Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with archival

I want a fancy printer. How archival should my prints be?

actionpact — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 13:17:32 -0800

I'm looking into getting a nice printer for printing fine-art quality prints. Help me decide between a couple (Epson v. Canon), and let me know your opinion re: 'archival' quality... I've been toying with the idea of getting a nice printer and making good quality prints (on matte fine art paper, like Hahnemuhle) from my illustrations for a while now. Previous research had always gotten me to believe that pigment based printers were the way to go, as dye-based systems would fade over time, despite some initially brilliant color.

I was looking at the Epson R1900 as most illustrators/designers I know recommend Epsons for doing home studio printing. A friend of mine though suggested the Canon Pro9000MkII printer, which looks like a nice printer except for the fact it's dye-based. His explanation: Supposedly the prints can last 30-100 years which is pretty good for a $20-30 print he sells. Conversely, supposedly the ink based prints have truer colors and he largely prefers the Canon. I can't really fault that logic. But most everyone I see selling prints online sell pigment based prints and I wonder-- does that make a difference for the buyer? Obviously you're getting a print and not an original, but say you were buying a $25 print, would you be less likely to buy it if it were a dye-based ink or would that matter to you? By now the technology on these high end consumer products makes it so almost all the prints seem to be archival to a degree....

My friend is sending me a proof of one of my prints to show me, and I ordered a sample from Epson. It seems like the printers and their inks are largely comparable in price, so those aren't big issues. In the meantime all I can do is wait (tricky). But I guess my question is-- which one would be better for making quality art prints, and accurately hued ones at that? (and the easier the better, really-- I'm picky about color.) How archival would you expect a $20-30 print to be?

Mefites who own of either of these models of printers would be appreciated too. Especially if you print warmer hued images (I use oranges, peaches, purples a lot and I hear those are hardest to reproduce.) I just am having a hard time choosing between two printers who are both probably pretty good.

Mounted Cards under Glass

SansPoint — Sat, 02 May 2009 12:52:51 -0800

How can I mount a set of playing card like things in a frame without damaging or discoloring them? I have a deck of picture cards that I would like to mount in a frame. The cards are basically standard modern playing cards, shellacked or whatever they do to them. I want to mount them on something, put them in a frame, and put them on my wall to show off, but I have no idea what solution I could use to a) mount them successfully, and b) have the option to de-mount them and put them in their/a box without having something discolor or otherwise damage the cards. I don't want anything permanent.

Any suggestions?

Turning thousands of photos into billions of bits?

killdevil — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 21:04:04 -0800

My dad has many thousands of photos in 35mm slide and print form (the output of 40 years as a photography hobbyist). He's looking for an archival-quality photo scanner that can handle both formats, as well as provide some degree of bulk-load automation. What should he get?

How to Create Non-Paginated PDFs from Current Webpage of Firefox?

WCityMike — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 11:54:24 -0800

Is there a Firefox extension, or Mac app that can work with what is currently on Firefox, which will export the current webpage as a PDF file that is not paginated and reproduces the screen appearance, such as what Saft's "Export PDF" feature offers for Safari? The Saft plugin for the Macintosh version of Apple Safari offers a feature called "Export PDF" in which the page is exported as one long PDF file. The PDF file is not like the one you might get by picking "Save as PDF..." from the PDF menu on the Print dialog; it works off the screen version of the current webpage. This webpage more accurately describes, and gives you a visual example of, the feature.

This is perfect for my archiving purposes; it retains the text as text, so that I can then highlight it or annotate it using Skim, yet leaves the result near-identical to the original. The only problem? I don't use Safari any longer. I currently use a very klutzy process of passing the URL over to Safari using Safari View and then having a macro pick the contextual menu item, do the renaming, and so on. The problem is that if the timing is imperfect due to system lag, or if a new extension has rearranged the order of items in the contextual menu, the macro misbehaves. I'd much prefer to have a Firefox-native solution, or an Apple application that will work directly with Firefox.

