By Maureen A. Taylor
Taking Action
Five steps to save your home movies from Toni Treadway, a technician at the Rowley, Mass., film-to-tape transfer studio Treadway and Brodsky www.littlefilm.org:
1 Don't throw away the original.
2 Don't project the original unless it's in
good condition.
3 Make sure your hands are clean before
handling film.
4 Store in a cool dry place, not in the attic,
basement or garage.
5 Record the oral history of the film. Don't wait until it's too late.
Contributing editor Maureen A. Taylor is the author of Preserving Your Family Photographs (Betterway Books, $19.99). She helps solve readers' family photo mysteries in her online column at www.familytreemagazine.com/photos/current.htm.