starting the process

setting up to start the separation process. Plastic drop cloth to protect the table, gloves to protect our hands, respirator and masks to protect our lungs, scissors and x-acto knife.

separating the photos from the albums... Before the digital age photos were developed and processed in liquid so using water is the way to go to separate photos that are stuck together. Don't try and pull them apart by force. Soak them until they start to separate on their own. This batch of photos was pretty badly burned so we cut off the burnt part before setting the photos out to dry.

suited up for health safety

drying time

drying the photos like this tends to cause them to curl up. Alternate way to dry is to hang each photo so they drip dry. If the photos do curl press them under a heavy stack of books once they're dry