The Washington Post reported on March 10th that old photos are facing a crisis of disappearance. Photographer Christopher Morris protected his extensive archive of old photographs under the threat of a hurricane, and his experience reflects the challenges faced by many photographers. Old photos carry the common visual history of humanity. Although the Library of Congress plays a significant role in protecting news photography, with 16 million photos, the number of photos that need to be archived far exceeds its storage, digitization, and public release capabilities. Library photography curator Adam Sylvia receives multiple inquiries each month, but can only accept a small portion of the archives. The archives compiled by renowned photographer Donna Ferrato have also not found a suitable destination.

Without clear planning, old photo archives may become a burden for heirs. If Ruth Okin handed over the archives to her daughter Mary Engel, even though she was prepared, Engel still felt difficult when she took over. The American Photography Archive Group she founded has developed into a non-profit organization to assist with archiving. However, traditional archiving methods are gradually disappearing in the field of local news, and newspaper photo archives are rapidly disappearing due to the reduction or closure of publication scale. Copyright laws also pose obstacles for photographers to retrieve archives.

However, there are also active protective actions. The MacArthur Foundation and other organizations have preserved the archives of Johnson Publishing Company, saving a large number of photos documenting the lives of African Americans in post-war America. Photographer Edward Burdingsky developed a high-tech scanner that uses AI algorithms to extract key information for easy retrieval by future generations. Their team has digitized a large number of images for multiple institutions and plans to archive nearly 300000 black and white historical photos. However, the threat of hurricanes and obstacles such as time and technology still exist, and the ability to take old photos and witness history faces severe challenges.