Question of the day 8-28-07

[BernardandMissBianca]

Vintage albums

I have my MIL high school scrapbook. It is doing ok right now but I know the paper is toxic. She has written on the paper directly and I can't get her to rewrite everything (her handwriting is almost illegible now).

Do I:
A) keep it intact and possibly lose the contents in the future(how far in the future, I have no idea)
B) redo it and not tell her
C) redo it, tell her, and possibly get reamed out.

I purchased a red CM album with black pages, which is what her current album looks like, just not the same size.
I also intend to take pics of every page before I tear it apart, if I tear it apart.
Opinions please!

 

[Faerie]

Can you scan the current pages? I did that with my toxic baby book from 1979. Granted it's only 28 years later, but my mom's handwriting has changed and there are messages from my Great Grandma who passed away in 1995 (at the grand old age if 98) and my Grandma who passed away this past April so I wanted to preserve their handwriting.

I have black page books from when Grandma was a toddler (circa 1935 or so) that I need to bring home with me and deal with. According to my father, the photos are cut so that she was cut out and glued down to the toxic pages. Not sure what I'm going to be able to do to save them other than scan and reprint

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

the book is too long to scan and I have no clue how to stitch the pages.
I had thought about buying some Archival mist and cutting our her handwriting, spraying it, and remounting it in the new book.

 

[hopemax]

You could scan it in bits. Like, just scan the pics, if there is a large journaling section scan that, a piece of memorabilia scan that.

I don't think I'd redo the book, but scan as much as I could and then make a brand new book from the scans, but leave some space for "original pieces." You could show her that, and then if she makes a comment about, "why didn't you just rip apart the old book" you can go back and take some of the pieces from the old book, archival mist them, and then put them in the new book. If she makes a comment about being glad you didn't change her book, you could wait to add the "original pieces" until later.

 

[KerTggr]

Why do you think you'll be reamed for it? Especially if you are making it available to her future generations? I like the scanning idea, but know that it is annoying at best to scan/stitch pages that are too large and some of the places to take them & have them do it are really expensive too. But if you can't scan them I would think that you are preserving the memories for many more years.

Have you talked to her about it or has she expressed some concern in you having/doing this to the pics? When my sis wanted to scan and not return the pics to my mom's mag albums my mom was against it at first. But then she pointed out a couple polaroids where the edges were already starting to deteriorate and she was all for it. Maybe show her what can happen to her memories if kept in such a way...

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

Why do you think you'll be reamed for it? Especially if you are making it available to her future generations? I like the scanning idea, but know that it is annoying at best to scan/stitch pages that are too large and some of the places to take them & have them do it are really expensive too. But if you can't scan them I would think that you are preserving the memories for many more years.

Have you talked to her about it or has she expressed some concern in you having/doing this to the pics? When my sis wanted to scan and not return the pics to my mom's mag albums my mom was against it at first. But then she pointed out a couple polaroids where the edges were already starting to deteriorate and she was all for it. Maybe show her what can happen to her memories if kept in such a way...

She's hot and cold about everything. She doesn't understand the need to preserve photos. She never displayed photos in her home except in her bedroom. But if I "mess" with her stuff she may or may not be happy about it. She'll tell me to my face it's fine, do what ever, but then she will complain to DH behind my back.
But on the other had she gave me the book, and most of the pictures she had. So, I guess they are mine kind of. right?

 

[KerTggr]

I'd say they were yours if she gave you the book. I totally can impathize with you re: no pictures in my MIL's house. My MIL didn't take hardly any pictures of my husband growing up - and he was an only child. All I've got is a HS Yearbook, some school pictures and pictures that other people took and gave her. They don't have any pictures in their house of people (some nature landscape prints). And when I gave her a Christmas mini-album of the pictures from the previous christmases we spent together she said she liked it, but told my hubby "What am I supposed to do with this? I already have all of these pictures on the computer?"

One thing I do appreciate though is that now she is really into taking pictures (she got a new digital camera). She's a bit of a techy, next best thing person and it's like a toy for her. Though she must be where my hubby got it - she doesn't take pictures of people, just mostly stuff.

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

I think I have every picture she took of every flower, bush and tree from here to St Augustine FL. But not many of DH, her husband, or her parents. DH's uncle just got his stuff out of his Ex's house so I'm hoping he was able to get the photo albums. We are hopefully driving down to FL in Dec so I want to swing by his place and get the books.

 

[lovetoscrap]

I am just getting ready to look into this for an album that DH's Grandma made for his father of baby photos. She worked very hard on it in the last few years, but put it together with tape and glue I think I will be going through a lot of Un-do in the next few months. I am going to scan her handwritten parts and then mount them next to the photos when I redo the book.

It sounds like you could probably get away with B, and that is probably what I would go with! If you don't think she will ask you about the album and she gave it to you anyway I don't see any reason to tell her you are doing it. Just go for it. Better to ask forgiveness than permission

I would probably take photos of each page of the album just for the sake of having her original work. If it is a really nicely done album and you want to preserve her original work you could take it to Print Shop (like Kinkos) and see if they can make oversize color copies of it for you to have before you tear it up, but that is expensive.

If you use Un-Do to remove the photos and memorabilia and then just scan the handwritten parts you wouldn't need to tear it up. Also you might decide to only use some of her handwritting just to preserve her writing and personality, and then just type her words for some of the book.

 

[New England Eeyore]

I have a similar dilemma. My mother made an album of the trip we took to see the Rose Bowl Parade and Disneyland when I was 8. She did it in a magnetic album and wrote directly onto the pages. She labeled each and every float, and we also got to see the floats being made, so there is a lot of stuff in there, and I can't bear to lose a single bit of her handwriting. (She had beautiful penmanship - why oh why did I take after my Dad's chickenscratch instead?) The book is huge - it will involve a lot of scanning for me to get her writing, but I know it's necessary. It's the only magnetic photo album I still have on the shelf, and it's 20 years old, so I know it needs to be done soon.

On the other hand, even though it's not a traditional scrapbook like we now do, she did a few "decorative" things like fanning out our boarding passes, etc. I remember her taking a lot of time to put it together - it ended up being the last vacation she ever took, and I know she wanted to make this album special. I want to preserve it, but I also hate the thought of dismantling her work.