[Ronald Heroux]

We have many old photos mounted on bristol board type mounting which is now crumbling. Not regarding the mounting board as valuable in and of itself, what would be a good replacement to re-mount the photo on? Naturally I would not try to take the photo off the backing that is adhered directly to the photo – I’d just cut off the part beyond the photo borders. Is that a bad idea?

[Susan-1]

The short answer to your question is, Yes, it is a bad idea to cut off the mounting. Cutting off the offending borders does not remove what might be a problematic mount material and it does remove important historical evidence about your photographs. How old are your photographs? Once we know the age, we can think about what to do for your photographs.

Susan

[Ronald Heroux]

the photos mostly date from the 1920s to 1940s and a few ca. 1900

[Anne Schaffer]

As Susan said, mounts can give valuable historic information about photographs. A crumbling mount material might also be problematic, though, and the best solution might be to contact a conservator or archivist who can carefully and safely remove the photographs from the mounts entirely, if the mounts are not of historical import. The American Institute for Conservation’s Find a Conservator tool can be useful: http://www.conservation-us.org/membership/find-a-conservator#.ViJ1zaQnhRl

If you decide to re-mount, a good material for re-mounting the photos depends a lot upon your storage, but an archival mat board and hinging material can easily be bought from a number of companies, including Hollinger, Talas, or Gaylord.

If the photographs are separated from their mounts, they will need to be stored differently, with interleaving in archival storage boxes.

[Susan-1]

Ronald,

I am presuming that your photographs are mounted directly to their supports and not hinged to their mounts. In the short term, the best thing for your photographs would be store them in archival envelopes to protect the mounts from further damage and to prevent them from damaging each other. If you wish to use the images, scan them and use the digital reproductions for whatever use you have in mind. There are also ways of displaying photographs where you could hide the offending mat – e.g. using a sink mat with an over mat that would cover the original mount.

If the images are damaged or if it you are set on removing the photographs from their mounts, you will need a photo conservator. It is not a trivial task to remove mounted photographs from their mats. In order to avoid damaging the photographs, you need to have someone who knows how to do it. Photographs of the age you describe were mounted in specific ways – their mounts often have the name of the photographer or are reflective of certain fashions of the time they were made. A conservator can also give you good advice about the condition of your photographs and their mounts, on the feasibility of re-mounting your photographs or about other methods to preserve your photographs without destroying their material history.

[Author]

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