I am looking for a good forum that is devoted to collectors of old photographs who want to discuss history, type, method, conservation and restoration, etc.
Anyone found a good forum?

Have you searched the Flickr groups? It's the most popular site for photographs (at this present time) I am sure somewhere in the vastness of Flickr there is such a group. First start out by going on Flickr and searching for old b&w photographs as a search item, it might lead to a group. Just an idea.

My search yielded:

http://www.flickr.com/search/groups/?w= ... hotographs

You may want to have a look at http://www.retouchpro.com The site is dedicated to retouching and restoration of photographs. It is heavily Ps orientated , but it is very instructive as to the methods involved. Most of the methods are easily reproduced in Gimp.

I have been on that site on and off for a good two years , never posted , but learned plenty!
Definitely worth a look!

I would most def try Flickr first.
Their database is humongous!

Retouchpro.com looks like what I'm looking for. Thanks.