If yoou have a Walmart around try their photo department they restored some old photos for us. They may have suggestions for the mildew. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Karen Hangsleben" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Saturday, August 05, 2000 7:07 AM Subject: RE: [WVMINERA] OLD Photos mildewed, HELP! > Paula, I have heard of sticking things like this in the freezer to kill the > mold and mildew. I'd hate to be the one to tell you to do this for sure - > so, maybe someone else (an authority) will step in with a similar > suggestion. I'd like it if this was kept on the Mineral list so that I > could see the replies you may generate. If people email you privately, > could you compile the answers and opinions and share them with the list? > Thanks, Karen > > PS How about some names from those old pictures too!! > > ---------- > From: Paula[SMTP:[email protected]] > Sent: Saturday, August 05, 2000 2:26 AM > To: [email protected] > Subject: [WVMINERA] OLD Photos mildewed, HELP! > > This is a multi-part message in MIME format. > --------------B6D849A960C710BAB88BC4EF > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii > Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > > I found a lot of old photos among my grandmother's things after she > passed away. Unfortunately, what I did know is that moisture had > apparently gotten into the pictures. Now the photos, some of which > predate the civil war, are starting to disappear before my eyes, so to > speak, in that they are slowly but surely being covered by a > blackish-green substance that I assume is some kind of algae. > > A few of the pictures are too far gone to rescue. I have scanned all > the pictures now (just finished moments ago...geez, what a huge > project), but would dearly like to be able to save the originals. I am > aware of archival safe materials (pens, papers, special sheet > protectors), and acid-free pens. Unfortunately, many years ago my > grandmother didn't know about archival safe pens, so she wrote on the > back of the pictures with ball point pen so I would know who the people > were. Of course, I'm very glad she did that, but at the same time I > wonder if the ball point pen has contributed the slow demise the > photos. In addition, because I wasn't aware the algae-like substance > was on some of the photos (it was in a tiny area and hard to detect), I > separated the "good" from the "bad" pictures. Obviously, I missed some > "bad" ones and now others are started to go. I'm so sick about it I > could cry. > > I know they have a spray that you can buy to help remove acidity from > photos/papers. But what in the world do they do if algae/mildew has > formed. Would having them sealed in an airtight bag help? I've called > a couple photograph stores here in town, but no one has really been able > to give me much information. I figure there must be someone out there > who has come up against this and would have an answer. If I don't act > quickly, I could lose all the photos. > > I apologize for cross posting, but wanted to get the question out to > everyone. This are my "family" email groups and I appreciate any help > anyone can give me. Thanks so very much. > > Paula > --------------B6D849A960C710BAB88BC4EF > Content-Type: text/x-vcard; charset=us-ascii; > name="roots-researcher.vcf" > Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > Content-Description: Card for Paula > Content-Disposition: attachment; > filename="roots-researcher.vcf" > > begin:vcard > n:Jamison;Paula > x-mozilla-html:TRUE > adr:;;;;;; > version:2.1 > email;internet:[email protected] > note:Surnames: ARNOLD, BLACKBURN, DAWSON, DIXON, DYE, ELLIFRITZ, > FLEEK/FLICK, HAWS, ISER, JUNKINS, KITZMILLER, LILLER, McHENRY, MILLER, > MINNICK, PARKER, ROGERS, SPENCER, STAGGS, THRASH, UMSTOT, URICE, WILSON, > YOST > fn:Paula Jamison > end:vcard > > --------------B6D849A960C710BAB88BC4EF-- > > >