Flooded negative

[Julian Ferreira]

A friend just called me after he rescued 4 boxes of negatives out of his flooded basement
As there are more negatives than can be cleaned quickly, we were wondering if we could freeze them, so they will not dry out and damage or go moldy before we can get to them. Any one have any advise or experience in this area ?

 

[sandholm]

Sorry for the disaster,
Freezing the negatives (which they are wet) will expand the water and (I guess) crack the emulsion. I would say keep them wet (distilled water), dont let them dry out, separerat them slowly, wash them, photo flow and then dry. Dont wait to long....

I hope everything works out, but i would work fast

 

[Julian Ferreira]

Thanks for the reply, i wondered about cracking ... but it could take months to go through every frame ... He was hoping to find a way of keeping things stable until he can get to them.

 

[removed account4]

have your friend call these people
http://www.nedcc.org/home.php
or poke around on their website for information.

i have had negatives damaged from flood before, and i didn't get to them
intime, and the emulsion was damaged beyond repair. i hope your friend
has better luck than i had !

john