that look great. On the flip side I have images from the 1980’s that have faded. Black and white is more stable than color and in the 1980’s the chemistry and paper used did not hold up. Unfortunately people throw away their old negatives and slides, as there is no easy way to view them. I have scanned old images from over 100 years ago that look recently taken, if you excuse the fashion changes.

Over time almost all recording formats become replaced, vinyl records, audio tape, video tape, CDs and DVDs. Even with computers, floppy disks, Zip disks, SyQuest drives, tape drives have all become obsolete. CDs came out in 1982 and DVDs in 1995. They have been in service longer than when tape was the mainstream recording format.

Floppy disks, the onetime standard for computers, are often not readable. The data on them was put there magnetically and just like magnets on your refrigerator tend to lose their magnetism, so do floppies. A floppy disk would not be able to hold a single image created by today’s cell phone cameras.

In general, CDs and DVDs are stable, but not immune to data loss. These disks can get scratched and become unreadable. Players for these optical disks are becoming less common and being omitted from computers. Hard copies of music and video are being replaced with streaming. DVDs only hold standard definition video and High Definition has been available for over 20 years.

The choice today is digitizing family memories and putting them on a flash drive. This if fine initially, but not for long term storage. Their rated life is about 10 years which can be reduced by how they are stored and how many times they are accessed. Over time, they will lose their charge, which is the data stored on them.

Hard drive storage is generally considered safe, but the chances of you using the same computer or hard drive in 10 years is slim. Hard drives do fail and I have personally experienced a hard drive failure within 90 days.

Digital printing has replaced conventional chemical processing. Even though there are claims that these prints are archival, it greatly depends upon on how they are stored and displayed. I have observed noticeable shifts in images that are displayed in the open air, like on a kitchen refrigerator. Dark storage, behind glass and not in direct sunlight can prolong the life of modern prints.

Even prints are not used as frequently as they once were. Often images are just shared on the web or viewed on a phone.

What is the answer to keeping family memories? Redundancy. Duplicate important memories to different computers and locations. Cloud storage is a backup consideration, but your memories are put into the trust of another entity and trust that you will have a working internet connection.

Below are some examples of memories that have not held up well.

This is an example of non archival materials used behind an image. On the left is a wooden backing. The acids from the wood have leached on to the print leaving a stain. Eventually this could bleed through to the image.

Silver was part of the imaging process. With age, that silver can become noticeable seen in the bluish reflections.

This was a newer digital print made with archival ink and paper. It was placed in a window and did not get direct sunlight. The ink is chipping off the paper like old paint from the image expanding and contracting from temperature changes.

Heat is an enemy to our memories. This LP is pretty much beyond hope. There are videos out there showing how the record can be flattened, but no telling how well it would work.

Sadly this tape is beyond fixing. The metal particles attached to the Mylar backing are just flaking off.

This video tape was left in a hot vehicle. The case is warped. The tape is probably salvageable but would need to be moved to a newer case.

This old movie film is gone. Subjected to heat, it has fused together.

CDs and DVDs are beyond hope when heat has warped them.

Cassette tapes can often be repaired and the tape moved to a new shell if needed. The little felt pad may come off over time, but again can be repaired.