Negative Storage?

sara505

I'm very excited about having recently gotten my old Nikon CoolScan up and running and have begun scanning my precious BW negatives that document my young family, going back to 1972.

Some of the negs have required cleaning, and now, rather than putting the newly-cleaned negs back into the old storage pages (with residual dust), I'm thinking it would be wise to purchase new ones.

My original pages are made of paper - what was that stuff called? glassine?

I also have some of the later negs stored in clear plastic.

Now - which is better for storage, paper or plastic - especially as pertains to moisture/mildew/long-term storage?

If I wanted to purchase the old-style paper/glassine, does anyone have a source?

Thanks! :-)

Sam

I don't have any experience with storing negatives but if moisture is an issue buy some descant and store them in an air tight container. You can also buy oxygen absorbers if oxygen is detrimantal to negatives.

Sam

ziggy53

Here is a pretty good primer on archival storage, including negatives:

http://www.blackandwhitelab.com/tips_pages/storing_negs/storing_negatives.html

They do not recommend glassine for archival storage since it "may be" acidic.

Be sure to also store the negatives in either acid free boxes or plastic boxes designed for archival storage of photographic media. Do not use vinyl binders for storage.

PrintFile appears to be who most people trust for archival storage supplies. I have not used them myself. (My film storage is decidedly not that good.) Note that in storage pages there are both 5-frame and 6-frame styles, depending on how your negatives are cut.

http://www.printfile.com/index.aspx
http://www.printfile.com/negative-storage.aspx
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?atclk=Brand_Print+File&ci=728&N=4287966900+4291269607

Art Scott

Totally agree with the Zig Meister here.........He said it all.

colourbox

I use the Print File archival negative sleeve pages in box-like binders purchased at a photography store for film storage, in that they are archival plastic and they close up on all sides so that you don't get dust coming in.

cbbr

I had the same question and just placed an order - Thanks!

sara505

ziggy53 wrote: »

Here is a pretty good primer on archival storage, including negatives:

http://www.blackandwhitelab.com/tips_pages/storing_negs/storing_negatives.html

They do not recommend glassine for archival storage since it "may be" acidic.

Be sure to also store the negatives in either acid free boxes or plastic boxes designed for archival storage of photographic media. Do not use vinyl binders for storage.

PrintFile appears to be who most people trust for archival storage supplies. I have not used them myself. (My film storage is decidedly not that good.) Note that in storage pages there are both 5-frame and 6-frame styles, depending on how your negatives are cut.

http://www.printfile.com/index.aspx
http://www.printfile.com/negative-storage.aspx
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?atclk=Brand_Print+File&ci=728&N=4287966900+4291269607

Ziggy - good stuff, thanks.

I ended up at Calumet in Cambridge and bought some PrintFile pages, and boxes (I figure, if I'm going to re-wash some of these negs, I'm surely not going to re-insert back in the dusty old glassines). They're nifty - with a pocket for the contact sheet - but alas, they are for 5-frame strips and most of my negs are 6. Oh well, I'll order some 6s, but now I'm wondering if they'll all fit in the same box. Thanks for the info. :-)