Paper Stuck to Olde negatives

I am sitting here scanning several hundred olde family photographs for a family friend that were shot on 4X5, 5X7, 6X10 (inches...) and 8X10 sheet film between the late 30's and mid 40's
I have several negatives that the brown craft sleeves (which are crispy and crumbly) have stuck to the negative in places. Some of this pops off when you flex the negative, some does not. We have several that we want to scan the entire sheet.


What is the best process for removing the remains of the envelope? I have yet to consider soaking or applying any other method without consulting the group.



The sheet is 5X7 and the film base is quite thick.


Suggestions?


Bill

I would pick one that seems less important and try soaking it in plain water or maybe with a bit of photoflo as a surfactant.

Beevo said:

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Are you sure? That looks the wrong way round. With the emulsion facing you, the notch is either top right or bottom left.

dpurdy said:

I would pick one that seems less important and try soaking it in plain water or maybe with a bit of photoflo as a surfactant.

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That would also be my guess. I'd not even use the surfactant; just plain water. Distilled/demineralized if you're feeling fancy, or just reasonably clean tap/rain water if it's a non-critical experiment.
The idea is that the water should soften the paper quicker than it'll soften the gelatin emulsion, allowing the paper fibers to be washed off.
However, given very old film like this, the risk of delamination of the emulsion from the film is very real indeed.

One further note: if the negative is nitrate and there is tacky/honey-like deterioration anywhere, you will dissolve that portion of the emulsion

In restoring nitrate motion pictures, we found no solvent but water would attack the tacky/honey-like decomposition. It will simply wash off the base back to the unaffected areas. We had to resort to this sometimes to save the rest of the scene/image and keep it from sticking to the adjacent layers on a roll.

Just be aware...

I'd have thought that if the brown craft sleeves are made of paper then water will literally dissolve the paper if soaked for long enough and that's assuming that a much shorter soak does not loosen the fibres of the sleeves sufficiently for it to be gently prised by flexing the negative

Unless there is a reason to believe that prolonged soaking in water will harm the negative then it's just a question of time. Of course all of this assumes the sleeves are made of paper

pentaxuser

pentaxuser said:

there is a reason to believe that prolonged soaking in water will harm the negative

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With these very old emulsions, this would indeed be a concern.

Beevo said:

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Some sheet film may look duller on the non-emulsion side due to the retouching surface. If the notches are top left, the emulsion is facing away from you.

Instead of soaking, you can first try putting a wet towel on the paper that's stuck to the film, let that soak through, and see if it comes off without doing any damage.