1960-era Negatives: How to prepare for scanning?

[ASA 32]

I've inherited several rolls of B&W negatives my father shot. I want to scan some of them for later printing. They were packaged as in the photo below, and when unpackaged, they are as shown there too:

IMG_1878 by ASA 32, on Flickr

Normally, I cut negatives into strips and store them in PrintFile archival pages, then scan as needed. But these need to be cleaned and flattened first.

I would appreciate any suggestions on how to prepare them.

Thank you!

 

[Photosynthetech]

How dirty are they? Do they have fungus or dirt stuck to the film? Also what exact type of film is it?

Pec-12 is a good emulsion cleaner if it needs more than some compressed air, but I believe Pec-12 is for hardened film, which I'm am not sure if that film is hardened or not. It probably is but I would check before application.

 

[aizan]

could you tell us more about what condition they are in? do they smell like vinegar? are they brittle? are they unusually dusty?

they look ok in the picture. you can probably hang them up to flatten out the bends, and clean off dust in the usual way.

 

[ASA 32]

How dirty are they? Do they have fungus or dirt stuck to the film? Also what exact type of film is it?

Pec-12 is a good emulsion cleaner if it needs more than some compressed air, but I believe Pec-12 is for hardened film, which I'm am not sure if that film is hardened or not. It probably is but I would check before application.

Some is Kodak Plus X Pan, some is Kodak Tri X, all dated late 1950s to early 1960s. No fungus that I can see, but some dust.

I have some Pec-12 and Pec Pads; I'll test a sample.

How about getting the kinks out and flattening the strips? The way the lab packaged the negatives back then created permanent bends in the film.

Thank you!

 

[ASA 32]

could you tell us more about what condition they are in? do they smell like vinegar? are they brittle? are they unusually dusty?

they look ok in the picture. you can probably hang them up to flatten out the bends, and clean off dust in the usual way.

No, they have no odor. They don't seem particularly brittle. They've been in those paper rolls ever since the lab was finished with them, but never stored in anything close to archival conditions. Think shoe boxes in attics, file cabinets, and desk drawers in Michigan and Southern California, often without air conditioning.

 

[Highway 61]

I know that kind of Kodak processed negatives packaging quite well, my father's ones from the same era and from the early 1970-era were identical.

I would load them on developing reels, then put the reels in an open developing tank, then rinse them for a long while under tap water, then soak them in some wetting agent and demineralized water solution, then hang them for drying - all like normal just developed negatives.

Then I would cut them in 6 frames strips and store them in some archival paper sheets.

Then they could be scanned like any other stuff and safely stored.

 

[charjohncarter]

After gentle cleaning. You could put them on a developing reel soak them in water 20 degrees c., add a wetting agent after a wash. Then hang to straighten, cut in strips of five after drying and put in print files. My experience is dirty negatives are very hard to clean.

edit: sorry Highway 61 beat me.

 

[ASA 32]

^^^^^Multiple independent sources always a good thing. Thanks!