Digital Copies - We recommend making a high resolution digital scan of any important photos or manuscripts. This is the most likely way to preserve the image and look of an artifact. As the artical does eventually degrade -- even with the highest quality materials and an ideal environment -- fifty years from now the object will have the advantage of having a digital reference with which to compare it to. We recommend that non-magnetic media be used to store your digital archival image, due to the inability of magnetic media to last more than 10 to twenty years at best. Optical media like cd-rom and dvd's are genrally believed to last at least fifty years (aging has been simulated in laboritories only - since optical medias have been around for roughly only 25 years) however, it is always prudent to review the condition of your archived materials from time-to-time.