75 year old negatives

[David Brown]

Spent some time today with four 75 year old negatives. (They belong to the archives of the East Texas Pipe Organ Festival, the entity that I did a book for.) Best guess is that they were made by a local newspaper photographer in April 1941, in Kilgore Texas. Besides two of them being underexposed, all four are damaged from storage and improper fixing. Stains from the bad fix, plus rust, scratches, dents and staple holes (no, really!) from the also 75 yr old manila envelop they were in. But, I managed to salvage some darkroom prints after cleaning them. I'm also going to scan them and do some damage repair digitally. It's the only way.

4x5 Dupont Defender Safety Film, if anyone's interested.

Silver gelatin negatives will last centuries if processed, washed and stored properly. Leave one of those out, and you are faced with what I'm doing!

 

[jvo]

alas, it seems defender safety film isn't against the hands of time!

any possibility of seeing the results of your efforts here on apug?

 

[nosmok]

Not wishing to be a nit, but I thought Defender was a Dupont film brand. Am I mistaken?

 

[paul ron]

http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/showthread.php?102270-Dupont-Defender-films

(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

 

[David Brown]

Not wishing to be a nit, but I thought Defender was a Dupont film brand. Am I mistaken?

I stand corrected.

I do not use sheet film, nor was I around in 1941!

 

[studiocarter]

Only 1941? My wife has me scanning negatives in 70mm from 1908 onwards.