Help on rolled-up film -- flattening

[2life_photography]

I have come into possession of a bunch of WWII-era B&W negatives

(airplanes, mostly, froma test pilot at Freeman Field) and they are

all rolled up very, very tightly. This makes it difficult to print

them or scan them. Is there any way to flatten them so they stay

flat?

[mendel_leisk]

Just a thought, no experience:

 

Roll them the other way, for a week or so.

 

Cut into strips, sleeve, and store under heavy phone book for another week.

[ted_marcus1]

Dale Labs normally returns uncut strips of negatives in a plastic canister when you order only slides, unless you specifically request cutting and sleeving. Once I neglected to cut and sleeve several rolls of negatives for several months. When I finally put them in archival plastic storage sheets, the cut negatives curled the sheets into rolls. I ended up placing the sheets between heavy books for a week. That was enough to reduce the curling to manageable levels, but not completely eliminate it. I stored the sheets in envelopes, and ten years later when I wanted to scan some of the negatives, the curling was essentially gone.

[TomHildreth]

Jim,

 

As an airplane <a href="http://www.vermontel.net/~tomh/mancha.html"> history buff</a>, I can appreciate what you have come upon. However, I am greatly concerned that you will crack the emulsion on the old negatives if you simply uncurl them. Unless they have been in a very dry location, they are likely to be stuck together at various locations on each roll, which is another huge problem.

 

I suggest contacting Kodak (probably their product anyway), and see if you can generate some interest in this historical stuff on their part. They have likely faced this before, and may have an effective way of controlling the environment (temp, humidity, immersion) while uncurling the negs.

 

Good luck!

 

TomH