From: Janet Hubbard (imaginethat@portgualala.com)
Date: 04/18/00-02:18:28 AM Z
I'm new to this list as of today. I found you while researching old glass
negatives.
My father was a professional photographer most of his life until his death
in 1994. He started taking photos in about 1920 and opened a little studio
soon afterwards in their tiny town.
Now that he's died I'm left with every negative he ever took (literally) as
well as much of his equipment. However, the darkroom and the associated
equipment was sold several years ago. Now I have the cameras and the prints
and negs. Although I have his Durst enlarger which I'm selling, I don't have
any facilities for setting up a darkroom here. Nor do I have the time to
handle photography at that level.
I've discovered a small box about 10 inches high of old glass negatives. Not
having a working darkroom, I'm trying to be creative in looking at and
printing from these. I've tried scanning them on my relatively new HP
ScanJet 6200C scanner and then reversing it to a positive in Adobe
PhotoDeluxe. It works well enough to get a good idea what's there although I
haven't moved it to the computer with the good printer on it yet. Is there
an easier way to do this? (short of paying a professional lab to print them)
My main problem is that these negatives were perhaps stored on the floor of
a building that was flooded many years ago. Some of them are quity muddy.
Others seem to have mildew/mold on them.
Can someone point me to a source of information on glass negatives? There
seems to be an emulsion on them. I tried washing one in cool running water
and blotting it dry by laying it on a clean soft paper towel. I couldn't see
that I hurt it in any way, but then I'm pretty ignorant. Any recommendations
on cleaning them? How should they be stored? What should I do with them long
term? Are they worth anything?
My biggest sorrow is that I didn't absorb more of the incredible amount of
knowledge my dad had. I've been around this for so long I took it for
granted. Now I realize how totally ignorant I am.
I'm sure I'll be back soon with more questions.
Janet
imagine that!
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