Transcript of a lecture given at the Royal Photographic Society Meeting on Stability of Modern Picture materials. This is an all-inclusive review of the problems of preserving all types of photographic materials from conventional black and white silver images and color to electrostatic and magnet images. There is a discussion of the difference between preserving and restoring photographic images, the need for standardized testing methods, a review of image degradation mechanisms and the inadequacies and strengths of the current views in this area, and the need for testing and application of newer imaging systems for their degradation or stability and possibly, their use in future preservation regimes. -- AATA