[drcy]

Old photos are usually dried out, so you don't have to worry about them sticking in top loaders or other holders. It's modern photos that have moist images fronts that stick.

Top loaders offer the most protection and are the best, but I don't know about the extra cost. I've kept old photos raw in stacks which offers group protection and have had no sticking troubles. The only times I've had sticking troubles was with with modern photos and, even then, sticking was uncommon.

If you are stacking raw photos, don't stack them image side to image side, because that's how they'll most likely stick. This applies mostly to modern photos that, as already mentioned, are still moist, but it's still a good rule with old photos. If you stack your photos this way you almost certainly will have no issues with sticking.

If you're worried about damage due to displaying in light, you can make digital copies-- including from your home computer printer-- and display those. If and when those fade, no problem.