:help advice needed for flood damaged Photos

canderson

:helpI need urgent advice for family photos that were in my Parent’s house that was under 3 feet of water this morning. Can anyone in the club give recommendations on how best to preserve/conserve them without professional services? They do not have flood insurance so professional conservation is not an option. :help
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saltydog

Rinse them and hang them from a wash line or something to dry. Water is part of the developing process for prints from negatives, so it won't damage them all that much other than curling the paper. I don't know what kind of chemicals were in the flood water, that's why I'd recommend rinsing them. After they are dry, put some heavy books on top of them for a few days, how soon they will flatten depends on what kind of paper they were printed on.

Good luck,
J.

P.S. This advice is not meant for digital prints of course, that's an entirely different story. In that case I'd recommend having a computer expert resurrecting the hard drive and simply reprinting the pics.

Tanuki

canderson wrote:

:helpI need urgent advice for family photos that were in my Parent’s house that was under 3 feet of water this morning. Can anyone in the club give recommendations on how best to preserve/conserve them without professional services? They do not have flood insurance so professional conservation is not an option. :help
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Advice from the Library of Congress in the link below.

http://www.loc.gov/preserv/emerg/dry.html

Make sure you save the negatives!

Mike

canderson

Tanuki wrote:

Advice from the Library of Congress in the link below.

http://www.loc.gov/preserv/emerg/dry.html

Make sure you save the negatives!

Mike

Thanks for the Link! I will be sure to print this out and take it with me.