Saving the URL as an image, such as is currently offered by some extensions and Mac applications (such as Paparazzi), is not a useful solution to me because it does not preserve the text as text within the document.

Thanks!

What is good long-term storage for pencil-and-ink illustration work?

cadge — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 15:11:20 -0800

I've been drawing a lot lately (pencil and ink on Bristol board, 13x18" max). What are good solutions for storing all of this art for the long term? I'm concerned about archival quality and protection from fire/water damage. I'm working on establishing myself as an illustrator, and it bugs me that I don't have any proper storage system for all of the art I'm creating.

The artwork is all pencil and ink on Bristol board. The size ranges from 8.5x11" to about 13x18". These are pages of comics, so I often end up with 10 or more new pages per project.

What kind of storage options are out there for keeping this stuff well into the future? I'm concerned mainly about some kind of container that won't affect the art (archival quality). I'm also concerned about preventing fire and water damage, but the archival issues are higher. I'm looking for some kind of containers that I can keep in my office.

Why is it so difficult to find historical footage of past events which were, at the time, broadcast for free?

chos — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 13:20:09 -0800

Why is it so difficult to find historical footage of past events which were, at the time, broadcast for free (for example, archival video of the Olympic Games and the Oscars)? Wouldn't the economic value of making these events available somehow (for a fee) outweigh their value sitting on a shelf somewhere, unwatchable except in tiny snippets or on very rare special occasions? The current Beijing games has made me interested in going back to see events from past Olympics, especially those featuring athletes who are competing again this time. Considering the popularity of these types of events, I am surprised that it isn't possible to find archival video (either legally for purchase, or otherwise). I have observed this same behavior at work with other high-popularity events, like the Super Bowl or the Oscars.

Obviously the broadcast/distribution rights-holders of these events are fiercely protecting their property, as one would expect. It would seem, however, that the value of these events goes down immediately after they are completed (after everyone knows the winner of the game, most people would have no interest in watching). I am interested in understanding the economic rationale behind limiting their availability - is this a Long Tail kind of thing where it wouldn't actually be worth it to produce DVDs or otherwise manage these assets? Or is the strict limitation supposed to add to the "special/exclusive" nature of these events, thus attracting more viewers the next time they occur?

Old tapes worth keeping.

typewriter — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 08:19:18 -0800

How should I store these 20-year old cassette tapes with historic value? At some point, I plan to transfer the information on the tapes to a digital format and googling tells me it won't be insanely difficult. I've also read this question/answer but I think I am not comfortable sending out the tapes due to some sensitive content. In the meantime, I want to keep the tapes in the best condition possible so that when I have the time/resources to do the transfer they will be in good shape. The microphone used seems to be quite high-quality, as there is a lot of audio detail that obviously I would like to preserve. In a standard home environment, what is the best storage solution for these tapes?

Photo collages: the sticky and the permanent

lisa g — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 10:32:09 -0800

I'm starting a series of collages where I'm attaching bits of photos to other photos, and I'm curious about the best adhesives and sealants for archival purposes. The photos in question are C-prints, not inkjets. Some will be digital C-prints from a lab, and some might be from a darkroom -- but they'll all be on Fuji Crystal Archive paper.

My goal is to have the adhesive be as permanent as possible and for the sealant to dry clear and stay clear over the years (and not alter the colors of the photos).

I'm new to collage, so I'm learning as I go along. I've done some Googling and looked at various web forums (like this and this), but none seem to deal specifically with photos on photos. I guess I've got it easier than some collagists (sp?), as I'm dealing with relatively thick photos and not thin old newsprint, but of course photos have issues of their own.

I've done a few test runs with Crafter's Pick brand "Decoupage and Collage Gel," which says it's archival; it dries clear and seems fine. But I know there's a ton of stuff out there.

