We describe a two-center holographic recording method for the storage of persistent holograms in doubly doped lithium niobate crystals. We use a two-center model, and we show that our experimental observations can be explained by the model. We describe experimental methods for finding the unknown material parameters of LiNbO3:Fe:Mn crystals for the two-center model, and we discuss the optimization of two-center recording. (C) 2001 Optical Society of America.