Scanning Photographs ...

For the past few days, I have been scanning old family photographs that my grandma has. Almost all of these photos are photos that I have never seen before. Most of these pictures appear to have been taken in the 1930s and 1940s, and I think many of the pictures are beautiful. These photos were taken by my late great-aunt (who did not have any children), and I consider myself lucky in that she labeled some of the pictures. I also consider myself lucky since she did not glue the pictures onto the pages of the album. (She used paper frame corners to keep the photos in the album.) Unfortunately, she did not label all of the pictures, so there are several that I have no clue who are in the photos.

In addition, many of the photographs have the original negatives behind the photo. I have been debating whether or not to scan in these negatives. Does anyone know if scanning will harm the negatives. Is scanning the negatives in a good idea? Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.