Bonus: If I mount these collages on wood or aluminum or cintra, what's the best permanent adhesive for that? I've previously had some C-prints professionally mounted on cintra, and a few are beginning to unstick at the corners after only a few years. Though maybe it was just a bad mounting job. I'm not sure what adhesive they used.

thanks for any help!

Ah, the days before digital.

sararah — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 07:49:43 -0800

I'm looking for the best way to get good quality scans of old photos and then store them permanently in archival albums or envelopes. On a recent mission to declutter and avoid Actual Work, I have been sifting through the contents of my closet and going through old photos and paperwork. I started scanning in a few of the photos, but my free with mail-in rebate Canon MP460 isn't really the greatest for archival work. I personally don't have a ton of pictures (although I probably have several hundred), but if this works well I would also consider doing it for my parents. I don't really have many of the negatives or they are in complete disarray, so scanning the prints is going to be the best option for me. Most of the photos are 4x6 prints, many of them glossy finish, developed at your local megamart, etc.

-What are online or local scanning services that would do the best job of archival scanning of pictures? I live in Iowa so the closest "metropolis" to me is Des Moines.
-Alternatively, is there a reasonably priced scanner that I should buy that would pay for itself versus sending the photos out?
-After I'm done scanning everything, how to store? Some my pictures are already starting to stick to themselves, and I'm sure many of my parents' are just as bad. I'm looking for the best acid-free photo albums or envelopes/boxes.

Help me build a device to last the ages... and still work!

-harlequin- — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 10:47:11 -0800

Help me build a device to last the ages - and still function! For a hobby/art project, I'm building a pocket-sized gadget comprised of electronics, gears, metal, glass, wood, plastic, etc. Is there any particular book or other source that stands out as the bible on issues of long-lasting methods and materials? Ie covers questions like how transparent and strong various plastics remain after X years/decades of sun and UV? Which material/method of lubrication for gears will best last decades under X conditions? Which soldier alloy? If it's relevant, I am prepared to use exotic materials and techniques where useful for longevity (for example gold plating, or hermetic sealing, inert gases, etc).

The problem is that each of the example questions I mention above are subjects on which tomes and tomes of research and detailed engineering analysis have been written. And I have hundreds of questions like these spanning many fields. I do not have the lifetimes to become an engineering specialist in a hundred fields, yet I would still like to have a decent shot and building things that are seriously reliable for seriously long time (compared to modern consumer standards). I want something that systematically just gets to the point for a wide range of materials and techniques.

Is there any particular book, or reference that stands out on the subject? A Pocket Ref of long-lasting methods and materials?
Or a few key books (2-4) that together cover nearly everything?
Or some other way to learn a lot about the tricks of building electronics and devices to last?

For most of the example questions I mentioned (best solder alloy, etc) I already have a pretty good idea of the answer - they're just examples of the kind of questions I have, so don't worry about trying to directly answer them here - I'm much more interested in finding a book or something on this stuff, especially to learn about my "unknown unknowns" - the longevity problems that haven't even occurred to me, familiar materials with long-term properties I had no idea about, etc.)

I actually have a range of things I'd like to build, and for all of them I basically want to learn how to go the extra mile (or six) to make them really long-lasting.

Packing slightly damp books for storage

fire&wings — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 17:18:09 -0800

I'm planning on storing a large amount of (very slightly damp) books. Advice required. I'm looking to put around 150 large format/hardback books and 250-300 paperbacks into storage. The books have been in a slightly damp environment but the majority are not badly damaged. The cheap ones have wrinkled slightly but most are normal or close to normal. They have no great value but I'd like to keep them as nice as possible.

My plan is to lay them out in a dry environment for 24hrs then pack them into cardboard boxes with the covers facing upwards. To me this would offer the best chance of keeping the pages straight and would minimise any bending or buckling that packing them with the spine facing upwards (or other methods) might cause. The books will be stored in boxes in a normal environment after this.

Any advice is welcome on how to best combat/resolve the dampness. Is silica gel an option? Any other tips? As I say they are just showing the first signs of dampness - I want to make sure it won't get any worse. Thanks.

