About Photos
Storing Your Negatives
The negative of a print is more valuable than the actual print—it is affected by fewer damaging agents and reproduces and stores much more easily. A negative can provide countless prints just as perfect as the first one. And if you’re like most people, you store your negatives in the paper envelope that they came in. Unfortunately, many of those paper envelopes are not acid-free, and the gummy adhesive on the flap may cause additional damage.
Protect your negatives in PVC-free plastic negative sleeves, which allow you easy visual access without having to touch each negative. Most sleeves have areas where you can record the basic “who” and “when“ of the negatives. Store them in a 3-ring binder in an acid-free and lignin-free box that’s kept separate from your photos. In fact, negatives should not be stored with photos at all, as any small amount of chemical residue on the photos will contaminate your negatives.
Are old, unprotected or dirty negatives a lost cause? Not necessarily! Check your local photography supply stores for negative cleaning supplies. After cleaning, be sure to store negatives in archival sleeves. If you have irreplaceable ancestral photos, have negatives made so they may be archived as well.