Way to conserve wrinkled damaged negatives from 1950?

bonephoto

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I am digitizing a photographic archive and have come upon some damaged 4x5 negatives (from 1950-1952). I have decent contact prints so was happy to scan those and move on, but someone asked if there was anything that could be done with these, to either salvage them, or stabilize them in current condition.
Anyone ever done anything with something like this? The acetate base seems to have shrunk (I've been calling them shrinky-dinks), and the emulsion is wrinkling. They have foxing and have turned brownish orange. I saw a post where someone mentioned floating the emulsion off acetate. Is that a Thing one might try with these? If so, what replacement base could I use and what would its archival-ness be?

Here you can see the bad negative is shrunk about 1/4" smaller than "normal".

Emulsion side.

3 square notch film seems the be the main one damaged. I haven't been able to identify it. Could a bad-film have caused this?
 

Kino

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That's vinegar syndrome and it cannot be halted or reversed. The base has entered an auto-catalytic state, whereby the base feeds upon itself and it will only end in disintegration of the entire negative.

It's not "bad film", but the specific batch of "dope" used to form the base might have been more acidic than other batches OR the particular emulsion might have used a subbing layer that is more prone to kicking-off VS, but I can only speculate.

I highly doubt the emulsion can be floated off the base, but it can be worth a try after you make the best copies possible in their current condition.

Segregate these affected negatives from other "healthy" negatives, as the byproducts of the reaction can "infect" other negatives. Iron is an accelerator; keep them away from any iron enclosures.

Molecular sieves can be used in their air-tight container to scavenge the acid vapors that are a byproduct of the decomposition, but it will only slow down the progression and it can't be halted or reversed.

 

Sirius Glass

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Welcome to APUG Photrio!!​
 

Kino

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Oh, and I would try sheet polyester as the replacement base if you try to float off the emulsion.

You might want to have a discussion with various glass plate makers here on what might be the best way to sub the base to the emulsion so it just doesn't slide off once again...
 

Sirius Glass

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Find a professional photographic restorer that has successful work with this problem. Not a DIY project.
 
OP
OP

bonephoto

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Ugh, the answer I was desperate to avoid! But thank you for your help!
 

Rahulsharmajammu

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This seems like a fairly standard case of vinegar syndrome, and can be treated. As you said, the emulsion is 'floated off' the surface, however, it is fairly tricky to do. Photo conservators will generally have experience with this treatment, and I would reccomend reaching out to your nearest photo-conservator. We can generally be found at https://www.culturalheritage.org/about-conservation/find-a-conservator in America.
 
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