This has been an incredibly helpful thread, and now I'm going to try the same procedure that JB did. I apologize for asking this FAQ-type question, but where can one obtain all this "acid-free" stuff and mylar sleeves, etc? Will most camera shops have these things, or can someone suggest a good source? Thanks, Larry McQueary > -----Original Message----- > From: JB Wilson [mailto:designs@hevanet.com] > Sent: Monday, April 08, 2002 1:13 AM > To: VINTAGE-PHOTOS-L@rootsweb.com > Subject: [VINTAGE-PHOTOS] Re: Old Photos - Curled > > Hello list, > I wanted to share my final result with you after many of you gave me ideas > on how to uncurl two of my old photos. > > First I filled a 2 qt. saucepan about 1/3 full of water, placed a wire > rack > on top of a small jar which I placed in the middle of the pan. I put a > layer of acid-free paper over the rack, placed the photos on the acid- > free > paper, photo side up, and put the lid on the pan. By morning the larger > one > had uncurled about 90%. The next day I took the photo out and used another > piece of acid-free paper as a blotter and soaked up the extra moisture > from > the photo. That took 4-5 blots. I taped the tear with my acid-free repair > tape, and placed the photo in a mylar photo sleeve and placed the sleeve > under a light-weight paperback book for about 24 hours. The photo seems to > be fine, has retained its flatness after I took it out from under the > book. > The same was done with the other smaller photo. Both seem to be doing > fine. > > Thanks for all your suggestions. What a wonderful list!! JB Wilson > > ---------------------- > > >At a seminar on conservation, I once heard that old curled/rolled photos > >could be put into a homemade humidity chamber. Take a 5 gal plastic pail > >and put water an inch or so in the bottom. Place a grill or grate above > >the water line and then stand the photo the pail and put the on. Check > >every few days, it might take a few weeks or maybe even 2 months but we > >were told they would unroll. > > > >One of the articles below explains that the paper and emulsion expand > >and contract at different rates-thus the curling. > > > >Interesting article under 'museums & galleries commission' then > >'photographic materials' > >http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/bytopic/genpub/ > > > >The NARA site says never to force a rolled photo to unroll, as once the > >emulsion cracks it will always be cracked. > >http://www.nara.gov/arch/faqs/aboutph.html > > > >The Minnesota Historical Society PDF on photographic materials > >http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/bytopic/genpub/ > > > >http://aic.stanford.edu/treasure/photos.html > > > >JB Wilson wrote: > > > >> Hi again, > >> They are curled in. Any suggestions for how to obtain/maintain a 30% > >>humidity? > >> > >> I really appreciate the list and all the suggestions! Thank you all! > >> JB Wilson :-) > >> > > > > > >==== VINTAGE-PHOTOS Mailing List ==== > >We have over 223 members of the Vintage-Photos Mailing List. Posting back > >to the list helps the whole group, not just one person. If we work as a > >team, > >we'll succeed as a team. > >To learn more about my world visit http://dwp.bigplanet.com/kburnett > > > >============================== > >To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, > >go to: > >http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237 > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > JB Wilson, Beaverton, OR, USA > "Searching for the Living, Honoring the Dead" > <designs@hevanet.com> > Researching: Kangas, Eskola, Mattson/Matson, Makkonen, Aho, Runtujärvi, > Barnes, Benedict, Crandle/Crandall, Miner, Ufford, Berry & Williams NY/PA > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > > > > ==== VINTAGE-PHOTOS Mailing List ==== > Checkout the other lists being watched over by your List Mom; > http://mailing_lists.homestead.com/lists.html > To learn more about my world visit http://dwp.bigplanet.com/kburnett > > ============================== > To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, > go to: > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237