It is of vital importance that your original photographs, letters, maps, documents and other artifacts are stored properly, with primary attention paid to the preservation of these things. An archiving policy must meet two key requirements: the archives must ensure the long-term physical preservation of the archives, and it also needs to facilitate access to the archives; at times, these two factors can be in opposition.

In this chapter, you can read more about how to preserve and catalogue your:

• photographs; and
• paper documents.

Notes to be added to this page

• Accessioning: sequential/serial (former implies no gaps in numbering) accession numbers given to all artifacts (photos, documents, etc.), with no duplicates.
• Don't fold or roll anything.
• Accession things, in any order, and store correctly; then catalogue and re-order (most commonly chronologically—which is why there's no need to try and order at accessioning time).