iPhoto crashes when importing groups of large, scanned images

I have a folder of 16 scanned images, that range in size from 3 MB to 50 MB (first time scanning and scanned at really high resolution so they could be blown up in books or calendars - have learned better since). iPhoto quits when I try to import the whole folder. If I drag them into iPhoto one or two at a time, they import. Is there a size limit on what iPhoto will import? I have not reached the 250,000 size limit on iphoto itself. But I am well over 100,000 photos. I have a large number of folders that have as many or more scanned images in them and do not want to have to compress each one singly for import into iPhoto, or to drag by ones or twos into the app. Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.