How do I antialias scanned TIFF images?

mrbill — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 08:50:31 -0800

Scanning a book and converting to a PDF - how do I antialias the scanned page images? I'm in the process of scanning a long-out-of-print book and making it into a PDF.

I've scanned the pages as 300dpi 1-bit B&W TIFF files. When viewed in Preview or Acrobat Reader (which have "antialias" features), they look great. When I look at them with Foxit Reader or xPDF, the pages look rough and "jaggy".

My question - is there a software filter or effect that I can apply to the TIFF files (even if I have to make the result 4 or 8-bit grayscale instead of B&W) that will give me the same effect without having to depend on the PDF viewer application?

Some sample images:

Introduction (TIFF | GIF)
Page 91 (TIFF | GIF)

I've looked at ImageMagick, but it apparently will only antialias images when converting PostScript or vector image formats into bitmaps.

(The reason for my efforts is that there is still a demand for the book - originally priced $15.95 in 1981, used copies now go for anywhere from $40 to $400. This is being done with the full permission of the author/copyright holder, who will make the book available for download on his website.)

Life in New Orleans in 1925

thivaia — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 09:23:47 -0800

Where is good source of information about everyday life in New Orleans during the 1920s? The short version is that I'm working on a family history project and my suriving family members from New Orleans were too young to have any clear sense of their surrounding environment at that time. I can find a lot of information on art, music, and, for lack of a better term, "the seedy underbelly," less on the mundane details. Certainly, I can glean some contextual cues out of fictional works, but I'm not so sure that that my sense of things are best informed by Tennessee Williams and Walker Percy (the latter of which is certainly a bit anachronistic anyway). I'm spitting distance from two large university libraries but I'm North Carolina. Any suggestions as far as books would be helpful as well as information about city archives, particularly in the post-Katrina world. Note that my budget for this project could potentially allow a trip to Louisiana.

What can a Linux fan use for consistent note taking and archival?

a007r — Fri, 29 Dec 2006 16:35:46 -0800

I am studying in human science (psychology), and I'm starting university next month. I have been using a laptop running Linux to take notes and write assignments during the past two years or so, but I feel my current technique for note taking is unsatisfactory. My current method is this: fire up OpenOffice Writer with a blank document, start typing in bullet-list form, with a Heading1 title at the top of the document, and save the document as "yyyy-mm-dd-topic.odt" in a folder such as school/the_subject/*. Whenever a semester is over, I compress the files into a tar.gz archive and put it in an archival folder. This prevents me from having the files indexed by Tracker.

- must have: formatting controlled by a central/GLOBAL STYLESHEET, unicode, open source, runs on Linux
- nice to have: OpenDocument, drawing support, autosave, wysiwyg, ability to zoom text to disproportionate sizes (those 1280x1024 widescreen laptops strain the eyes easily)
- don't care about: spellcheck
- don't want: proprietary stuff, obscure file format, latex, a database

I have been scratching my head over this for a little while, so far I see these options: OpenOffice, plain text with Gedit or whatever, Abiword, coding XHTML by hand on the fly, using Tomboy (but it is slow), using a wiki such as PmWiki running on a local server on this laptop, none of which particularily seem to fill my needs completely. Please let me know of any other possibilities I have overlooked!

Latex (even Wyneken) are beyond my understanding, and I feel they are overkill for note taking (maybe when I end up writing a huge thesis or something...)

