note the firefighters smoking while putting out the fire.
Say “no” to these common mistakes (Continued from page 9)
faces from the past eerily peek out from the rolled-up photos, right, presented to the museum by the hutchinson fire department.
does alter and sometimes permanently damages them. Many photos that have come to the museum bear the marks of people who – with the best of intentions – labeled the front of a large group portrait with the names written in ballpoint pen, often obscuring parts of people in the photo or causing deep creases or small tears in the photo from pressing too hard. Other photos have names written on the back with a marker and, over time, the ink leeches through to the front of the image. If you do decide to label photos, we suggest using a soft pencil to write near the bottom edge of the
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photo, and be careful not to press too hard.
DO NOT: n Roll, fold or otherwise bend your photos It is often tempting to roll longer panoramic photos for easy storage, fold the edge of a photo to fit into a frame, or disre-
gard a small corner that has been bent behind the photo in an album. The truth is, all these methods can lead to permanent damage. Folds and bends create weaknesses that can lead to cracks in the image or tears in the print. Rolling a photo can often be difficult or impossible to reverse without causing damage, especially if the rolled print has aged considerably. Rolled photos that do not exhibit signs of cracking, brittleness or other damage can sometimes be flattened by placing large books or weights on them for a prolonged period of time. Sometimes other methods, such as gentle humidification, are