Arts & Life

How to preserve those dusty photos and VHS tapes in your basement, and why it matters

Michigan Public | By Stateside Staff

Published April 24, 2017 at 4:36 PM EDT

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University of Michigan Library conservation intern Allison Donnelly resews an eighteenth-century book.

Courtesy of Shannon Zachary

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Repairing a 16th century compendium of ecclesiastical music at the University of Michigan Library conservation lab.

Courtesy of Shannon Zachary

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The repair of a 1915 newspaper clipping in a scrapbook documenting the construction of the Dixie Highway at the University of Michigan Library conservation lab.

Courtesy of Shannon Zachary

Your grandparents' wedding picture. The letters your dad wrote home while he served in World War II. Your great-grandfather's citizenship papers.

These are precious links to our history. History is not so much about the "big names." It's more about what happens to everyday men, women and children.

But how many of us know how to preserve these treasures, whether digital or on ancient paper?

Shannon Zachary, the head of Preservation and Conservation at the University of Michigan Library spoke to Stateside about the best ways to preserve memories, and what to keep in mind when making new ones.

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