I want everything I write to be accessible 20 years later. Actually, I have only two big criticisms against my current OpenOffice technique: it forces me to load openoffice (which does "feel" heavier than most text processors), and the contents' style is per-document, not system-wide (like in a CSSed page collection or in Latex).
A criticism I have against PmWiki (the only wiki I tested, but it uses no database, and that is nice) is that filenames it creates don't really support non-english characters properly, and I have to concede that is a limitation of the web itself; accents mess up nicely in URLs, and pmWiki doesn't like to have them on the filesystem either; actually, the problem may lie in the fact that it feels like I have "less control" over the filesystem since it uses all those WikiWordFileNamesThings. Furthermore, editing in a wiki is not exactly WYSIWYG. You have a very easy syntax, and it has the advantage to use CSS over all your documents at once, but you cannot "visually" distinguish a header paragraph from a regular paragraph, not as easily as you would in a WYSIWYG application (you have to save to do that). Printing is also a bit tricky, and a wiki is, to a certain extent, a bit of annoying maintenance to deal with (security upgrades for example).

I like solutions that "respect" my filesystem instead of forcing me into a set style of folders, or worse, a database; I backup and synchronize notes between my laptop and my desktop over the network using Rsync scripts I wrote.

I am "more inclined" towards certain file formats so far: OpenDocument or xhtml, but feel free to suggest something else. I mean I don't quite like RTF, but if it's guaranteed to work everywhere anytime, it could be useful; or even taking notes in plain text in front of a laptop without X.org would be possible (but pretty friggin radical! :).

Actually, I'm realizing that I'm typing this in Gedit, a plain text / code editor, but that's only because I do not trust the Web (even if my browser never crashed) and don't want to lose a long post.

Thoughts? Experiences? Recommendations? Questions? :) I realize there *is* note-taking software out there such as Gournal or Jarnal if I remember correctly, but are those really the end all solution? A computer certainly does not behave like a physical paper notebook, and I'm especially interested in the "way" (or maybe the medium) the notes are taken in (if you have special techniques, I'm also interested), not really specific applications. I know this is a weird question, I will try clarifying as soon as possible if you have needs for clarification.

Best printer?

Shanachie — Wed, 20 Sep 2006 09:36:43 -0800

My wife is starting her own business. She's making custom illustrations for children's nurseries. She's looking for recomendations on a printer that can produce archival level prints so she can keep the originals (we started off wondering about giclee but it seems way to expensive). The final product should feel like a professional print when framed and needs to last. Also, an thoughts on a scanner to be used in concert with the printer?

Clips prep and storage for freelancer

desuetude — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 15:10:00 -0800

Freelancers, how do you store the original copies of your clips? Folders? Files? Complex archival systems with multicolored labels?

Related: Most of my writing has been for magazines. Is it pathetically newbie of me to save the masthead and table of contents as well? (I'm going to, don't get me wrong. I just wanted to know how embarassed to be about it.)

Better blank DVDs for long-term storage?

parma — Tue, 15 Aug 2006 22:56:27 -0800

Of blank DVD manufacturers (Memorex,Verbatim, Best Buy's Dynex, etc.), are there any that stand out as better for long-term storage of data? (I realize other solutions, such as hard drives, may be better long term data backup needs, and I read through this helpful thread http://ask.metafilter.com/mefi/19718. But of DVD media, was wondering if any manufacturers/types might be better than others.)

Reel-to-reel audio tape desires loving transfer to contemporary format

gkostolny — Fri, 14 Jul 2006 11:51:06 -0800

Old (circa-fifties) reel-to-reel audiotape: how do I read it and get it on CD or hard disk? Backstory: My girlfriend's mom was a local celebrity in Pittsburgh, PA. She was the star of "The Children's Corner", the precursor to "Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood", among other things. She passed away a couple of years ago, and as a result we have all sorts of old media of (we think) her performances. This includes a number of reel-to-reel audiotapes, some 8mm film, and quite a number of VHS tapes.

We need to figure out a method (or find a service, preferably in the SF bay area of California) of transferring the R2R tapes into a format we can read and thus continue to preserve. I was able to find a place in Novato that can handle the 8mm, and we can deal with the VHS (I intend to archive it to miniDV & DVD), but I am running into a wall regarding local methods for dealing with the audio tapes. Any tips would be heartily appreciated.

