The negs are your first priority. If they are oldish B&Ws, washing in cool water (sloshing them around in a tray) will help remove some of the contaminants from the fire. Use a bit of Foto Flo (sp?) in the water to make it wetter. Use tap water or bottled drinking water-- Do not use distilled water. Better yet, if you have a photo processing lab, check with them.
If the papers are dry, you can probably hold off on doing anything. In many cases your best bet may well be photocopying them. The “scorched” smell will take a long time (aeons?) to dissipate. Are they important? Why do you want them?
Michael McColgin
Conservation Officer
Arizona State Archives
This my opinion only.
From: Archives &
Archivists [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Kenneth Homsley
Sent: Thursday, July 13, 2006
11:39 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Burnt and Charred Papers
Fellow Archivists:
I have several boxes of correspondence, publications, and 8 x
11 negatives that were rescued from a fire. Does anyone have any
experience with this situation? The negs seem to be just charred on the
edges, but some probably have more damage. Any suggestions on how these
should be stored? Some of the correspondence is slighly browned,
while other correspondence is badly charred. I plan to just keep this
correspondence separated from all other material and interleave where
appropriate. Any other suggestions?
Thanks,
Ken
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