This subject comes up now and again.

As for historical photos - when they are donated to a museum or historical society. They are usually given to the establishment for free. This means they have no financial deficit in receiving the collection. Here’s where the trouble starts – let’s say the photo collection is just a shoebox of random photos or slides with none or just basic caption info. These photos will take a lot of work to be usable to the museum or historical society. Granted they will be “saved” – but in reality, it would take a lot of effort, either volunteer or paid labor to get them ready for public display.

So…understandably, they may need to charge some money to recoup their time investment.

How much is too much?

I know of one county library in Montana which has dozens of excellent historical railroad photos that will probably never see the light of day.

Why?

They want in excess of $25.00 per photo [no price break for multiple photo orders] – then if you want to put it in a book it’s $50.00 per photo. There are no exceptions between profit & non-profit publications. Do the math – at $75.00 per photo, as an author, I’ll guarantee you that these photos will never be seen. It’s just too expensive.

I understand that there is a certain amount of money involved with proper storage of slides and photographs, but – I honestly believe that many of these museums, libraries or historical society’s use historical photos as “cash cows” to fund the general operating budget of the establishment. I’m not saying that that is right or wrong – that’s just the way it probably is.

So, it comes down to the individual, where do you want your photos to reside after you are gone. I think it would be wise to check into various organizations and see where they would be best cared for and just how much they plan on making in $$$ off your stuff.

If you want them to use your images for fund-raising for the general budget, then let them know that it’s okay with you. If you just want them to be used for research – let them know.
Make sure your goals are the same as theirs. They may have a different view of historical material than you do. Remember – they are your photographs until you give them away. You can make them more valuable by having an accurate cataloging system – maybe have them already indexed into a computer database. Have them stored properly in photo or slide boxes [CD’s?] If the staff has to spend hundreds of hours and dollars going through your stuff – then they will probably want to get that investment back somehow.

If your photos are buried in the basement of some museum, library or historical society, uncataloged in random boxes, chances are they will never be seen and a photo that is never seen never was. So…..you might as well have the family just burn them up, because they never really existed anyway – right?

Talk to ya later,
Dale Jones
[www.railroads-of-montana.com]