Hi - New here with some questions on old negatives

[sophie's-mom]

Hi , this is my first post. Several years ago, when my great grandfather was going into a nursing home, my grandmother and I were cleaning out the house. I came across an envelope with 42 very old black and white negatives. They measure about 2x3"??? They were misplaced and rediscovered this weekend. I have NO IDEA how old they are but my grandmother's wedding photos are in there. They are in OK condition and I am wondering the best way to store these. It's probably been discussed here before but I haven't been through the archives yet.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

[Mike]

At the very least, each neg in a acid free envelope, then placed in a place with total darkness, with 50% humidity and a tempature of 50 degrees.

I think thats what Kodak recomends..

Mike

[sophie's-mom]

Thank you SO much!

I know these are worth SO much to the family, I'd hate to store them the wrong way.

I appreciate you taking the time to respond.

[ExclamPt]

Check out this link:

http://www.mpm.edu/research/photogra...y_photo01.html

Also, Light Impressions (altho expensive) sells a variety of archival storage materials.

[12fretter]

I'm an infrequent poster here, so I don't know what the popular opinion is on the issue, but if I were you, I'd take the negatives to a local, qualified professional lab and have them scan those negatives, and produce a high-res CD of the scan. That way, you'll have a new technology backup from which you can acquire prints. I work for an independent lab that does this every day.