Preserving Old Film or Slides is Crucial. Learn Why!
You just inherited or found boxes and boxes of old negatives and mounted slides from a relative. Now what?!
Your next actions could determine if these memories fade away forever or if they are preserved for generations to come.
In this four part post you will learn about 4 important aspects of taking care of your precious family memories.
How to handle mounted slides and film
How to clean your film
How to view slides and film at home
How to store this media in a humid place like Memphis to slow down its natural decay.
Some of this information was once commonplace but as families around the world moved from film to digital cameras or phones to record their memories much of the public has forgotten how to take care of this fragile media.
When physically handling slides there are several things to be careful of, primarily fingerprints, scratching, and dust.
Preventing fingerprints on mounted slides can be much easier as you can hold the slide by the edges of the mount but they should be treated with the same care as unmounted film. Unmounted film should be carefully picked up by the edges being cautious not to touch either face of the film. If the film is arched length wise do not attempt to bend it flat as it may be brittle from age or the conditions it was previously stored in. To be extra safe you could invest in a pair of archival anti-static cotton gloves, but be careful not to use just any pair of fuzzy gloves you might have laying around the house as the loose fibers could escape and cling to the film!
Be Careful how you Handle your Precious Film!
Next is scratching, Perhaps the film you found in your great uncles Memphis attic is already slightly scratched in places, if that is the case it is even more important to prevent any additional scratches. Many of the storing techniques we will cover in a later blog post will address ways to prevent scratching but the main point is to be careful how and where you set the slides and film down. Scratches are often made by dusty film rubbing across other film as you make stacks while organizing.
Finally, let’s talk about dust, when handling film be very sure that the area you are working in is free of dust when you begin and periodically cleaned as dust gathers. Some boxes may be dustier than others and you don’t want to cross contaminate! Brushing or wiping dust can cause a lot of damage so be sure to check out the next article where I’ll tell you about safe cleaning techniques!
