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Help with Preserving Signed Album with fading signatures

Hello All - 

I have 3 albums that I have been displaying, with "UV" supposedly frames.  These have not been in direct sunlight mind you.   Over the years I have notices that the signatures have been fading.  I know the damage is done, but what besides taking down and not displaying should I do to preserve these items.  If I store them on the shelves out of light will that stop the damage or will these continue to fade.  What is the best advice moving forward?  1 is signed with a Bic type felt pen and the 2 others are sharpie. 

thanks so much with advice. 

Mark Roberts 

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Permalink Reply by michelle on December 23, 2025 at 5:38am

thanks, for all the info Eric.  So what kind of sharpie was Paul Mc signed in ?

Permalink Reply by Mark Roberts on December 23, 2025 at 6:48am

I would assume sharpie.  I did not personally get it. 

Mark 

Permalink Reply by Eric Keith Longo on December 23, 2025 at 7:10am

A standard Black Sharpie , which does not use a "pigment" in the traditional sense. It uses organic dyes. Specifically, it relies on a chemical cocktail that mimics black, rather than using a single, stable mineral.The "black" in a Sharpie is actually a subtractive mix. If you were to perform a "Forensic Chromatography" test on Sharpie ink (by placing a drop on a coffee filter with a bit of alcohol), you would see the "Invisible" truth: the black ink would separate into purple, bright blue, and sometimes even yellow or red. These are the colors the "flash" under certain lighting when determining live ink.

Permalink Reply by Eric Keith Longo on December 23, 2025 at 10:05am

PS - DecoColor in black like Roger Waters uses contains carbon black (CBk7) pigment - permanent. DecoColor silver uses actual aluminum powder (PM1) as a pigment and is also permanent.

Permalink Reply by JMS1223 on December 22, 2025 at 5:14pm

I can actually see along the edges that the entire album has faded a little due to being framed/exposed to some kind of light. It’s a little darker along the edges. 

Permalink Reply by Mark Roberts on December 23, 2025 at 6:47am

I see that as well. I am trying to figure out if the damage was ton at a prior location or my current one.  

thanks

Permalink Reply by JK on December 22, 2025 at 1:15pm

Fluorescent lights are also very bad.  And don't forget that the "twisty" CFL bulbs are fluorescent.

Permalink Reply by Eric Keith Longo on December 22, 2025 at 1:42pm

+1 I keep all my photographs, chrome prints, silver gelatin, transparencies and slides in the cool and dark. I do have some 1939 NYWF silver gelatin photographs out, but indirect sunlight at best. The curtains are closed.

Permalink Reply by Eric Keith Longo on December 22, 2025 at 2:29pm

This room is kept at 55 degrees exactly.

Permalink Reply by Eric Keith Longo on December 22, 2025 at 2:32pm

Here is it with the Owens Corning Glass Block from the Schaefer Building lit for the first time in 80 years. As you can see I sold off some of the more common items:

Permalink Reply by Eric Keith Longo on December 22, 2025 at 2:38pm

If you look carefully, there is Grover Whalen's autograph obtained on the Fairgrounds. He was President of the New York World's Fair Corporation. There is also Frank Buck's signature. There is  1938 ViewMaster with 1939 NYWF Reels, an 8mm reel of b/w film, a blue tray from DuPont, a hand tinted photo of MotoMan, the Westinghouse robot, a snapshot of two young men being televised in the Westinghouse Building...a rare Bud Abbott and Lou Costello pin from the White Way, a rare three-dimensional set of postcards...so much. 

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