Joel Leis: Old Photographs and Their Preservation

How can we ensure that photographs taken decades ago survive for future generations? Photographic heritage often reaches us as digital images, but preserving, digitising and researching historical photographs involves a great deal of work carried out every day in memory institutions. On 21 November at 12:00, Joel Leis, collection curator and conservator at the Estonian History Museum, will visit Viljandi Museum to introduce different formats of old photographs and photo albums, and talk about their preservation, digitisation and research. He will also share practical advice on caring for your own photo collection at home, the conditions that help photographs survive, and what to avoid so that precious memories are not damaged over time. Visitors are welcome to bring photographs if they have questions about their own collection. To protect the photographs, we recommend transporting them in a folder or box. An even safer option is to take pictures of them with a phone and show those at the museum. Visitors can also ask Herki Helves, curator of Viljandi Museum’s photo collection, for more information about historical photographs from Viljandi County. The event is part of the public programme accompanying Viljandi Museum’s exhibition “Nõuka, nõuka – mina prii!” (“Soviet, Soviet – I Am Free!”). The exhibition of photographs introducing Soviet-era Viljandi, its people and everyday life invites visitors to reflect on remembering, forgetting and preserving historical memory. The pictures in our home photo albums are also part of this shared memory, and preserving them helps the past speak to the future. Admission with a museum ticket: €9 / €5. The event is supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia.