No matter what method you use to share your family memories - scrapbook albums, photos, or even CDs -temperature has a big influence on their life.  The reason is that temperature affects the speed of a chemical reaction and the aging of your materials is just that - a chemical reaction - they're decaying, much like your garden compost heap.  Over time, paper for example, becomes brittle, but the temperature of the paper affects how fast that happens.  A rule of thumb is that a 10 degree increase in temperature will reduce the life of paper by half.  So putting your scrapbook albums or photographs in the attic during the summer is a big no-no!

What further speeds up decayare acids that might be in your collection.  Are you using acid-free paper?  Are your albums and page protectors acid and lignin* free?  Do you deacidiy your acid bearing papers, like newspaper clippings or a marriage certificate?  Are you storing your important papers and photos in acid free containers?  If not, then future generations will miss those family memories you worked so hard to collect. 

Trust your memories with Your Family Legacy.  Our scrapbook papers,scrapbook albums, and archival storage units are acid and lignin free.  And if you have paper that's not acid free, neutralize the acid with Bookkeeper.

To learn more about factors that affect the life of your documents and photos, visit our eGuide section, or get one of our preservation kits.