Archiving strategies for DV?

evil holiday magic — Mon, 22 May 2006 03:02:13 -0800

Final Cut Pro users: What do you do with your bulky collection of project and video files when you're ostensibly done with the project?

Online photo printing with archival borders?

aladfar — Sat, 20 May 2006 14:36:19 -0800

A number of online photo printing services have been mentioned here on AskMeFi, but a search hasn't revealed one that will print to my liking. I'm looking for a top notch black and white print with archival borders - 8x10 image on 11x14 paper. I'm working with high quality scans of black and white negatives. Suggestions?

Advice for building archival storage cabinet for discs, docs?

-harlequin- — Tue, 05 Apr 2005 18:51:25 -0800

I'm seeking info on data/CD/paper/object archival storage for various stuff at my home. There are really two questions here: 1) Where can I find authoritive information about CD-ROM preserving/archival methods. 2) Where can I find info on building/converting a cabinet to a controlled environment on a low budget/DIY? With regards to (1), I'm talking about answers to questions such as does use of adhesive labels help or hinder CD-ROM data life? How much benefit is there to using lower write speeds or is that considered a myth? Is vertical storage really better for the disc, or is it convenience? What are storage tips from (or storage methods used by professional archivists? I saw a website that covered some (but not all) of these questions, but have since been unable to find it, or find this kind of info elsewhere. It gave a brief explanation, but no clue as to whether the explanation was myth/superstition or the result of actual study.

As regards (2), my thought is that it would be useful to have a small controlled-environment cabinet where I can just put anything that I'd prefer to last a little longer than usual if possible, be it CD-ROMs or photographs or antiques that are degrading (eg leather going brittle, or metal rusting). Is there a guide to making/converting such a storage space on a budget? Or even just something that talks about the preservation techniques used, from temperature control to inert atmosphere replacement, explains when and why each might be used, disadvantages, etc, but in a readable format rather than an engineering specification.
I'm thinking building it into a display case might be an interesting thing to do, but this precludes fireproofing. Speaking of which - any authoritive info/guides to Do-It-Yourself fireproofing for a cabinet or box?

Regarding authoritive advice, Using CD-R adhesive labels could be explained as good because they protect the metal side of the CDR, or be explained as bad because they might shrink and warp the disc over time. Either explanation sounds logical enough to me, yet they advise opposite things, so explanations that sound logical enough but have no other authority backing them, are not as useful (though they often serve to highlight potential issues that may not have occurred to me). That said, non-authoritive links are still better than no links :-)

Archival Glue

keswick — Mon, 25 Oct 2004 10:32:39 -0800

Looking for an archival, removable, acid-free glue. Preferably tacky. [mi] I've got a collection of various papers and artifacts pertaining to local history, and I'm finally getting around to making small displays using shadowboxes. I'm looking for an adhesive that I can use to position items against the backing of the shadowboxes. It needs to be archival (acid-free and such) and removable. Items in question are generally lightweight, such as postcards and matchbooks. A tacky type of glue would be ideal. Suggestions?

Does anyone have experience creating their own giclee prints, or recommendations for a printer?

annathea — Tue, 10 Feb 2004 09:38:27 -0800

I've been experimenting with various photographic processes for a few years now, and would like to begin selling prints of my work. Does anyone have experience creating their own giclee prints, or recommendations for a printer that they've worked with? (more inside, naturally) I used to work for Epson, and am pretty familiar with their line of inkjet printers and archival inks. When I first began getting into photography around April 2000, I bought an inexpensive photo printer. Creates great prints, but is not at all archival (meaning, prints will likely fade noticeably in a few years).

I've looked into having them printed for me, but I want to sell them for around $20 a piece, and most print shops charge more than that for print runs of less than 500, hence my wish to try it on my own. Can anyone share their experiences creating and/or selling prints of their work? I'm a bit at a loss.

(P.S. CafePress is not a reasonable option for me, as their base price for prints is already higher than the price I want to charge).