First Do No Harm

Life's little changes. Are you keeping track of what's good for you one day and not the next? Did you notice that one week coffee was bad for you, and then you read the next week it could lower your risk of Parkinson's disease and diabetes, as well as colon cancer?

Are you sitting down?

Just when I had been trained to handle my photographs while wearing white gloves, white gloves are no longer the preferred method. And naturally, that was just after I blogged there was no debate here.

Caution, wear those white gloves, baby, when you handle photographs. Here there is no debate.

Then I received an email from Maureen Taylor saying that she had some new information. While writing her latest book Preserving Family Memories (excellent by the way) she had met with two conservators who said that the use of white gloves is now debatable. "Either wash and dry your hands thoroughly and handle photos by the edges OR wear disposable non-latex examination gloves." The gloves are the preferred method as they give a better grip than white gloves that are the cause of many slips.

I just received my copy of Preserving Your Family Photographs and it's there in black and white on page 28:

"The best precaution is to handle photographs by the edges while wearing disposable exam gloves. They are available at most pharmacies."

I have my new gloves and must admit, they are a much better fit and I have a 1,000 times less trouble handling things. It would be MY opinion, however, that if all you have are white gloves I would use them rather than bare hands. That is MY opinion.

So the creed of all family historians and photograph collectors should be -

Primum non nocere
"First, do no harm"